Blind Eye Watch

Watch as Human Rights Watch and our local media turn a blind eye to this story: Mentally-ill girl who was sold for sex faces death penalty in Iran

A teenage girl with a mental age of eight is facing the death penalty for prostitution in Iran. The trial comes only four months after the hanging of another mentally ill girl for sex before marriage in a case that has prompted a human rights lawyer to prepare a charge of wrongful execution against the presiding judge. The girl, known as Leyla M, is in prison while the Supreme Court decides on her “acts contrary to chastity”, among the most serious charges under Iranian law. Under the penal code, girls as young as nine and boys as young as 15 can be executed. In an interview on a Persian-language website, the 19-year-old says she was forced into prostitution by her mother at the age of eight. Amnesty International refers to reports that say she was repeatedly raped, bore her first child aged nine and was passed from pimp to pimp before having another three children. She told the website: “The first time I was taken to a man’s house by my mum I was eight. It was a horrible night and I cried a lot but then my mum came the next day and took me home. She bought me chocolate and cheese curls.” Iranian press reports say Leyla was charged with controlling a brothel, having sex with blood relatives and bearing an illegitimate child. Amnesty says the court refused to admit social workers’ evidence of her young mental age and convicted her on the basis of confessions.

Iran is frantically pursuing nuclear capabilities...for purely peaceful reasons of course.

(Link via LGF)

Comments

[John]

Islamic law is certainly barbaric from a Western perspective - and I feel very sorry for this poor woman. But, as I am sure you will agree, Islamic law has little to do with what they may or may not be doing with their Nuclear capabilities?

[Anti-UN]

well...from an anti-Western perspective...their nuclear aspirations are worrying.

It is unthinkable that an undemocratic Islamist regime that supports terror and opposes any Arab Israeli peace process could get its hand anywhere near the bomb.

Iran has huge gas and oil reserves...surely that makes nuclear powere needless?

[John]

Not being an expert on Iran's environmental views, I must say that it would be a good thing to go Nuclear - especially considering atmospheric pollution from oil/gas. _BUT_ this does not mean that they should have access to Uranium Enrichment abilities - that should certainly be restricted and tightly so (I feel the same about Israel btw).

But one viewpoint that should be considered is looking at the West from the Arab/Persian perspective. They see a whole number of Nuclear enabled Christian/Jewish Western Countries and zero Islamic Arab/Persian ones. In my opinion they are (with historically connected reasons) paranoid about this and feel that they should have something to counter this 'threat', as the Russians did in the Cold War. In other words, they lack trust in the West and their intentions.

[Steve]

Pakistan has nukes (and they are Islamic), but I understand the gist of what you saying, only I dont think it applies to Iran.

Comparing a nuclear armed Israel to Iran is tantamount to comparing a housewife in a kitchen with a big knife, to a deranged lunatic in a dark alley with the same knife.

Iran openly calls for the destruction of other countries.

Yes, you are correct if we look at it from their perspective, but considering their perspective does not legitimise said perspective.

Israel maintains a hazy cloud over her nuclear abilities precisely to avoid war. It is the major deterrent that keep wild places like Iran from attacking. Israel would never aggresively use nukes. If she did, all hell would already have broken loose.

Not being an expert on Iran's environmental views, I must say that it would be a good thing to go Nuclear - especially considering atmospheric pollution from oil/gas. _

Let Iran develop a little first and then we will worry about her atmospheric pollution problems. Environmentally speaking, Iran has done a pathetic job at protecting her cheetahs which are fast disappearing. The Ayatollahs dont seem to care. So I dont think its an environmental issue - but I have been wrong before.

They see a whole number of Nuclear enabled Christian/Jewish Western Countries and zero Islamic Arab/Persian ones.

There are also anti-western countries that have nukes, countries that Iran could consider as allies.
North Korea and China are two.

Then we have the "not-so-anti-western,-but-not-western" nations - India, Pakistan, and Russia.

We will just have to wait and see what happens. Perhaps a diplomatic solution will sort this all out.