By Faraz Sanei, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Faraz Sanei is the Iran researcher with the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch. The views expressed are the author’s own.
Around 5 a.m. last September 21, police officers escorted Alireza Molla-Soltani to a public square in the city of Karaj, 12 miles west of Tehran. It was dark, but a large crowd was waiting there. The officers hoisted Molla-Soltani, who was blindfolded with his hands cuffed behind his back, up on a stool. He slipped a few times, but then managed to keep his balance. As the officers placed a noose around his neck, he began to sob and beg for mercy. A couple of minutes later, a crane slowly lifted Molla-Soltani by his neck. He was pronounced dead several minutes later.
Molla-Soltani was two months shy of his 18th birthday.
The judiciary sentenced Molla-Soltani to death for the July 2011 murder of Ruhollah Dadashi, champion of Iran’s “strongest man” competition. Molla-Soltani and his lawyers contended that he had acted in self-defense.
Alireza Rezvanmanesh, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, defended the execution, saying that Iranian law allows execution of offenders sentenced to death as long as they have reached 18 lunar years by the time they are put to death. He ignored the fact that international law strictly prohibits the execution of anyone who was under 18 when the offense was committed.
Partly in response to local and international pressures regarding Draconian laws such as those that allow child executions, Iranian lawmakers proposed changes to the country’s penal code. In January, the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 religious jurists who vet legislation to ensure its compatibility with Iran’s Constitution and Sharia law, approved the final text of an amended penal code. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has not yet signed the amended code into law, but he may do so at any time.
Iranian lawmakers and judiciary officials have cited the amendments as a serious attempt to comply with Iran’s international human rights obligations.
Indeed, the amended penal code abolishes the death penalty for certain categories of crimes committed by child offenders, such as drug trafficking. But the proposed revisions would still allow judges to sentence child offenders, like Molla-Soltani, to death for other crimes. In 2011, at least 143 child offenders were on death row in Iranian prisons. The new code pegs the age of criminal responsibility to the age of maturity under Sharia law, which in Iranian jurisprudence is 9 for girls and 15 for boys.
There are numerous other problems with the new penal code. The proposed amendments continue to mandate the death penalty for “crimes” such as consensual sexual conduct outside of marriage, drinking alcohol, and apostasy (even though no law prohibits apostasy). Many other objectionable provisions under the current penal code remain in the amended version, including punishments, among them death, for alleged violations of Iran’s broadly-worded national security laws. These laws are regularly used to try and convict political dissidents, including peaceful dissidents, in revolutionary courts. In some cases, the proposed amendments further weaken the rights of criminal defendants and allow judges wide discretion to issue punishments, including death.
In 2011, Iran executed at least 600 people, second only to China.
The new penal code provisions also permit the continued use of punishments that amount to torture or cruel and degrading treatment, such as stoning, flogging and amputation – and retain discriminatory provisions against women and religious minorities.
Last week, Iran hosted the 16th annual Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit. Iranian leaders used the summit as an opportunity to tout their standing among NAM countries – and on the international stage. Dozens of state leaders attended the summit to discuss, among other things, the situation of human rights worldwide. In fact, NAM’s founding charter requires members to “respect fundamental human rights” and “respect justice and international obligations.”
The summit may be over, but it is not too late for representatives of the member states to remind their Iranian counterparts that serious criminal reform is integral to respecting fundamental human rights and justice – and that real criminal reform in Iran requires a thorough overhaul of a penal code that has for too long been a tool of systematic repression in the hands of the authorities, and will continue to be if Ahmadinejad signs the amended penal code into law.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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This is pure propaganda. Look to your own penal code, then look to Saudi Arabia's penal code. Then look at the whole world. This article is purely an attempt to justify the coming war in the eyes of the people.
Ad Hominem
Absque scientia
A human life is sometimes ad valorem!
In some countries human lives are cheap.
LOL I doubt that a researcher for Human Rights Watch is trying to justify a war.
