ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Putin Punishes Georgia</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style3 { height: 68px; } .MsoNormal {} h1 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style4 { font-size: large; font-weight: bold; font-family: Arial; } .style6 { height: 69px; } h2 {margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; } .style7 { width: 133px; } .style8 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> &nbsp;<table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr> <td height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style7"> <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="7" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="482" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140" class="style6"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="1" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" class="style6"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="300" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="624" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style3"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="2"> <td height="2" class="style7"></td> <td width="489" height="2576" colspan="3" rowspan="2" align="left" xpos="133" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <p class="style4">Iran&#39;s Barbaric Human Rights Abuse</p> <p><b><font face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica">by John M. Curt</font></b><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b>is<a href="books.html"><br> </a></b></font><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> (310) 204-8700</b></font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright July 9, 2010<br>All Rights Reserved. </i></font>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </p> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <bAbout the Author</u> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="style8">W</span>hen former President George W. Bush identified Iran on the  Axis of Evil Jan. 29, 2002 in the State of the Union speech, the outside world learned of intolerable abuses in women s and human rights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>As long as women wear the Hijab or Burka, they are not subject to the harassment, arrest, detention, beatings and liquidation for violating Persian law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Iran s brutality toward women was highlighted on the world stage with the expected stoning of convicted adulteress Mohammadi-Ashtiani, whose crimes earned her the death penalty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Iran s religious powers caved under mounting international pressure against stoning, considered in the West as barbaric.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Iran s mullahs consider it befitting punishment for female adulterers, certainly not men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> According to the information from the relevant judicial authorities in Iran, will not be executed by stoning, said London s Iranian embassy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Ashtiani faces no clemency by Iran s clerics only a different death sentence for her alleged adultery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Ashtiani s attorney in Tehran Mohammad Mostafari indicated he received no independent confirmation of the state s change of heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> My client remains in prison awaiting execution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He had not idea whether authorities had commuted her sentence or changed its execution, typically by hanging inside the prison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It didn t say the verdict had been overturned, so is she going to face some alternative punishment, is she going to be released or will there be a retrial, said Mostafari, awaiting some direction from Iranian government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Once someone is brought inside the Iranian judicial system, there s no return, as pro-Democracy protestors found out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Mir-Hossein Mousavi lost June 13, 2009 to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmandinejad, the election was deemed fixed.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Waves of protestors following the election were arrested, charged, convicted and liquidated in the most brutal crackdown since Chinese tanks rolled over pro-Deemocracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square April 14, 1989.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While the Chinese openly massacred about 3,000 protestors, no one knows the numbers of Iranians liquidated<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>during Ahmandinejad s crackdown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When 43-year-old mother-of-two Mohammadi-Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006, she was flogged and sentenced to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have worked round-the-clock to stop Iran s scheduled stoning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>AI s Mideast and North Africa deputy director Nassiba Hadj Sahraoui begged Iranian authorities to spare Ashtiani s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> To punish and in some cases execute people for being in consenting relationships is no business of the state, said Sahraoui.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Faced with more harsh sanctions for its nuclear enrichment program, the Iranian regime has gone rogue, refusing any U.N. supervision for its atomic program and human rights abuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Iran neither listens to any international body nor responds to sanctions, rejecting outside pressure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While it s a good sign that Ashtiani hasn t been stoned to death, her death sentence looms as the same Taliban-like brutality that called for regime change in 2001.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Amnesty International indicates that at least 10 other prisoners seven of whom women face a stoning death sentence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Calling Iran s justice system  medieval, British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Iran that the world is watching its barbaric behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>More defiance only galvanizes support for eventual regime change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>With Israel threatening to bomb its nuclear facilities, there s growing impatience with Iran.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Iranian justice finds any excuse to torture and murder opposents to the Mullahs radical agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Nowhere on the planet other than perhaps North Korea are there more human rights abuses and less tolerance for freedom of speech.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Stoning and beheadings display the kind of savagery that beats dissent into submission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Stoning as a means of execution is tantamount to torture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It s barbaric and an abhorrent act, said U.S. State Department spokesman, urging Tehran to cease-and-desist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Savage-like practices like stoning remind the civilized world that Iran marches to the beat of a different drummer, one that accepts any act of violence as long as it forces conformity and obedience of its citizens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>World powers must take a forceful stance and condemn Iran s aberrant behavior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If WW II taught anything, it was that the world can t tolerate heinous acts of barbarity.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>President Barack Obama needs to take a forceful stance on Iran s Islamic Republic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>He s repeatedly warned Tehran to cease-and-desist its defiant uranium enrichment program or face more draconic sanctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>In order for Ahmadinejad to get the message, the U.S. must be prepared to back up its warnings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>As long as the U.S. remains mired in Iraq and Afghanistan, it ties its hands where it counts, especially dealing with the real threats to world peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Calling stoning  a particularly cruel method of execution which amounts to torture, EU Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton strongly condemned Iran s actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Beyond sadistic methods of execution, world powers must stand together and tell Tehran it&#39;s crossed the line of civilized conduct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Stoning is just one more glaring red flag when it comes to Tehan s egregious human rights abuses and warnings for the civilized world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <b>John M. Curtis </b>writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He&#x2019;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet</a> and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.</p> </td> <td width="1" height="2576" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="2"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2"></td> </tr> <tr height="2574"> <td height="2574" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0" class="style7"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="1" height="2574"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2574"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td height="1" class="style7"><spacer type="block" width="133" height="1"></td> <td width="7" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="7" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="300" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="300" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homecobolos> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">©1999-2005 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"> Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>