Sunday, September 20, 2009
All You Need is Love
I've been thinking lately that love is a lesson learned over a lifetime to comfort us and give us fulfillment and peace when we go... no matter how long or short a life we live. It's an indescribable phenomenon. Really makes you think there MUST be something more to life than all this madness - that there IS a way to achieve the peace that is the desire of every human heart. Love really IS all you need. Wise words spoken by a wise man.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Keep Your $3 Billion a Year. We Don't Need It.
While many Americans are starving to death in ghettos, doing whatever lowly thing they can do to get by (i.e. selling crack or sucking dick), our government is making sure that every Israeli citizen lives a comfortable life (oftentimes more than comfortable... LUXURIOUS) - all while ensuring that every "citizen" of Palestine becomes obsolete, of course.
Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517337839&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Dear Mr. President,
Knowing your habit of reading every newspaper column that starts "Dear Mr. President," I have a special request on the occasion of your visit. I guarantee you won't hear it from anyone you meet in this country: Please stop giving us money.
The $3 billion a year - keep it. We don't need it. We can use it, of course, but we don't need it, and foreign aid - which is nothing but welfare on an international scale - should be given only to those who need it most. Like to countries in Africa, like to the billions of people in the world dying of starvation and disease.
Not to a country like Israel, which, as the nations of the world go, is solidly upper-middle-class. I'm sure you'll agree that upper-middle-class people shouldn't get welfare, so why should upper-middle-class countries?
Maybe you're not aware how prosperous Israel has become - you're going to Jerusalem, which is a pretty poor city, and the Galilee, which is nothing special economically. You ought to go to Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Ra'anana - check out the hi-tech parks, the neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes, the luxurious shopping malls. Look at the way people dress, look at the new cars and jeeps they drive. Look at the Security Olympics we're putting on for your visit - the money we're spending to protect you could feed Sierra Leone for several years.
Did your hosts tell you how well our economy is doing? The average Israeli salary is up to $23,000 a year, the economy grew by 5% for the fourth year in a row, unemployment is down, inflation is virtually non-existent, and not only isn't there a budget deficit, there's a surplus. The government isn't even spending all the money it's got.
AND ON TOP of this, we're cutting taxes. Israelis are paying lower and lower taxes, and what are American taxpayers doing? Giving us more and more welfare. For each of the next 10 years, American foreign aid to Israel is going up from $2.4 billion to $3 billion. That's another $30 billion total, added to the roughly $100 billion overall that the US has given us until now.
So thank you, thank you, thank you, but we don't need America's help anymore. We used to be a fairly poor country, sort of lower-middle-class, kind of shabby, but now?
Before you leave Ben-Gurion Airport tomorrow, why don't you take a look at Terminal 3, the one we built a few years ago for international flights. Or go to the new Airport City industrial park. This country is booming, Mr. President.
And from what I understand, your country is not. America seems to be heading into a recession, the dollar has gone to hell, Wall Street is jumpy, there are masses of Americans who've suddenly gone broke on this subprime mortgage debacle.
How do you explain taking $3 billion out of the American people's pocket every year and giving it to a comfortably bourgeois country with one of the fastest-growing economies in the world? I know. It's all money for defense, and Israel has to spend it on products manufactured by American defense companies, so it's not like you're giving the money away, it all goes back to the US in the end.
But America has short-changed its own soldiers in Iraq - it hasn't spent the money necessary, for instance, to reinforce their vehicles against roadside bombs, or supply enough troops with body armor - and you're giving $3 billion in defense aid to Israel?
I was relieved to hear that the US is delaying the $600 million or so extra it was going to give us this year because it has to meet an urgent order in Iraq for improved armored vehicles. You know what? You're going to need that money there next year, too, and the year after, and you'll need it in Afghanistan, and you may need it in Pakistan, and Iran, and a few other countries as well.
SO KEEP the extra $600 million and the regular $2.4 billion, too, this year, next year and every year afterward. America is in over its head already. You can't afford the war on terror you've got, let alone the one you want, the one you think is necessary. You can't afford your own defense bills, so why are you paying ours when we can afford to pay them ourselves?
