Mob rule: Homosexual youth executed in Iran

Was this what Adhmadinejad meant when he said there weren't any gays in Iran? 19 year old Makwan Moloudzadeh, accused of homosexual rape when he was age 13 by accusers who have since recanted, was executed without warning last week after a stay of execution in response to international pressures had been granted.

In addition to illustrating the arbitrary nature of the so-called Islamic justice system in Iran, something which Iranian expatriates have talked about for years, the fate of Makwan Moloudzadeh illuminates the great risks in relying solely on pressure from international agencies and diplomacy when dealing with the Iranian government. For such pressures to work not only must key figures within the government care about both their nation's international reputation and the economic well being of their people, they must also be firmly in control of all branches and regions of the government.

While some forces within the Iranian government do take heed of such pressure, this case would seem to indicate their ability to control events is sadly lacking. Despite the language of the November 10, 2007 opinion in which the Iranian Chief Justice described the death sentence on Moloudzadeh to be in violation of Islamic teachings, the religious decrees of high-ranking Shiite clerics, and the law of the land, his case was not revised. It was sent back to the local jurisdiction where the execution took place. This is similar to what happened just last July when the sentence condemning a woman in the northwestern province of Qazvin to be stoned to death for adultery resulted in worldwide condemnation. That sentence was also carried out despite a five year moratorium on stonings from the central government.

There has also been much speculation that Adhaminejad's apocalyptic rhetoric may be just so much posturing for the mob. Those who take this position argue that like the members of the Soviet Politburo the ranking ayatollahs in Iran have grown too fond of the perquisites of the power they exercise in this world to even think of unleashing a devastating war. I have problems reconciling that analysis with these two legal cases.

It has been my experience that those who are so very fond of exercising their worldly power do not allow their legal pronouncements to be openly violated without consequence, as apparently has happened here. I am increasingly of the opinion the supreme governor of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the mob itself.

Hat tip: Gateway Pundit