Obama need to rob Iran's oil to stay in power, just like Bush robbed Iraq's oil to win re-election. So all the human right reports about USA and Israel would be hidden, and those about Iran would be highlighted. Let more Americans die for fat profits of our oil companies.
The new Iranian penal code has just been amended for the coming new year. No child under the age of five shall be put to death (unless they have painted pictures of mohammed with their feces), if they can prove that they are completely innocent of any charges brought against them by the prosecution and can recite the entire Koran backwards.
No doubt wrongdoers from Iran's privileged class and the ruling elite can get away with impunity.
I am OK with that. In fact, I am OK with us dropping the bomb on Iran and stealing their oil. I am tired of all the nutcases over there threatening us with nuclear war. How about this...we beat them to the punch, drop the bomb, and take their oil. I think 80 percent of Americans would be OK with this if it gets us 1 dollar per gallon gasoline.
I think you're nuts.
Thank you for voicing your psychopathic and genocidal thoughts. Let's annihilate a race of mostly innocent men, women and children because you're annoyed with the news. God bless Amurica.
Your comment is why America is the joke of the world. I wish you peace and understanding. "You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb it into peace" Michael Franti
And FYI, Iran has NEVER threatened the U.S. with any kind of bomb. The U.S. is the ONLY country in the world to have used the nuclear bomb twice! When was the last time Iran invaded ANY country? When was the last time the U.S. invaded another country based on bogus evidence and fear?!?!??!
Power to the Peaceful
p.s.
The U.S. is so deep in debt from all the bombs it has dropped on innocent people, I'm not sure it could afford to kill any other innocent people for a few years at least. Also war with Iran would at least quadruple the price of gasoline, not lower it.
yuri,
While Iran may have never taken an official stance on bombing Iran, I have seen plenty of video footage of Ahmadinajad (not gonna even try to spell check it) referencing it before cheering crowds. If the people of Iran do not want the rest of us to take the guy seriously and respond accordingly, then they should remove him.
Andrew,
your an idiot
Like Obama, you too can win a Nobel prize for peace
Thank you, General Turdigson (look it up).
As a Canadian, I'm with you.
That is about right. In the US, if you have money you can rob and kill and molest little children all you want and no one does a thing. It is no different in Iran or France or S. Africa. The people with the money make the rules and sell the wars.
Any country stating that a nine year old girl or 15 year old boy has reached the age of majority is run by people out of touch with objective reality. The differing standards for male and female children suggest that it is also run by pedophiles who want an opportunity to defile girls while preventing or delaying any healthy relationships with boys in the same age cohort.
8=>(_|_)
dont paint your ancestors face publically
No, NO. I completely agree, this is mohamad. I have his picture in my bathroom. Boy does it help.
Much too lifelike my friend! Watch your back!
You have left the sword out. This man was a murderer and pedophile. Please add a few children to it as well.
There are significant problems with the Iranian penal code. However,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_juvenile_offenders_executed_in_the_United_States
we only stopped executing juveniles in 2005, and we locked up an 11 year old for live in prison without a chance for parole http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/25/youngest-american-life-without-parole/
. The US, unlike Iran, has refused to ratify the Rights of a Child agreement, the "international law" discussed in the article. The other problems with Iran's penal code (death penalty for adultery, political dissidents, ect.) are troubling.
correction to my post, Iran's ratification was upon the condition that the treaty matched Iranian law, both current Iranian law and future Iranian law. Essentially, their ratification was meaningless.
@deep blue,
The US never executed anyone under the age of 18. In very rare cases some 16 or 17 year olds were tried as adults and sentenced to death but nobody has ever been executed prior to their 18th birthday.
Incorrect. George Stinney was electrocuted in 1944 at the age of 14. Leonard Shockly was gassed in 1959, age 17. No juvenile has been executed since 1964.
