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Democracy Failure

September 1, 2009, 9:12PM

Saeedeh Pouraghaei: the face of a new victim

In Foreignews, my short advice to those considering political revolt was, "You'd better win." Now that the election has been settled, Iran is arresting and brutally punishing the protesters, even one who merely chanted for freedom:

New information is emerging about another victim of the Basij's post-election violence. Saeedeh Pouraghaei was arrested because of her chants of Allahu-Akbar on the roof of her house in Dowlat Ave, in north of Tehran. Saeedeh was the only child of Abbas Pouraghaei who died two years ago of injuries sustained during the Iran-Iraq war. Saeedeh was arrested by the plain-clothed agents, and about 20 days after her arrest her mother was summoned to identify her body. Saeedeh's mother says that the body was partially burned, and she recognized her daughter with difficulty. She was asked to announce "kidney failure" as the cause of death. According the Saeedeh's family it seems that the body was intentionally burned to hide the evidence of rape and torture. Her body was not even handed over to her family, and they were just notified that she was secretly buried in Behesht Zahra cemetery in one of the unknown graves in section 309. Mir Hossein Mousavi attended Saeedeh's funeral ceremony on Saturday in a mosque in Dowlat Ave.

The Daily Dish posted a bloody clip of a father stained with the blood of his son, who had been tortured and raped in prison for his part in the protests. Despite being released to his father, the man jumped off a bridge, to his death.


16 Comments

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Dear God.

Posted by quinn esq
September 1, 2009 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Words fail me. But I appreciate your letting us know about this. Recommended.

Posted by LisB
September 1, 2009 9:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
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God damn it.

And Obama thinks he did the right thing not speaking up during the elections and the protests.

I was angry then. I am angry now. True the opportunity to talk was there in 2001, the time was right. The demographics were right. But really, silence?-so as not to be seen interfering? The fucking shitty trap W's lack of strategy has woven us into. Now another generation, bloodied, and heartbroken as yet another country applies the lessons of Tiananmen. This time updated for Twitter and Facebook.

God damn it.

Posted by Saladin
September 1, 2009 10:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
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I rather think that had he not spoken up in Cairo on June 4, 2009, there might not have been the protests in the first place. I'm glad he spoke up then.

But once he did speak up he put himself in a damned if I do, damned if I don't sitution. If he spoke up more than he did (he wasn't entirely silent--we get distracted and our memories falter-- ) he gives fodder to those who claim the protests were not authentic representations of the Iranian people, but yet another provocation by the Great Satan. We've already heard that.

If he speaks up not at all, then we stand accused of raising hopes leading to the death of innocents--the Hungarian Uprising in the 1950s comes to mind. Eisenhower took lots of flack when the Russians rolled in an put it down.

I think that one thing all of us need to recognize, sad at it is, is that the death of innocents is the way of the world, and has been probably forever. I hasten to assure people that I'm not trying to draw an absolute equivolent, but the Boston Massacre would be an example of the "Death of Innocents" The famous picture shows the "innocents" being massacred. British Captain Prescott and troop were tried in 1770. Their defender was the great patriot and later President of the United States, John Adams. Adams won an acquittal. Taking the case may have been the bravest thine he ever did.

The end result was the martyrdom of the innocents, the elevation of one of them, Crispus Attucks, a free black, to the status of martyr hero,

Two links people might find useful. The first is to the transcript of the June 23 Press Conference. The President led his opening remarks this way.

First, I'd like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.

I've made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering with Iran's affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and the dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore the violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.

The Iranian people are trying to have a debate about their future. Some in Iran -- some in the Iranian government, in particular, are trying to avoid that debate by accusing the United States and others in the West of instigating protests over the election. These accusations are patently false. They're an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran's borders. This tired strategy of using old tensions to scapegoat other countries won't work anymore in Iran. This is not about the United States or the West; this is about the people of Iran, and the future that they -- and only they -- will choose.

The Iranian people can speak for themselves. That's precisely what's happened in the last few days. In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests [sic] of justice. Despite the Iranian government's efforts to expel journalists and isolate itself, powerful images and poignant words have made their way to us through cell phones and computers, and so we've watched what the Iranian people are doing.

This is what we've witnessed. We've seen the timeless dignity of tens of thousands of Iranians marching in silence. We've seen people of all ages risk everything to insist that their votes are counted and that their voices are heard. Above all, we've seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats, and we've experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and extraordinarily painful, we also know this: Those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people have a universal right to assembly and free speech. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect those rights and heed the will of its own people. It must govern through consent and not coercion. That's what Iran's own people are calling for, and the Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Press-Conference-by-the-President-6-23-09/

I tried to find a video of the opening remarks and I couldn't, nor could I find anything but highly edited responses to questions.