And we can. People think Israel spends about half of its income on defense, but in fact it only spends 7.5%. Take away the American aid and it goes up to 9.5%, which is what we were spending anyway before the current boom years. (These figures come from Israel's most widely-read economics commentator, Sever Plotzker, who writes for our most widely-read newspaper, Yediot Aharonot. Don't try to pronounce it, sir.)
People here say we're entitled to all this American money because we're America's chief ally in the Middle East, we're helping fight America's battle - and this is true. But Britain is probably a more important American ally than Israel, and Britain has a big defense budget, too, and British soldiers have been fighting and dying along with Americans in Iraq, and the average Brit doesn't make much more money than the average Israeli, yet America doesn't give Britain a nickel - because Britain doesn't need it.
SO WHY does Israel need it? I know. We have a "special relationship." You're worried that if America stopped giving so much foreign aid to Israel, it might weaken the alliance.Mr. President, don't worry about a thing. America's the best friend we've got, and nothing's going to change that because, let's face it, where else are we going to go? Do we want a special relationship with Russia? Does Russia want one with us? How about China? And who, for that matter, is America going to find for a new chief ally in the Middle East? Egypt? Jordan? Too many Muslim Brotherhood chapters there, too much hatred for the Great Satan, too much ignorance, poverty, backwardness and autocracy.Nope, Mr. President, $3 billion or no $3 billion, we're stuck with each other. The only thing that'll change if America stops giving Israel money is that you'll be able to give it to people who really need it, like poor Americans or destitute foreigners.
In Israel, we will have to tighten our belts a little - maybe by raising taxes for the rich and upper-middle-class, maybe by canceling their monthly child allowances - but we will be fine.What's more, we will finally be making good on the promise we made so many times to America, and to ourselves - that we were only asking for help until the day came that we could stand on our own two feet. Well, that day has arrived. In fact, that day arrived about 15 years ago, maybe more.
MR. PRESIDENT, I'm sure your hosts have enjoyed teaching you a few Hebrew words, and you've enjoyed learning them. I'd like to introduce you to a Yiddish word that's been part of colloquial Hebrew as long as anyone can remember, and not by accident.
The word is shnorrer. It means beggar, or moocher, somebody who's always asking for money. Mr. President, Israel is a shnorrer country, and we're only getting worse. We used to shnor $2.4 billion a year from your country, now we're shnorring $3 billion, and I, for one, am ashamed. When I see the new high-rises in Israel and the new sedans and fancy suits and spas and over-the-top weddings and airplanes filled with Israelis going overseas - I'm ashamed. Disgusted.
So please, please, please, Mr. President, keep the money. Spend it in a good place. I'm telling you, we'll be absolutely fine - better, in fact. It'll be good for our character.
Thank you so much for your generosity, thanks to the Congress, and above all, thanks to the American taxpayers. You've been instrumental, crucial, to our economic success. Now, after nearly 60 years of sovereignty, it's time the State of Israel became independent.
Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517337839&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Dear Mr. President,
Knowing your habit of reading every newspaper column that starts "Dear Mr. President," I have a special request on the occasion of your visit. I guarantee you won't hear it from anyone you meet in this country: Please stop giving us money.
The $3 billion a year - keep it. We don't need it. We can use it, of course, but we don't need it, and foreign aid - which is nothing but welfare on an international scale - should be given only to those who need it most. Like to countries in Africa, like to the billions of people in the world dying of starvation and disease.
Not to a country like Israel, which, as the nations of the world go, is solidly upper-middle-class. I'm sure you'll agree that upper-middle-class people shouldn't get welfare, so why should upper-middle-class countries?
Maybe you're not aware how prosperous Israel has become - you're going to Jerusalem, which is a pretty poor city, and the Galilee, which is nothing special economically. You ought to go to Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Ra'anana - check out the hi-tech parks, the neighborhoods of multimillion-dollar homes, the luxurious shopping malls. Look at the way people dress, look at the new cars and jeeps they drive. Look at the Security Olympics we're putting on for your visit - the money we're spending to protect you could feed Sierra Leone for several years.
Did your hosts tell you how well our economy is doing? The average Israeli salary is up to $23,000 a year, the economy grew by 5% for the fourth year in a row, unemployment is down, inflation is virtually non-existent, and not only isn't there a budget deficit, there's a surplus. The government isn't even spending all the money it's got.
