Posted on 11/15/2022 7:30:25 AM PST by Words Matter
Protests began in Iran on September 16, prompted by the death of a 22-year-old woman who was dragged away and allegedly beaten by the morality police for wearing her hijab improperly. Now, a new horror is being forced on the protesters of Iran who've spent weeks continuing their fight amidst brutal oppression by Islamic forces. More than 14,000 Iranians have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations being held around the country, with the country's parliament voting overwhelmingly last week in favour of the death penalty.
Protests are being held across the world in solidarity with Iranian citizens. Image: Taken in Paris, Michel Stoupak/Getty. Lawmakers think it'll teach those arrested a "good lesson" and deter others from joining. The protests have included women ditching their mandated headscarves and publicly burning them, cutting their hair, and holding signs demanding their human rights.
Among those arrested are hundreds of children - young girls fighting for their futures. Iran is one of the world's last countries to execute "juvenile offenders," with nine the age of criminal responsibility for girls, compared to 15 for boys. But under Iranian law, you can't execute a minor if they're a virgin.
That roadblock has been solved in the past by marrying the girls off to prison guards to be raped the night before their murders - a practice that's been documented over the decades by journalists, families, activists and even a former leader. In 2014 Justice For Iran published a report on the organised rape of virgin girls awaiting execution in the country's prisons, specifically focusing on the 1980s. It detailed that the practice was systemic, and likely approved of by higher officials within the government.
Islamic Republic leader, Hussein-Ali Montazeri, tried to speak out against the executions, conversations he detailed in his 2000 memoir.
"I told judges not to write death sentences for girls. This is what I said. But they perverted my words and quoted me as saying: 'Don’t execute girls. First married them for one night and then execute them,'" he wrote.
In 2009, a serving member of the paramilitary Basiji militia told The Jerusalem Post, he was forced to take part in such rapes.
"At 18, I was given the 'honour' to temporarily marry young girls before they were sentenced to death... I regret that, even though the marriages were legal. I could tell that the girls were more afraid of their wedding night than of the execution that awaited them in the morning," he said. "By morning the girls would have an empty expression; it seemed like they were ready or wanted to die." Activists and family members are reporting that it's happening now, in 2022, alongside torture, beatings and horrific sexual abuse.
Kurdish Rapper Faces Execution In Iran For Supporting Protests Against Mahsa Amini’s Death
by Radha Basnet, English Jagran, November 11, 2022
And don’t forget all those other important countries besides Iran like China and North Korea and, and, hum???
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