A Story from Another World

I don't know why I'm writing this blog and this story, but I needed to - perhaps cos I think could this have been my sister? My fiance's sister? My best friend? Me?? In another life?

The year was 2004.

There was a teenager called Atefah Sahaaleh who was 16 years old and lived in Iran. She had lost her mother to a car crash as a child after which her father spiralled into drug addiction. Her life, amongst the teenage angst we all went through/ are going through, consisted of cooking and cleaning for her grandparents. A psychologist who examined her reported that she was desperately looking for love. Not an unusual story.

On a previous occassion after being seen in a car with a boy, her chastity was called into question. She received 100 lashes as punishment.

When she was 13 she started a relationship with a man, a taxi driver by profession, who was quite a bit older than her (some reports say he was about 51 years old). This relationship, if it was of a sexual nature, would be - in most, if not all, Western countries - what is called statutory rape. She claimed she had been raped by the 51 year old man - but rape is almost impossible to be made out in Iran where the age of consent for a girl is 9 years. Let's assume, there was no rape and she had had a "relationship" with this man. It's still an adult taking advantage of a child. It's a desperate little girl looking for love - from wherever she can find it.

Under the Islamic law code in Iran, a girl in a sexual 'relationship', over the age of consent (9 years) takes the responsibility of having "tempted" a man.

Her documents, for some reason, stated her as 22 - the legal age after which the death sentence can be imposed as punishment. She was convicted of committing acts acts which were 'incompatible with chastity'.

One of her other "crimes" was arguing with the Judge at her trial. (I guess sort of like SB Dissanayake, in Sri Lanka, who was given 2 years RI for contempt of court - an unfair sentence in terms of precedent, in general legal opinion.) The difference though? Atefah had no access to legal counsel.

She was convicted and sentenced to death. The Supreme Court upheld the sentence.

Where were you two years ago (Aug 15th) yesterday??

Two years ago yesterday Atefah was dragged through the town square and hanged - the noose applied by the trial judge himself.

Human Rights live on. So does cultural relativism.

For more info.