AND ON TOP of this, we're cutting taxes. Israelis are paying lower and lower taxes, and what are American taxpayers doing? Giving us more and more welfare. For each of the next 10 years, American foreign aid to Israel is going up from $2.4 billion to $3 billion. That's another $30 billion total, added to the roughly $100 billion overall that the US has given us until now.
So thank you, thank you, thank you, but we don't need America's help anymore. We used to be a fairly poor country, sort of lower-middle-class, kind of shabby, but now?
Before you leave Ben-Gurion Airport tomorrow, why don't you take a look at Terminal 3, the one we built a few years ago for international flights. Or go to the new Airport City industrial park. This country is booming, Mr. President.
And from what I understand, your country is not. America seems to be heading into a recession, the dollar has gone to hell, Wall Street is jumpy, there are masses of Americans who've suddenly gone broke on this subprime mortgage debacle.
How do you explain taking $3 billion out of the American people's pocket every year and giving it to a comfortably bourgeois country with one of the fastest-growing economies in the world? I know. It's all money for defense, and Israel has to spend it on products manufactured by American defense companies, so it's not like you're giving the money away, it all goes back to the US in the end.
But America has short-changed its own soldiers in Iraq - it hasn't spent the money necessary, for instance, to reinforce their vehicles against roadside bombs, or supply enough troops with body armor - and you're giving $3 billion in defense aid to Israel?
I was relieved to hear that the US is delaying the $600 million or so extra it was going to give us this year because it has to meet an urgent order in Iraq for improved armored vehicles. You know what? You're going to need that money there next year, too, and the year after, and you'll need it in Afghanistan, and you may need it in Pakistan, and Iran, and a few other countries as well.
SO KEEP the extra $600 million and the regular $2.4 billion, too, this year, next year and every year afterward. America is in over its head already. You can't afford the war on terror you've got, let alone the one you want, the one you think is necessary. You can't afford your own defense bills, so why are you paying ours when we can afford to pay them ourselves?
And we can. People think Israel spends about half of its income on defense, but in fact it only spends 7.5%. Take away the American aid and it goes up to 9.5%, which is what we were spending anyway before the current boom years. (These figures come from Israel's most widely-read economics commentator, Sever Plotzker, who writes for our most widely-read newspaper, Yediot Aharonot. Don't try to pronounce it, sir.)
People here say we're entitled to all this American money because we're America's chief ally in the Middle East, we're helping fight America's battle - and this is true. But Britain is probably a more important American ally than Israel, and Britain has a big defense budget, too, and British soldiers have been fighting and dying along with Americans in Iraq, and the average Brit doesn't make much more money than the average Israeli, yet America doesn't give Britain a nickel - because Britain doesn't need it.
SO WHY does Israel need it? I know. We have a "special relationship." You're worried that if America stopped giving so much foreign aid to Israel, it might weaken the alliance.Mr. President, don't worry about a thing. America's the best friend we've got, and nothing's going to change that because, let's face it, where else are we going to go? Do we want a special relationship with Russia? Does Russia want one with us? How about China? And who, for that matter, is America going to find for a new chief ally in the Middle East? Egypt? Jordan? Too many Muslim Brotherhood chapters there, too much hatred for the Great Satan, too much ignorance, poverty, backwardness and autocracy.Nope, Mr. President, $3 billion or no $3 billion, we're stuck with each other. The only thing that'll change if America stops giving Israel money is that you'll be able to give it to people who really need it, like poor Americans or destitute foreigners.
In Israel, we will have to tighten our belts a little - maybe by raising taxes for the rich and upper-middle-class, maybe by canceling their monthly child allowances - but we will be fine.What's more, we will finally be making good on the promise we made so many times to America, and to ourselves - that we were only asking for help until the day came that we could stand on our own two feet. Well, that day has arrived. In fact, that day arrived about 15 years ago, maybe more.
MR. PRESIDENT, I'm sure your hosts have enjoyed teaching you a few Hebrew words, and you've enjoyed learning them. I'd like to introduce you to a Yiddish word that's been part of colloquial Hebrew as long as anyone can remember, and not by accident.
The word is shnorrer. It means beggar, or moocher, somebody who's always asking for money. Mr. President, Israel is a shnorrer country, and we're only getting worse. We used to shnor $2.4 billion a year from your country, now we're shnorring $3 billion, and I, for one, am ashamed. When I see the new high-rises in Israel and the new sedans and fancy suits and spas and over-the-top weddings and airplanes filled with Israelis going overseas - I'm ashamed. Disgusted.
