Girl, 16, hanged in public in Iran

Hat tip to Naomi Ragen:

Did this take place in one of their “holy” cities, or in an ordinary unholy city? On Sunday, August 15, a 16-year-old girl in the town of Neka, northern Iran, was executed. Ateqeh Sahaleh was hanged in public on Simetry Street off Rah Ahan Street at the city center.

The sentence was issued by the head of Neka’s Justice Department and subsequently upheld by the mullahs’ Supreme Court and carried out with the approval of Judiciary Chief Mahmoud Shahroudi.

In her summary trial, the teenage victim did not have any lawyer and efforts by her family to recruit a lawyer was to no avail. Ateqeh personally defended herself. She told the religious judge, Haji Rezaii, that he should punish the main perpetrators of moral corruption not the victims.

The judge personally pursued Ateqeh’s death sentence, beyond all normal procedures and finally gained the approval of the Supreme Court. After her execution Rezai said her punishment was not execution but he had her executed for her “sharp tongue”.

Let’s not unfairly malign the Religion of Peace. After all, the article notes that the judge exceeded his authority. But he hanged the child anyway, in the name of Allah the merciful and the kind. We’d better get used to this, because once Iran has the bomb we’re all going to live in this kind of a society.

Iran Focus: http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=80