The second, an account of the massacre of innocents in Boston and the subsequent trials.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTRIALS/bostonmassacre/bostonmassacre.html

Posted by amike in reply to a comment from Saladin
September 2, 2009 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Thanks Amike. I really liked the Cairo speech, but yes I feel that he set himself up. Like my comment below- I simply don't know what the right thing to do was.

Yes Innocents die, and I appreciate your example of the boston massacre (although the british still reject that title). But this has been happening in Iran for decades- for example the 1997 elections had similar (although smaller) protests and the student leaders disappeared. When Bush labeled them axis of evil they hunkered down into a nationalist posture, but overtures (in fact they begged for full reestablishment of relations in 2003) were possible and we missed the opportunity. I don't mean to say it would have fixed everything, but we would have had some leverage.

I don't quite agree with the parrellel of the Boston Massacre. We were not yet a country and in need of defining stories, Iran is one oldest. They have more history then they possibly want. We were optimist and hopeful with an entire continent before us at the cusp of the age of reason. We were overthrowing an absent dictator. They need to overthrow a homegrown religious leadership that gets its legitimacy from their own organic cultural history.

I read Lipstick Jihad earlier this year and one of the things that most struck me was how the youth in Iran seemed to cynically accept how the world was and treated everyday life as a battle. They had to forcibly take their rights through clever wile, gamesmanship, or false anger every single day. It sounded Exhausting, because it is. To me I somewhat viewed these protests through that lens. The middle class wasn't trying to overthrow the system, or fervent a revolution. No they just wanted a little respect and life to be a little easier. They didn't get it. And the more fervent of them are probably dead. Now the regime is strengthened and the future potential leaders and their networks are broken. You better win.

Reading the stories in this post break my heart. I feel that the arc of my life has been to watch the ebb of human rights progress. I came of age in the late eighties and my formative memories went immediately from the triumph of the Berlin wall to the massacre of the Chinese students (Te tell the truth I really wish Obama had not spoke on june 4th- not an auspicious day). Things have gotten worse sense. I look at Iran as really the best hope for a large middle eastern country to break the chains of a totalitarian regime. If they did it, then I think Syria and Egypt would be inspired to follow and become more progressive (granted these are very different countries). Regardless Iraq's fate is tied to Iran's, and the religious repression does not bode well for them.

I have much more I would like to say but I simply most get to work (be back this evening). But I guess I can't help but feel that the sad truth is that the world is growing more conservative, more barbarous not less, and we seem helpless before it.

Posted by Saladin in reply to a comment from amike
September 2, 2009 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Thanks for giving me a lot to thing about, Saladdin, and think about it I will. But like you, I've got to go do some work. Hopefully I'll be back to continue this with you and anyone else who gets involved.

Posted by amike in reply to a comment from Saladin
September 2, 2009 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
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I'm back, but it's late and I'm tired. What I wanted to draw your attention to was perhaps an even better story of the Torture of Innocents from the American Revolution--that war seems so bloodless to us now. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur may be familiar to you from his Letters from an American Farmer. The What is an American letter must be one of the most anthologized bits of Colonial Era letters. Less familiar is the section of his journals which gets anthologized as "Man of Sorrows," describing the virtual civil war in New York.
Just a sampling. I'll link to the rest.

Hard was this poor man's fate. He had been already suspended in a most excruciating situation for not having confessed what was required of him. Had he confessed the crime laid to his charge, he must have been hung according to the principle of self-preservation which filled the breasts of these people. What was he then to do? Behold here innocence pregnant with as much danger as guilt itself, a situation which is very common and is a characteristic of these times. You may be punished to-morrow for thoughts and sentiments for which you were highly commended the preceding day, and alternately. On hearing of his doom, he flung himself at the feet of the first man. He solemnly appealed to God, the searcher of hearts, for the truth of his assertions. He frankly owned that he was attached to the king's cause from ancient respect and by the force of custom; that he had no idea of any other government, but that at the same time he had never forcibly opposed the measures of the country; that his opinions had never gone beyond his house; that in peace and silence he had submitted to the will of heaven without ever intending to take part with either side; that he detested from the bottom of his heart this mode of war which desolated and ruined so many harmless and passive inhabitants who had committed no other crime than that of living on the frontiers. He earnestly begged and entreated them that they would give him an opportunity of proving his innocence: "Will none of you hear me with patience? I am no stranger, no unknown person; you well know that I am a home-staying man, laborious and peaceable. Would you destroy me on a hearsay? For the sake of that God which knows and sees and judges all men, permit me to have a judicial hearing."

The passive character of this man, though otherwise perfectly inoffensive, had long before been the cause of his having been suspected. Their hearts were hardened and their minds prepossessed; they refused his request and justified the sentence of death they had passed. They, however, promised him his life if he would confess who were those traitors that came to his house, and who guided them through the woods to With a louder voice than usual, the poor culprit denied his having the least knowledge whatever of these persons; but seeing that it was all in vain, he peaceably submitted to his fate and gave himself up to those who were preparing the fatal cord. It was soon tied round the limb of a tree, to which they hanged him.