So please, please, please, Mr. President, keep the money. Spend it in a good place. I'm telling you, we'll be absolutely fine - better, in fact. It'll be good for our character.
Thank you so much for your generosity, thanks to the Congress, and above all, thanks to the American taxpayers. You've been instrumental, crucial, to our economic success. Now, after nearly 60 years of sovereignty, it's time the State of Israel became independent.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Tusker the Elephant was "Executed"
Tusker, the friendly but boisterous Zimbabwean elephant, has been summarily "executed" after damaging several cars during a wild New Year's Eve party in the resort town of Charara, near Lake Kariba.
Wildlife authorities shot the bull elephant despite appeals from conservationists and a petition signed by 4 000 nature lovers from across the world appealing for clemency.
In a press statement, Johnny Rodriques, of the Zimbabwean Conservation Task Force, lamented the death of Tusker on Sunday.
He said the shooting had been scheduled for Monday, "so it came as a great shock to hear that he was shot (on Sunday)".
| 'New Year's Eve party at Charara was the straw that broke the camel's back' |
At least one such tent was occupied at the time and the authorities feared Tusker would kill or hurt someone.
"But the New Year's Eve party at Charara was the straw that broke the camel's back," Rodriques said.
During a loud party in which drugs and alcohol were reportedly abused, youngsters pulled hair out of Tusker's tail, slapped him on the rump, flashed their car lights, hooted and threw firecrackers and bottles at him.
"Despite all this senseless abuse, we had no reports of Tusker hurting anyone, which was testament to his basic good nature," Rodriques said.
"His crime, which led to his death, is that he damaged some cars in his search for food. It is not clear how many cars were damaged. We have had reports that the number was between two and seven.
"The authorities will probably argue that they have a responsibility to protect the humans and that it would only have been a matter of time before Tusker killed somebody.
"Our argument is that a party of this magnitude, which is attended every year by thousands of youngsters, should not be held in a national park."
This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Times on January 08, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Israeli Soldiers are "Racists" for not Raping Arab Women
Hebrew University has just awarded a research prize to a graduate student’s essay in which she claims that Israeli soldiers are “racists for not raping Arab women.”
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124674
Thanks to Phyllis Chesler for the following commentary (read her blog at http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/phyllischesler/2007/12/24/refusing_to_raperacism_if_you.php):
This is no joke—anyway, who could make this up? The graduate student is a woman named Tal Nitzan. Her anthropological essay has been published by the Hebrew University’s “Shaine Center.
Nitzan writes that the “lack of IDF rapes of Palestinian women is designed to serve a political purpose.” Since Israel fears the Palestinians demographically, IDF soldiers have been trained not to rape the women in order to avoid creating new Palestinians and little intifaders. (Has Nitzan never heard about Palestinian honor killings in which pregnant-out-of-wedlock or adulterous women are murdered by their families who love them too much?) Nitzan alleges that the “lack of military rape merely strengthens the ethnic boundaries and clarifies the inter-ethnic differences—just as organized military rape would have done.
Thus, Israeli racism, which “de-humanizes” Palestinian women, suppresses Jewish male lust—which proves that Israeli soldiers are racist oppressors. As the only army that does not, apparently, rape, Nitzan fails to grapple with other reasons for this, including the possibility that Israeli soldiers are acting in an ethical and civilized manner.
According to Israeli Professor Steven Plaut who called this to my attention: ”So essentially Nitzan is saying that the proof that Israeli soldiers are brutal oppressive stormtroopers is the fact that they do NOT mistreat and sexually abuse Palestinian women, not even the Palestinian terrorist women apprehended after trying to murder Jews.”
Plaut bitterly wonders whether if Nitzan “herself were to be raped by Hamas terrorists, I guess this would pretty much prove that they are egalitarian and progressive seekers of peace and justice.”
He suggests that people let the heads of Hebrew University know what they think about awarding a prize to such an essay. He provides the following contact information.
