Iran, Sakineh

سلام به خوانندگان ایرانی من

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent visit to the US created quite a bit of furor. At least I know I'm still not over it. The statements offered to the international media about Iran's perspective on international sanctions, its human rights record, its nuclear program and so many other issues were amazing. Just the topic of Sakineh beggared the imagination. Ahmadinejad said, so smoothly and with a smile, on ABC News This Week, that Sakineh had not been sentenced to death by stoning (fact check here) or denied that there have been more executions under his administration (fact check here). That all this Western outcry "was news that was produced and incorrect, and regrettably, U.S. media affected -- was infected by U.S. politicians to make a piece of news out of it." (set time at 8:00)

Yes, it's all made up, just like mention of your possible impeachment? Or made up like the Iranian security force building a convenient case against Mousavi, your political rival? Or how about made up quests for freedom of expression, freedom from oppression, being unnecessary in Iran because these things already exist there for all?


Shall we talk about some made up things? Yes, yes, the people have forgotten the stolen election of 2009. And people in Iran (especially Baha'i people!) live so very freely.

The letters of protests following Ahmadinejad's lies about Sakineh Ashtiani have rolled in from around the world, including from Sakineh's own son, Sajjad. (How brave that young man is to call Ahmadinejad a liar and sign his name to the statement...) 

Why does Iran fascinate me? Why do I hope along with the Iranian people that their government is in the agonizing process of real change? I've been fascinated by the country, its culture and history, and by my lovely Iranian friends, for many years. And I ponder the workings of the Iranian government and wonder if it's not just a different, a more extreme, version of our own most recent past administration. One with executive leadership run amok, government straining, as it tries to balance legislative and executive branches, all while religion gets thrown into the mix. Religion plays so much less a part of our government (*cough* stem cells? abortion? prayer in schools?), of course. And our death penalty methodology is as humane as killing people is going to get. 


Last week I also watched Charlie Rose's look at Iran with Haleh Esfandiari of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Farnaz Fassihi of 'The Wall St. Journal,' Abbas Milani of Stanford University and Karim Sadjadpour of The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace last week. I watched it again today. The comments posted there are almost as interesting as the transcript. What I come back to again and again is that vision of Ahmadinejad lying to Christiane Amanpour. While I am not sure if the discussion of these four experts on Rose's program is an accurate and unbiased assessment, I can say I really hope what they see of Iran's approach to change is true.

Perhaps Ahmadinejad's position is increasingly unstable from within Iran. Though I have to say, it's hard to tell whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing in my mind. The delicate balance between the President and the Supreme Leader, looks more and more tenuous. Do we want the Supreme Leader to win? Didn't he want stoning back in the penal code? The bitter fighting between Ahmadinejad and the Majlis, the Iranian Parliament, is getting more and more entrenched. What is the parliament's vision of the future of the Iranian people? Were they in favor of the nuclear plan? And if impeachment is being mentioned again, as it has been in the past, one wonders, if the government is getting any closer to ridding itself of its worst ambassador in some time, where they'll go from here? But what would Iran without Ahmadinejad look like? Will it be a truer democracy? Is the Green Movement silent but still viable? What is the real will of the young people of Iran?

Paris Protest/AP

Beyond all those unanswerable questions, the fate of Sakineh Ashtiani is still up in the air. From the BBC, we see as of yesterday there is no decision as to her fate. Let's hope the West's interest keeps Sakineh safe from harm. And by harm, I don't mean just stoning. After TV interviews in August and September, in which she said people shouldn't protest her death because she was an adulteress and a murderer, and that no, no, she hadn't been flogged again after that picture was published in UK that turned out not to be her at all... I wince at the thought of what her life must be like. From the Guardian article in August, about her televised confession:

"She was severely beaten up and tortured until she accepted to appear in front of camera. Her 22-year-old son, Sajad and her 17-year-old daughter Saeedeh are completely traumatised by watching this programme," said Houtan Kian (Ashtiani's attorney).

In the balance between death by stoning, death by hanging, being beaten and tortured into giving interviews with well-inculcated confessions and timely denials, I wonder what Sakineh wishes for herself. I'm sure she wishes for the safety of her children, for peace, freedom, and most of all, no more suffering. 

I'm wishing for all that with her.

And what of all the others who await execution, in Iran and even here? Who's talking about them? 

برای تو صلح و آزادی است.

© Bright Nepenthe, 2010