As this execution was not the action of cool, deliberate justice, but the effects of mad revenge, it is no wonder that in the hurry of their operation they forgot to tie his arms and to cover his face. The struggles he made as soon as he was suspended; the agitations of his hands, instinctively trying to relieve him; the contortions of the face necessarily attending such a state presented a most dreadful spectacle, which in common executions are hid from the public's eyes. But so irresistible is the power of self-preservation, so high was their resentment, so great their consciousness of his being guilty that these dreadful images conveyed neither horror nor thoughts of mercy to the minds of these incensed people. Whilst they were thus feeding their passions, and whilst unmoved they stood gazing on their departing enemy, Nature was hastening his final dissolution, as evidently appeared by the trembling nerves, the quivering appearance of the limbs, the extension of the tongue. The shades of patibulary death began to spread on his face; the hands, no longer trying to relieve the body, hung loose on each side.

Fortunately at this instant some remains of humanity sprung up in the breasts of a few. They solicited that he might be taken down. It was agreed and done. The next threw cold water on him; and to the surprise of some and the mortification of others, he showed some signs of life. He gradually recovered. The first dawn of his returning reason showed what were the objects which had engrossed his last thoughts. He most tenderly inquired for his wife. Poor woman! At a small distance she lay stretched on the ground, happily relieved from feeling the horrid pangs with which the preceding scene must have harrowed up her soul, by having fainted as soon as she saw the fatal cord fixed round her husband's neck. The second part of his attention was attracted by the sight of his children, who were crowded at the door of his house in astonishment, terror, and affright. His breast heaved high, and the sobs it contained could hardly find utterance. He shed no tears, for their source had almost been dried up along with those of life. Gracious God, hast Thou then intended that Man should bear so much evil, that Thou hast given him a heart capable of resisting such powerful sensations without breaking in twain?

http://people.virginia.edu/~mmw3v/html/crev/ch07.html

100,000 Americans, their property expropriated by the winners, fled to Canada and settled in Nova Scotia. I didn't become acquainted with this phase of the American Revolution until College, or maybe Graduate School,I don't recollect which.

Posted by amike in reply to a comment from amike
September 2, 2009 9:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
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Thanks amike - I read some nasty things in Lies my Teacher Told Me, too.

Posted by Donal in reply to a comment from amike
September 2, 2009 9:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
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There's two ways of lying, Donal, one is speaking falsehood, the other suppressing truth. I think the profession is usually more guilty of the second than the first. I reflect, though, that I couldn't teach what I didn't know, and some things are terribly hard to dig out. I knew the Man of Sorrows existed. I have it in my office library. I knew that I'd have no trouble finding Letters from an American Farmer online, and I didn't. I assumed the same would be true of the journal in which this contained. I found it, but not easily--applying every search trick I knew (and I know lots) I located this in about an hour, maybe a little less. I'm glad to pass it on.

Posted by amike in reply to a comment from Donal
September 3, 2009 9:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Thanks amike.

Reading. Please keep sharing.

Posted by Saladin in reply to a comment from amike
September 3, 2009 3:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
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Naw. Obama disappoints me on many issues, but on this one, I think he did the right thing. Other nations need to be allowed to evolve and grow out of their problems.

Posted by CharlesBrown
September 1, 2009 10:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
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if meant for me I am not sure if I am blaming obama, I just don't know if I agree either. National development is realtional and some things that work for some don't work for others. Regardless Iran is hardly developing.

Here is a thought-provoking column:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF30Ak02.html

Like in Afganistan, Health care, and his post-partisanship nonsense I fear that Obama is playing with a circa 2000 mindset and strategy. But w shifted the debate and now things are different. I don't know yet what that fully means, but it is not good. I feel we are trapped and forced to play a shitty hand and It angers me. And kills innocents.

Posted by Saladin in reply to a comment from CharlesBrown
September 2, 2009 1:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
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As C might put it, ME TOO!!!

Posted by dickday in reply to a comment from Saladin
September 2, 2009 1:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
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I don't think that those in Iran who protested (and continue to protest) the elections have just shut up and gone home. As political actions past and present have shown, Iranians seem to be made of sterner stuff than present day Americans. They do not intimidate easily.

I think the strongest support we can offer is to make the atrocities public - make sure the voices are heard outside of Iran (which will cycle back into Iran and elsewhere). This is exactly what you have Donal. Thank you.

Posted by Rowan Wolf
September 2, 2009 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
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With all the brutality, injustice, corruption and repression there is in Theocracy, Democracy, Plutocracy and and all the rest - anarchism is looking better and better.


C

Posted by cmaukonen
September 2, 2009 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
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I might support that if it were true anarchism - not the libertarian corrupted one that seems to have crept in.

Posted by Rowan Wolf in reply to a comment from cmaukonen
September 2, 2009 6:31 PM | Reply | Permalink

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