Hebrew University:
President of the University Menachem Magidor
Primary Email address: hupres@cc.huji.ac.il
Second Email address (extra): menachem@math.huji.ac.il
Fax. 02-5811023
Rector of the University: Professor Chaim Rabinowitch
Primary Email address: rabin@agri.huji.ac.il
Second Email address (extra): rector@savion.huji.ac.il
Hebrew University “Friends of” Offices:
http://www.huji.ac.il/huji/eng/friends_e.htm
Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124674
Thanks to Phyllis Chesler for the following commentary (read her blog at http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/phyllischesler/2007/12/24/refusing_to_raperacism_if_you.php):
This is no joke—anyway, who could make this up? The graduate student is a woman named Tal Nitzan. Her anthropological essay has been published by the Hebrew University’s “Shaine Center.
Nitzan writes that the “lack of IDF rapes of Palestinian women is designed to serve a political purpose.” Since Israel fears the Palestinians demographically, IDF soldiers have been trained not to rape the women in order to avoid creating new Palestinians and little intifaders. (Has Nitzan never heard about Palestinian honor killings in which pregnant-out-of-wedlock or adulterous women are murdered by their families who love them too much?) Nitzan alleges that the “lack of military rape merely strengthens the ethnic boundaries and clarifies the inter-ethnic differences—just as organized military rape would have done.
Thus, Israeli racism, which “de-humanizes” Palestinian women, suppresses Jewish male lust—which proves that Israeli soldiers are racist oppressors. As the only army that does not, apparently, rape, Nitzan fails to grapple with other reasons for this, including the possibility that Israeli soldiers are acting in an ethical and civilized manner.
According to Israeli Professor Steven Plaut who called this to my attention: ”So essentially Nitzan is saying that the proof that Israeli soldiers are brutal oppressive stormtroopers is the fact that they do NOT mistreat and sexually abuse Palestinian women, not even the Palestinian terrorist women apprehended after trying to murder Jews.”
Plaut bitterly wonders whether if Nitzan “herself were to be raped by Hamas terrorists, I guess this would pretty much prove that they are egalitarian and progressive seekers of peace and justice.”
He suggests that people let the heads of Hebrew University know what they think about awarding a prize to such an essay. He provides the following contact information.
Hebrew University:
President of the University Menachem Magidor
Primary Email address: hupres@cc.huji.ac.il
Second Email address (extra): menachem@math.huji.ac.il
Fax. 02-5811023
Rector of the University: Professor Chaim Rabinowitch
Primary Email address: rabin@agri.huji.ac.il
Second Email address (extra): rector@savion.huji.ac.il
Hebrew University “Friends of” Offices:
http://www.huji.ac.il/huji/eng/friends_e.htm
A Personal Look at the Final Days of Raheleh Zamani
"I didn't know who I was beating with that steel pipe. I saw him as a monster. No matter how many times I would hit him, he would still attack me. I was terrified."
These are the words of a young woman who had attacked her husband as he slept. Two years ago, a 25 year old woman, named Raheleh Zamani, went to her brother-in-law's home with her two young children in tow, claiming that her husband, Mohamad, had not returned home after leaving a few days earlier.
Less than 24 hours into Police's investigation into Mohamad's disappearance, the body of a 33 year old man was found in an oil well located on a property in Eslamshahr. While searching Mohamad's home, investigators noticed that the rugs were wet and found blood spots in the kitchen. Accordingly, they suspected that Mohamad had been murdered inside his home, and they charged Raheleh, Mohamad's wife, with his murder.
After her arrest and during police interrogations, Raheleh claimed responsibility for her husband's murder. In court, Raheleh explained: "On the day of the incident, I got home and I saw a strange woman in my home, who, upon seeing me, ran off into the bathroom. Shocked about this woman's presence in my home, I confronted my husband. Mohamad yelled at me and told me that I was no longer of any use to him as a 'woman' since I had had two kids and he no longer found me attractive. When I got upset, Mohamad began beating me and threw me out of the house. I was extremely upset, but after a few hours I returned to my house, and again asked Mohamad about the woman. Not only did Mohamad refuse to apologize for his actions, he actually threatened to kill me if I said anything to anyone about his extra-marital relationships. I was a mess. I could never have imagined that my husband would cheat on me or beat me so brutally only a month after I had given birth to our son. I was an emotional wreck; I was severely depressed; so when Mohamad gave me some pills that he said would calm my nerves, I took them."
