Barbarism: Photos From Today's Executions in Iran

By Jeralyn, Section Death Penalty
Posted on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 06:30:44 PM EST
Tags: Iran (all tags)

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Warning: Don't look at these photos if you are squeamish about death by hanging.

From earlier today in Iran: The barbarism of the death penalty is brought home in these 25 photos, published today by the Fars News Agency in Iran. Four young men in their 20's were executed by hanging in public. The photos start with the men alive and being led to slaughter. The crowds watching are huge. They end with the men being cut down and put in body bags. There are close-ups of their faces as they are hanged. Photos by a different news agency here. [More...]

The men had been charged with breaking into a private orchard in June and raping the women after abducting them. Iran's Supreme Court took less than 45 days to uphold the verdicts.

And how can Iran let little kids (like this one, safe photo) watch? Iran Human Rights is asking the international community to respond to the practice. In the last 12 months, 481 people have been been executed in Iran, mostly for drug offenses.

Yesterday, Iran conducted raids on suspected drug traffickers, arresting 200. Check out the photos of a 2010 raid. Last month, Iran executed 22 drug offenders at a prison -- by hanging.

In the you can't make this stuff up department: Iranian parliament members today criticized U.S. police for violating the human rights of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. One member said "the fact that the American leaders call the protestors hooligans indicates their racist and inhumane view which is common in all the capitalist countries." Yet on Sunday Iranian authorities inflicted 74 lashes on a student who "wrote an insulting letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in which he criticized the president for cracking down on student demonstrators after the controversial 2009 election."

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Barbarism: Photos From Today's Executions in Iran | 23 comments (23 topical)

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I'm an absolutist... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by Romberry on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 07:48:33 PM EST

...when it comes to capital punishment, as in I oppose it absolutely. But we execute (sometimes probably innocent) people here, and in some states, hanging and firing squads remain options. Guess what I'm saying is that the whole biblical lesson about worrying over the mote in another's eye while we have a beam in our own seems to apply.

Iran is Iran. Different law. Different culture. We have our own issues. (Troy Davis anyone?) Doesn't mean I condone what they did or what they continue to do. I don't. But like I said, we have our own issues.

Suspect I am "squeamish" about (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by oculus on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 07:53:41 PM EST

viewing any video of a living person becoming a dead person.


: I didn't link to videos (none / 0) (#3)
by Jeralyn on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 08:23:31 PM EST

just photos.

Iran again. (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by lentinel on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 05:09:11 AM EST

I condemn Iran for this practice.
I condemn it for the manner in which it conducts executions.
I also condemn it for its use of the death penalty.

As a country, we would be on stronger grounds condemning them if we weren't hell bent on executing people ourselves. Sometimes we do so on very shaky evidence. The experience that we have gone through with reference to the case of Troy Davis should have shown us something about the way in which we hand out and carry out death penalties.

It is also worth knowing that as recently as 1936, public executions were carried out in the USA. I will link to an article on the NPR website that tells about the event - which included 20,000 spectators. The article links to still photographs of the event.

Public execution in the USA

But I must say that the issue for me is the matter of death penalties and executions - whether they are held in public or private. I never witnessed an execution, but I have found myself imagining the horror of it - involuntarily. And I remember doing so as a child when I read about the Rosenbergs. It is the first time I remember feeling separated from my country and its leadership.

Indeed, there is something to be said for executions being held in public. It is less hypocritical. If these enterprises are being done in our name, with our tax dollars, we should be exposed to it. We can't just hide our heads in the sand and pretend that it is just some hicks pulling the levers and go tsk tsk. It is we who are pulling the levers injecting poison into a person's veins.

Bringing attention to this barbarity is what I think news services should be about. Photos and all.

: "When we know better, we do better" (none / 0) (#11)
by Inspector Gadget on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 09:47:13 AM EST

We have a distance yet to go. Denial is a way of life these days. When I was a kid there wasn't a classroom I knew of that didn't post The Golden Rule. Someone took those banners down, and no one protested. We have a large segment of our population who worship in buildings where the focal point at the altar is a public execution.
We hide behind repetitive statements that have nothing to back them up, "our system isn't perfect, but it's the best in the world."
I can't support the death penalty under any culture. I also don't support there being any glory in "making the ultimate sacrifice" - what in the world does that phrase mean, anyway?

Little kids (1.00 / 1) (#12)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 10:20:45 AM EST

And how can Iran let little kids (like this one, safe photo) watch?

Do you rate letting children watch a hanging as being better or worse than teaching them to be suicide bombers?

Or Give Them Signs Hating Homosexuals... (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by ScottW714 on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 10:41:28 AM EST

... at dead soldiers funerals.

Iran is a reflection of us, barbaric in their view of human life. Everything you believe about them, they believe about you.

There is no excuse for the state, and state, to murder it's own citizens.

Big deal, Iran makes it a public spectacle, at least they have the courage, unlike us, to be proud of their idiocy. We hid it with shame, but in the end the result is the exact same, the state legally murdering it's own citizens.


Living in a barbaric country that does public (none / 0) (#14)
by Buckeye on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 10:34:58 AM EST

hangings with little children watching is probably why they have suicide bombers.


So Why Do We Have Good Ole' Fahion.. (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by ScottW714 on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 10:53:14 AM EST

... suicide murders and mass bombers ? Because we hide our murders behind locked doors ?

