Teheran: licence to kill, to stop corruption
Teheran (AsiaNews) – One of the scourges of some Islamic countries is the impunity for vendetta and other “honour crimes”, usually committed within the family. But, in Iran, “volunteers” (Bassij, linked to the Islamist Pasdaran militias) can also carry out these acts without fear of punishment. The sincere conviction that they are acting “against moral corruption” suffices.
On April 14th, the Iranian Supreme Court absolved six Bassij who had killed five people in Kerman, between 2002 and 2003, because they were “morally corrupt”. The local court had condemned them to death, but after a series of appeals, the Tehran Supreme Court legitimised the cruel murders, which at least in one case, was based on false rumours.
A 19 year old boy was the first victim of the Bassij. Accused of trafficking drugs he was brought to an isolated place stoned and buried alive. A week later, another person was strangled and some months later still, once again accused of drug trafficking, a woman was stoned to death by these “volunteers”.
The last two victims, a couple, where thrown down a hole. “We didn’t know that they were married, we thought that they were having illicit relations”, declared one of the accused during the trial. The murders were encouraged by a video where a mullah (believed to be the infamous extremist Mesbah Yazdi, probable spiritual director of Ahmadinejad) affirmed that citizens have the right to kill people considered “morally corrupt”, if the State fails to take action against them. . All of this, extra judicially, of the guarantees provided according to the laws of the Koran and Iranian penal law.
The incredulous clemency of the 50 “supreme” Iranian judges could have grave consequences on violence and crime in Iranian society. The national judicial system’s internal and international credibility is also further decreased, by the fact that it imprisons pacifist dissidents (union leaders, journalists, feminists, students, homosexuals) but tolerates murders carried out by the Bassij. The Iranian judicial system suffers further from contradictory laws, judges who are often ignored, corruption and absence of independence from the political power.
The idea and principal eternally on the lips of Ahmadinejad amply demonstrates this; that is to take “adalat”, that is “justice”, into one own hands.
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