Breaking into tears, Raheleh continued: "A little while after giving me the pills, Mohamad went to lay down. I remembered discovering a steel pipe in the storage room when I was cleaning out that room a few days earlier. I went to the storage room, picked up the steel pipe and went to where Momhad was laying down. At this point, he seemed like a demonic monster to me. I was very scared, so I began to hit him with the steel pipe. But he kept coming after me, attacking me, and beating me repeatedly. So I fought back. When he finally stopped moving, I saw my daughter in the room and I turned off the light so she would not see what had happened. Until the very moment that I put Mohamad's body in the oil tank, I thought he was some kind of a live demon who would repeatedly attack and abuse me."
Raheleh appears to have been suffering from severe post-partum depression during the incident (she had given birth to the couple's second child only a month and half prior to the incident). Further, based on her husband's abusive treatment of her over the years, she also portrayed classic signs of battered-women's syndrome. Regardless of the evidence about her altered mental state and mental and emotional illnesses, Raheleh was found guilty of pre-meditated first degree murder, and was sentenced to death by hanging.
Raheleh's in-laws, who took physical custody of her two young children upon her arrest, refused to allow the young mother to see her children during the time she was in prison, nor was she permitted to see her children during the final moments of her life.
Amnesty International reported:
The execution of Raheleh Zamani has reportedly been postponed until around 2 January 2008. She had been due to be hanged in Evin Prison, in the capital, Tehran, on 19 December 2007 (not 20 December as previously stated) for the killing of her husband.
Raheleh Zamani, a mother of two children aged five and three, was sentenced to qesas-e nafs (retribution in kind) in October 2005 for the murder earlier the same year of her husband, Mohammad, whom she alleged was having an extra-marital affair. Raheleh Zamani reportedly said in her defence that she was threatened with violence by her husband each time she asked him to end his affair. She said that she had never meant to kill her husband, but just wanted to "teach him a lesson". A month and a half prior to the murder, Raheleh Zamani had given birth to her second child, a son. She may have been suffering from severe post-natal depression. Her husband's family had refused to accept diyeh (blood money). However, it is believed that the postponement of Raheleh Zamani's execution follows a decision by her husband's family to give her two weeks in which to raise the money for the payment of diyeh. The amount of money in question is not known to Amnesty International.
Raheleh Zamani is believed to be held in Evin Prison in the capital, Tehran. On 19 December, one woman and three men were hanged at the prison. This brings to six the total number of women believed to have been executed in Iran in 2007. In addition to Raheleh Zamani, two other men were also spared execution in order to give them the chance to raise diyeh.
Executions in Iran have increased sharply in 2007, particularly in the wake of a crackdown on "social vices" which was announced in April and has continued to date. Amnesty International has recorded at least 310 executions to date, some of which have been in public, including some multiple hangings.
Under Iranian law, a victim's family can ask right up to the moment before an execution that a murderer's life be spared and blood money be paid instead.
It appears that Raheleh was not able to raise enough money to pay blood money to her in-laws, or perhaps they simply withdrew their decision to accept the money and simply wanted to see Raheleh die.
Raheleh was executed by public hanging on January 2, 2008.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Raheleh Zamani was Executed
Raheleh Zamani, mother of 2, was hanged.
Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jy9BqyVbgCaI6PcCfSErXno7LuGQ
The letter from her husband's family that allegedly prevented her execution 2 weeks ago made no difference when Raheleh was executed alongside 12 other prisoners at Evin Prison in Tehran.
Delara Darabi still sits on death row in Iran, facing a fate similar to Raheleh Zamani's fate - she faces execution by hanging for a crime she did not commit.
Women4Change on Raheleh Zamani's execution:
========================================================
It is with profound sadness that I must tell you of Raheleh Zamani's death.
She was executed at dawn in Tehran, while the snow fell silently all around...frozen tears of crystalized anguish for the senseless murder of a 27 year old mother of two young children.
A woman suffering from battered wife syndrome, betrayed by her husband and her family and at the last, by a legal system that should have seen to her medical needs, rather than resorting to a brutal execution, is now at rest.
Her in-laws watched the grim proceedings as she was hung along with eleven others.
There are no words to adequately describe the grief we all feel.