While I agree with the rest of your post, the US refused to sign on to the "Rights of a Child" treaty for other reasons such as the provision of "right to assemble" which would deny a parent's ability to keep their kid out of a gang among other things.
the US does not have a leg to stand on here.
Good argument!
NOT.
Its only OK to kill a kid in America if they're packing Ice Tea and Skittles.
A fundamentalist theocracy with a draconian legal code?
Wow, that's shocking. Who would expect such a thing?
Yes, we should be thankful for our freedom and certainty that would never happen here. What, with compassionate conservatism ( love that one ) and a nation full of Christians that love and tolerate their neighbors' rights, why.that could never happen here!
There are significant differences between the various religions. Some people paint with too broad a brush.
The new code pegs the age of criminal responsibility to the age of maturity under Sharia law, which in Iranian jurisprudence is 9 for girls and 15 for boys.
Holy c**p. 9? really? Fot full adult punishment? Those dolts must really ahte women.....
Apparently, the Muslims assume females have more intelligence and maturity than the males, yet they continue to rule. Go figure.
This is quite the opposite of actually believing that females are more mature. They are simply justifying the pedo_ph_ilia of Moham_med who consumated a "marriage" to a nine year old little girl.
Prosecutors always tend to point to the law as their defense for penalties that they seek. But what they don't understand is that it is that very law that they point to that we have a problem with. I would not want to be around such people when Karma comes full circle.
The United States, Somalia, and the new UN state of South Sudan are the only three states with the UN that have not ratified the convention on the Rights of a Child (the international law mentioned in the article).
Iran's ratification of the treaty was made with the exception “If the text of the Convention is or becomes incompatible with the domestic laws and Islamic standards at any time or in any case, the Government of the Islamic Republic shall not abide by it.”
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/iran.php#t2
So in essence Iran said they're willing to comply with the treaty unless it's inconvenient for them to do so.
yep, that about sums it up I think.
How many American kids are serving LIFE in prison?
about 2600 individuals in US were sentenced with life without parole for crimes committed as minors.
http://jlc.org/current-initiatives/promoting-fairness-courts/juvenile-life-without-parole
deep blue, if the US is such a bad place maybe you should think about moving to Iran. Once there, let us know how it is. Thanks
Seriously, I answered the question. We have 2,600 child offenders in prison for life, without chance of parole. That is a fact. We can do better. We are better than this.
For real, Seriously? The old, "If you don't like America, feel free to go somewhere else" routine (aka "America: Love it or leave it". Making things better is never an option. Change is impossible, so if there's anything about this country that needs improving, start looking for a better one. Yikes!
There is a difference between life in prison and sentenced to death. Most people who serve life in prison are still alive. Maybe next time read the article that is about sentencing children to death not about placing them in prison for life.
We only stopped executing children in 2005. A life in prison,without opportunity for release, isn't much of a life.
The only way they get that life sentence is because they took someone elses life, ie first degree murder...
Judge not, before you judge yourself!!!!
The U.S. prison system is ridiculous! How many innocent people sit on death row in this country? How many people are executed every year in the U.S.? How many of this country's youth are rotting away in jail?
Before you try to paint another country as barbaric, take a hard, close look at your own country. How many people are wasting away in Guantanamo Prison with no access to justice.
This article is another ridiculous attempt to make people hate each other and paint other cultures as primitive or worse than this one.
What a sham!!!!!!
I'm not suggesting that Iran is a perfect country, merely that this article is VERY narrow-minded and biased.
Please go read the article again. Its not about innocent people on death row or anything of the sorts. Its about sentencing CHILD OFFENDERS TO DEATH. Most child offender cases in the US DO NOT get the death penalty. Now there are some where the offender is tried as an adult but those are very rare cases and usually happen when the offender is 17 and the crime is insanely horrible.
So, because we sentenced an 11 year old child to life without parole, it is ok because we didn't hang him? Our penal code is wonderful.
