PrintFebruary 9, 2011
Islam, Human Rights & The Iranian Regime's Killing Spree
How much does Islam value the life of a human being? What did Allah say to the Prophet Mohammad about life, about mankind, about how we need to respect and treasure it? The answer resides both in the Quran and the laws laid down by the Islamic rulers of Iran and other Islamic countries.
The Quran, the holy book of Muslims, is clear about the value of life and what human beings need to do in order to end up in heaven. The Quran makes clear what Allah loves (61:4): "Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way." Then the Quran makes it clear that no human being is immune to refusing its mandate or allowed freedom of choice (8:12): "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them." And it goes further recommending what needs to be done against those challenging its rule (5:33): "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement."
Since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 and the establishment of the Revolutionary Courts, the clergy judges have issued tens of thousands of death penalties based on the very verses in the Quran, calling anyone disagreeing with their rule a "Mohareb," an enemy of God, or those waging war against Allah.
In the summer of 1988, over 30,000 political prisoners were executed in a very short period of time and buried in mass graves. Thousand of intellectuals, journalists, poets, writers, students, and political activists have been murdered by the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence with utmost cruelty, some in their homes. The founder and leader of the Nation of Iran Party, Dariush Forouhar along with his wife, Parvaneh, were among them. The assailants entered their home, tied the husband and wife to chairs, faced them toward Mecca, and stabbed them to death, mutilating their bodies.
The Islamic rulers of Iran boasted about the principles of the Revolution -- that it was the start of a new movement where Islam would find its past glories and go even further to conquer the world. They continued with their Islamic mandate to kill thousands more, charging their families for the bullets that were used to kill their loved ones and in many cases even refused to return the bodies.
The clergy honored those who killed the most. Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammadi Gilani, as the chief judge of the Revolutionary Courts, had ordered demonstrators killed and virgin girls raped prior to execution so they could not go to heaven. He called the torture and killing of male and female opponents of the regime fair and just. All for no other reason than they violated the Islamic law as viewed by the mullahs. He was awarded the highest judicial honor for his 30 years of service to the Islamic Republic.
The world saw a glimpse of the cruelty of the Islamic rulers in Iran in the protests after the fraudulent elections of 2009. Hundreds of innocent civilians were killed, thousands were tortured and many await execution.
Since the beginning of 2011, in just three weeks, Iran has hanged over 95 prisoners - many charged as "Mohareb," enemy of God, and many on false charges of drugs. Hundreds of political activists have been imprisoned and thousands remain on the execution list waiting for Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, to clear the way for another mass execution.
Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a hard-line cleric, recently urged officials to enforce Islamic rules. He declared that anyone confronting Islam should either be executed or have his hands and feet chopped off. He also stated that in enforcing these rules, there is no room for democracy or human rights.
The executions and silencing the desire for freedom in Iran is heartbreaking and most shocking, but what is more shocking is that the West continues its deadly silence over these human rights violations. This is interpreted by the Iranian leaders as a clear sign that the West will tolerate such criminal behavior and that it is too weak to bring any meaningful pressure.
Western politicians need to know that those hands they are so willing to shake are covered in the blood of hundreds of thousand innocent human beings whose only crime is the desire of freedom from fanatic Islamists. These Islamists also bear the blood of hundreds of Americans who have sacrificed their lives to protect freedom.
Western politicians should know that in their desire to negotiate, they have sidestepped the very principles that they should be defending; the very principles that thousands before us have sacrificed with their lives so we could enjoy democracy and freedom. They should know that negotiations with those who so mercilessly kill for Allah will not result in future world peace. Iranian leaders literally take it from the Quran to deceive their enemies until such time that they are strong enough to destroy them.
As the great Iranian poet, Saadi said centuries ago:
Human beings are members of a whole,In creation of one essence and soul.If one member is afflicted with pain,Other members uneasy will remain.If you have no sympathy for human pain,The name of human you cannot retain.
Reza Kahlili is a pseudonym for an ex-CIA spy who requires anonymity for safety reasons. "A Time to Betray," his book about his double life as a CIA agent in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was published by Simon & Schuster on April 6, 2010.