Our sincere and heartfelt thanks goes to each person who reached out to help Raheleh with letters and petitions.
May this be a reminder that these cases are indeed in need of our intervention. It is hoped that we can gather more support for those still classified as urgent and avert a repetition of this horrific and tragic ending to a precious life.
Say NO to the Execution of Women and Children! www.SaveDelara.com
Women4Change
Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jy9BqyVbgCaI6PcCfSErXno7LuGQ
The letter from her husband's family that allegedly prevented her execution 2 weeks ago made no difference when Raheleh was executed alongside 12 other prisoners at Evin Prison in Tehran.
Delara Darabi still sits on death row in Iran, facing a fate similar to Raheleh Zamani's fate - she faces execution by hanging for a crime she did not commit.
Women4Change on Raheleh Zamani's execution:
========================================================
It is with profound sadness that I must tell you of Raheleh Zamani's death.
She was executed at dawn in Tehran, while the snow fell silently all around...frozen tears of crystalized anguish for the senseless murder of a 27 year old mother of two young children.
A woman suffering from battered wife syndrome, betrayed by her husband and her family and at the last, by a legal system that should have seen to her medical needs, rather than resorting to a brutal execution, is now at rest.
Her in-laws watched the grim proceedings as she was hung along with eleven others.
There are no words to adequately describe the grief we all feel.
Our sincere and heartfelt thanks goes to each person who reached out to help Raheleh with letters and petitions.
May this be a reminder that these cases are indeed in need of our intervention. It is hoped that we can gather more support for those still classified as urgent and avert a repetition of this horrific and tragic ending to a precious life.
Say NO to the Execution of Women and Children! www.SaveDelara.com
Women4Change
============================================================
Iran Hangs 13, Including Mother
TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran hanged 13 convicted criminals on Wednesday, including the mother of two young children who had been found guilty of murdering her husband after discovering he was having an affair, reports said.
Raheleh Zamani was hanged alongside seven men convicted of murder at Tehran's Evin prison, the Iranian Student Correspondents' Association (ISCA) reported.
Three drug traffickers were also hanged on Wednesday in a square in the central city of Qom and another two in the eastern city of Zahedan, state media reported.
The executions, the first reported in 2008, were the latest in a growing number of executions in the Islamic republic as the authorities impose a drive they say is aimed at improving security in society.
ISCA said Raheleh had killed her husband Mohammad in 2005 by beating his head with an iron bar after discovering he was having an affair with another woman. She then chopped up the body and hid the pieces in several containers.
ISCA is one of several student news agencies in Iran and is run by Azad University.
The reformist Etemad newspaper reported on December 17 that Raheleh was the mother of a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy and had begged for forgiveness from the victim's family.
"My husband was having an affair with another woman and I was under the influence of the pills I took," ISCA quoted Raheleh as saying during her trial.
Raheleh had been due to be hanged on December 19, but was given a last-minute stay of execution to allow her more time to reach a settlement with her in-laws, reports at the time said.
Under Iranian law, a victim's family can ask right up to the moment before an execution that a murderer's life be spared and blood money be paid instead.
The seven men who were hanged with Raheleh included a man named Ali Reza who had been convicted of killing three women in a case that had been widely publicised by the local press.
The three men hanged in the clerical city of Qom were convicted of smuggling amounts of up to 590 grammes of heroin (1.3 pounds), according to the official IRNA news agency.
"By implementing God's law, we are increasing security in society and we are sending a message that Qom is not a safe haven for those who break the law," said local judiciary official Hoda Torshizi.
State media said the two convicts hanged in Zahedan had been found guilty of transporting 5.25 kilogrammes (11.5 pounds) of heroin.
Iranian law sets tough penalties for drug trafficking, with anyone found guilty of smuggling more than 30 grammes (0.06 pounds) of heroin or five kilogrammes (11 pounds) of opium liable to the death penalty.
Last year, Iran carried out at least 297 executions, according to an AFP count compiled from press reports.
The total was a sharp increase on 2006, when 177 executions were carried out, according to Amnesty International.
Iran currently makes more use of the death penalty than any other country apart from China. Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, serious drug trafficking and adultery.
Human rights groups have accused Iran of excessive resort to the death penalty, but the authorities say capital punishment is an effective deterrent that is only used after an exhaustive judicial process.
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