Child offenders no longer are sentenced with the death penalty in the US. The supreme court put a stop to that in 2005.
yes an 11 year old who knowingliy shot a woman who was near full term pregnant. because you know there are SOOOOOOOOOO many 11 year old's serving life without parole. how many child offenders are sitting on death row in the US? None unlike Iran who has 143 so again stay on topic its not about life in prison its about the death penalty on convicted CHILD offenders.
we were executing child offenders a decade ago.
Either a child is responsible for his or her actions, or he or she isn't. Iran sentenced a child convicted of murder to hang from a noose until dead. We sentenced a child convicted of murder to live the rest of his life in prison with convicted felons. For some reason, I'm not feeling the moral superiority here.
Quit lying deep blue. Nobody under the age of 18 has been executed in the US.
1964 was the last year the U.S. executed a juvenile. Rotting in jail for the rest of your life doesn't seem any better than death. I actually think those that have to live the rest of their lives out in prison thinking about their crime have it worse in some ways.
I'm honestly just tired of the U.S. pretending to be a shining beacon of hope and looking down on all others. The U.S. is just the pot calling the kettle black.
Power to the peaceful.
I think Yasi's point is that we don't need to look overseas for ridiculous punishments. My take is that the media here is ignoring the fact that there is a self serving prison industrial complex, which reaps the benefits of incarceration of non-violent offenders. They do this by literally paying slave wages, and being paid tons of taxpayer money to house and secure the prisoners. An ever expanding penal system is perfect for an ever expanding government bureaucracy. The only loser here is the offender.... and the taxpayer. But keep pointing fingers overseas.. that'll solve our problems. Those damn brown people was gunna keel us ennyway.
I love the p!ssing contests that go on in these forums...amusing, nothing more than amusing...you people go right ahead and be delusional all you want over one government being better or religion being better than the other; they're all full it like the majority who live on this rock...and yes that includes me. Cheers.
You are uninformed and need to move out of your parent's home.
Iran's version of Dubya's 'No Child Left Behind'.
WOW just wow
Ayatollah Assahola
Why are all the "posters" ignoring the fact that US and other countries have a legal system that takes into account the rights of individuals and Sharia Law (in all its form) does not?
No one here is asserting that Iran's judicial system is better than the United States'. What we are suggesting is that an article condemning Iran for violating the Convention on the Rights of a Child should mention the US hasn't bothered ratify that treaty. I love the US, and I believe we can do better. We can be the shining city on the hill, instead of being the pot calling the kettle black. We should rehabilitate children, not execute them or send them to prison for life.
Iran is a horrible place. What about we do a story on the number of minors being held in Adult Prisons within the United States. how about interviewing the chidren and determining what there living conditions are like. The amount of fear a 14 year old has to live in daily when mixed with full grown violent offenders. We need to examine ourselves before we start casting accusing glances at others.
Iran may have some very unfair laws, but it is NOT a horrible place.
Shame on you for spreading lies and fear.
I like the rest of your comments, but please don't be rude.
No child left behind.
Graduate the child, no matter how stupid, just so
you have a success rate.
The Republican dream of dumming down its children,
works perfectly.
Gimme a break. That was being done long before "No Child Left Behind" was enacted.
Age of 9 for girls and 15 for boys in terms of maturity/responsibility? You've got be kidding me. The unfairness is appalling. Just one more reason why Sharia law is an antiquated system. These people will never change, really change, because they can't. To really change would mean going against what they perceive as dictates by Allah. You challenge Sharia law or Allah and by their own laws, you die. So change will never happen.
We charge individuals under the age of 15 as adults, even now. A century and a half ago, we executed James Arcene for a crime he committed at age 10. Cultures change. Don't be such a pessimist, or such prejudiced.
Well ya know, 15 is the new 10.
