Balal's mother hugged the grieving mother of the man her son had killed. The two women sobbed in each other's arms – one because she had lost her son, the other because hers had been saved.
An Iranian killer's public execution was halted at last minute by the victim's parents. The hangman's noose had been placed around the killer's neck. Balal, the convict, must have thought he was about to take his last breath. Minutes earlier, crowds had watched as guards pushed Balal towards the gallows for what was meant to be yet another public execution in the Islamic republic of Iran.
But what happened next marked a rarity in public executions in Iran, which puts more people to death than any other country apart from China. The victim's mother approached, slapped the convict in the face and then decided to forgive her son's killer. The victim's father removed the noose and Balal's life was spared.
Seven years ago Balal, who is in his 20s, stabbed 18-year-old Abdollah Hosseinzadeh during a street brawl in Iran. In a literal application of qisas, the sharia law of retribution, the victim's family were to participate in Balal's punishment by pushing the chair on which he stood.
A dream prompted the change of heart. Three days earlier the victim's mother saw her son in a dream telling her that he (and his younger brother) were in a good place, and for her not to retaliate. The action to spare the life of her eldest son's killer was all the more extraordinary as it emerged that this was not the first son she had lost. Her younger son was killed in a motorbike accident at the age of 11.
Many Iranian public figures had called on the victim's parents, who also have a daughter, to forgive the killer. Although they did so, Balal will not necessarily be freed. Under Iranian law the victim's family have a say only in the act of execution, not any jail sentence.
In recent years Iran has faced criticism from human rights activists for its high rate of executions. This year so far, 199 executions are believed to have been carried out in Iran. At least 369 executions were officially acknowledged by the Iranian authorities in 2013, but Amnesty International says hundreds more people were put to death in secret, taking the actual number closer to 700. Last year Iran and Iraq were responsible for two-thirds of the world's executions, excluding China.
Iran is particularly criticised for its public executions, which have attracted children among the crowds in the past. Iranian photographers are often allowed to document them.
"Public executions are degrading and incompatible with human dignity of those executed. In addition, all those who watch public executions – which regrettably often includes children – are brutalised by the experience. It is deeply disturbing that the death penalty continues to be seen as a solution to crime in Iran. Not only is the death penalty the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment with no special deterrent impact, but public displays of killing prisoners also perpetuate a culture of acceptance of violence." said Bahareh Davis of Amnesty International.
In October 2013, an Iranian prisoner who survived an attempted execution and was revived in the morgue, was spared another execution attempt. His family said he had lost mental stability and has remained in jail.
Read more ... http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/16/iran-parents-halt-killer-ex...
FOOTNOTE: All religions of the world preach compassion, forgiveness and mercy over vengeance. The death penalty is inconsistent with these religious teachings.