Explain McVeigh with your logic, explain the guy who flew a plane into a Fed Building last year, explain schools getting shot up by kids, explain why once a week some lunatic kills his family, then himself, explain why , per capita, we have the most violent felons of any country.

The fact is we are the most violent nation on the planet, just because you choose not to believe it, doesn't make it false.

Explain our violence since we don't let kids witness hangings, at least not in this century.

And I thought the death penalty was a deterrent, or just a deterrent for adults ? What is the proper age to watch the state murder someone ? If they are gonna try a 14 year old as an adult, surly they are old enough to see a murder.


anyone seen those (none / 0) (#19)
by jondee on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 04:30:56 PM EST

slave state 'family outing' postcards from well-into the last century; the ones with the grinning men and boys standing around the blowtorch charred, castrated, human carcass strung up like a side of beef?


: Yes I sure have (none / 0) (#20)
by Rojas on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 08:28:36 PM EST

And one thing I noticed right away is that this was not simply a phenomena of the slave states. I'm a bit perplexed why you would frame things in this fashion. But hell, cognitive dissonance seems to me a national malady much more prevalent and destructive than obesity so with that in mind I'm inclined to cut you some slack.

wtf are you talking about... (none / 0) (#23)
by Buckeye on Thu Oct 20, 2011 at 06:38:21 AM EST

I was not comparing Iran to the US. Please stop reading more into my posts (you do this a lot). Living in a barbaric society has consequences like suicide bombers. And yes, the US is a very barbaric society with the death penalty so we have high rates of violence.


Little kids.. (none / 0) (#18)
by jondee on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 04:20:19 PM EST

watching hangings is great preparation for future suicide bombers.

just as beng infatuated with Texacutors in the U.S is great preparation for a life of semi-barbarism.


I think that I'll pass... (none / 0) (#4)
by desertswine on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 08:52:19 PM EST

on the barbaric photos.

Almost like Texas (none / 0) (#5)
by koshembos on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 09:22:00 PM EST

Iran clearly stands out as a horrific regime. Yet, it is not the only such regime in the neighborhood. Saudi, Syria, Bahrain, Yemen, still Egypt, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. are "nice" countries too.

No worry, we are getting there fast.

not quite. (none / 0) (#6)
by cpinva on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 10:42:23 PM EST

Almost like Texas

iran conducts their executions in public, for everyone to see. a fun day for the entire family. texas is so proud of their executions, they conduct them behind brick walls, out of the glare of the public. were i a cynic, i might think texas was maybe not as proud of their system of capital punishment as they'd like us to believe. and yes, all other states do the same. and your point would be?

just because it's someone else's "culture" doesn't automatically confer "ok" status on it. if another culture condoned and committed human sacrifice, would that be ok, because, well, it's their culture?

human slavery used to be part of our culture. it was wrong then, part of our culture or not. it's odd that some of the most odious practices are given the ok, because it's part of their culture. it's odd also that most of those most odious practices always seem to work to the benefit of that culture's powers that be.

funny thing about that.


: There's something that controls (5.00 / 2) (#7)
by Inspector Gadget on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 10:52:58 PM EST

witnessing, but I forget completely if it is cultural, religious, or deterent as the reasoning.
When we lived in Saudi we tried to be very careful when we went to town. We knew that if they were going to do punishments in the town square that everyone near the area would be made to stay and watch (could not turn away). Many people were not there for the purpose of watching hangings, or other public punishments, they were just wrong place, wrong time.

I truly don't understand how anyone (none / 0) (#8)
by Green26 on Wed Oct 12, 2011 at 11:39:11 PM EST

would not condemn what Iran is doing, and try to compare this to what is done in the U.S.

Due process? Jury of peers? Appeals? Death penalty for drug offenses? Lashes for writing a letter?

My view is that those who don't condemn what countries like Iran do are not helping stop major problems of the world.

Gimme a Break (5.00 / 2) (#13)
by ScottW714 on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 10:34:33 AM EST

The process may differ, but in the end it's state sponsored murder.

Pretty sure the dead guys don't care how many appeals they were allowed or due process. Especially the innocent ones.


Outstanding comment! (5.00 / 1) (#17)
by Romberry on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 02:17:13 PM EST

Scott, I'd rate that one a 100 if I could. A five will have to do.


So you don't condemn (none / 0) (#21)
by Green26 on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 10:07:32 PM EST

hanging 100's of people for drug offenses? You'd don't believe in due process and the US appeal process?


: What happened... (none / 0) (#22)
by Romberry on Fri Oct 14, 2011 at 12:54:18 AM EST

...to that "farewell"?
Personally, I find your latest posts to be hard to follow. I'm sure you have a point, but dang if I have any idea what it is.

To me, (none / 0) (#10)
by lentinel on Thu Oct 13, 2011 at 05:16:37 AM EST

it is simple.

I condemn what Iran does.
It speaks volumes about its morality and its leadership.

I also condemn what happened in this country to Troy Davis.
It speaks volumes about our country's morality and its leadership.

Either you condemn the fact of the death penalty being imposed under conditions which are subject to the whims of local officials, or you don't.

If the issue is the fact that in Iran executions are public, and in the USA they are held in private (since 1936) - with a selected audience - that is a discussion we could have.

I am sickened by this spectacle in Iran.
I was sickened by the spectacle of what happened to Troy Davis.
I am sickened by the application of the death penalty.