First of all, I would say that this is horrendous and I in know way condone their actions. But, at one point, the writer uses the argument of international law against Iran. The only thing international law is good for is the rules of war. Would we in the United States listen if there was an international law against owning weapons? No, we would ignore it. They should appeal more to the wrongness of the law based on the fact that a minor quite simply can't make the same decisions an adult can make. They just don't make the consequence arguments that we do when we get older. Does that excuse them from the crime? Of course not, but the punishment has to reflect the age of the person committing the crime. Just my 2 cents worth.
By international law, the author means a treaty through the UN that Iran signed. Iran ratified it with the caveat: "If the text of the Convention is or becomes incompatible with the domestic laws and Islamic standards at any time or in any case, the Government of the Islamic Republic shall not abide by it.”
Essentially, their ratification was meaningless. On a side note, the US has refused to ratify that treaty.
They would only grow up to be terrorists anyway. And to some of the other posters; if we can use this to justify another war I'm good with that as an excuse. Any excuse to slaughter another million or two middle easterners is ok with most Americans.
I feel very sorry for you. I hope you find some peace and love in your heart.
Are you stupid?
Do you not see how barbarian and inhumane muslims are?
I would not have said this about a year ago, but after having contact with certain muslims on this site and the financial situation in the civilized world, I am happy to allow muslims put to death other muslims.
Historically, The civilized world has been condemned and villified by the muslim world for any help, assistance, direction on any topic.
Muslims are told by their religion to hate any body not muslim. There is no room for diversity and Shariah law invented by Mohammad has not changed from inception. Abrogations to islam were made hundreds of years ago and that even has not changed.
The civlized world is forever changing and maturing. Islam not so.
This comes as no surprise from a country like Iran, which is run by extremist fanatics.
So much for compassion. So much for mercy. So much for justice.
Are you kidding? In the U.S. corrupt courts literally steal money, then kids from loving parents while the FBI watches. Who ARE WE to criticize any other system? Look at our own faults. ban lawyers from holding legislative or executive offices. This conflict perpetutates these crimes.
Are you kidding? In the U.S. corrupt courts literally steal money, then kids from loving parents while the FBI watches. Who ARE WE to criticize any other system? Look at our own faults: ban lawyers from holding any legislative or executive office. This conflict of interest perpetutates these judicial crimes. Then, do away with judicial immunity and let's see how many fat, lazy, aroigant judges allow their corrupt judicial assistant to conspire with opposing counsel to commit unchecked fraud. Let's see.
be careful with what you say......they're always watching......
Barbarous, but probably not too far out of line with that part of the world.
What is "barbarous" is continuing to use racist, hateful lines such as "that part of the world" in the year 2011. The world is not very big and all of its' citizens are not very different from each other. We may look different, speak different languages, and eat different foods, but we ALL want the same things. A peaceful, happy future for ourselves and our children. It is governments that try to hold us apart and teach us to fear each other. Power to the Peaceful
Ok. But that doesn't change the very real fact that the Middle East is predominately run by psychopathic dictators using extremely barbaric and draconian laws to keep their people in check.
Great, you're just like us.
Except you CHOOSE governments formed by the likes of the Taliban, Hamas, and the Ayatollah Komenei. You're all down with oppressive authoritarian regimes. We prefer smooth talking warmongering greedy used car salesmen.
Get used to it, or change it. Don't complain about the facts though.
To Bill,
I really wish Americans would learn a little bit of world history and world politics. I know, all those fascinating reality shows about red necks and Hollywood wives is really tempting and takes up any brain space left for actually useful information. If you had some world history knowledge, you would understand the underhanded role the U.S. has played in the Middle East. Iran had a democratically elected, educated, enlightened man as President in the 50's (Mosaddegh). He was even Time Magazine's "Man of the Year". Britain and the U.S. ousted him in a coup because he wanted a fair price for his country's oil. They placed a puppet King (Shah) in his place to do their bidding. He was a dictator who bowed to every wish of the west. When the revolution happened, people were excited for democracy again. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out the way the majority of Iranians would have liked and most people are looking for a better future and better leaders.
Today, the U.S. is the number one supplier and seller of weapons world wide. So this means, the U.S. sells weapons to the same countries they decide the next day is their enemy. Have you seen the photos of Bush and Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein before he was deemed a terrorist?
hmmmmmmmmmm........
Most likely, this was too much ho hum boring information for you and you will forget it in another minute and go back to the Western mantra that the U.S. is the best and all else are beneath you.
Power to the Peaceful.
It's 2012 dear....2012.
Yasi, I think you have it all wrong. The American attention span is not wan.......
WOW, LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT SQUIRELL!!
Conservative feel good story of the day...Muslim children on death row.
40 years or so ago the Iranian people had a small dispute with their current ruler: The Shah.
So, they picked up their guns, kicked him out, and chose a new Government.
This is the Government they chose.
Back off. Its none of your business.
This. Let other countries do what they want. Don't like their laws, stay out of their country. Worry about the laws in your own country.
Why, thank you, Bill, for your very illuminating comment, er, ORDER. I guess you are the boss here?
Big deal. In the US, Obama would call this a late term abortion. If a mother can kill her offspring, why can't the government be her proxy? Abortion is defined as the killing of your offspring, medical term fetus. This will have to be the US law under Obama's policies. His energy program won't support the US population. Obama will have to identify people to abort. Today, Obama allows the poor to be aborted by starvation with high food and energy costs. It is what it is.
I was wondering how long it would take for some nitwit to use this forum to dump on Obama. Go back to that right-wing echo chamber called Fox.
Really! The bash Obama thing is 3 doors down and to your LEFT.
Similar bizarre laws and issues will become on the agenda for us when the Teavangelicals take hold in our legislatures and courts right here!
When the CIA and British intelligence overthrew a lawfully elected government and installed the Shah, they gave their fascist minions a list of 10,000 suspected "leftists" and their sympathizers. These people were then dragged from their homes and summarily executed.
No trials, not even "show trials", were needed. The people of Iran then suffered decedes of imprisonment, torture, and murder, under the Shah and his secret police.
Where was "Human Rights Watch" when that was going on?
There all a bunch of barbarians! How many more will die before the idiot running the show signs the new legislation...., and then really, will that change anything. Like I say, Barbarians!
I wonder if they allow abortions in Iran. If not then it will make the abortonuts happy that they lived long enough to be aborted later.
Nope. Allah likes 'em killed this way instead.
Good thing this country isn't in the United Nations..........(sarc)
LMAO, some of you talk as if there could ever be justice (in any way) in a country so backward and completely and utterly controlled by religiously devout nut jobs. For to believe in such folly and still pretend to be civilized is illogical. Gods don't ask for justice only followers and believers, the rest are "removed" slowly and surely. Once that happens only the religious crazies remain, and once every one is a religious crazy no one is.
BOW, YEILD, KNEEL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Iran is a global sinkhole. What else is new?
Is your last name Lee?
Americans can be SO ignorant! What else is new!?!?!?
Power to the Peaceful
Sorry, but Peace and Power are two words that juxtapose each other.
Hypatia. You still alive? I thought Christian monks executed you a dozen centuries ago for proving them wrong (sun does not evolve around earth)
Barbaric.
Wow, Iran is now as nutty as the rest of the world when it comes to the penal code and children.
Iran has always been the centre of cruelty and abuse.
Your lies don't wash up here.
Silly muzzie.
Who cares what Iran does to their own people as long as they don't try to build a nuclear weapon. I'm hoping Israel levels Iran's nuclear reactors before they can do some real harm.
I know this will sound cold. But we really shouldn't care. That is their problem. We wouldn't want them to change our laws so we shouldn't worry about their laws. That is what freedom is about, having a choice. According to republicans, this is more acceptable than abortion. If the child was aborted, they would be up in arms. It's more acceptable in G-ods eye this way.
yeah, let's let them marry off their daughters at 6 years old.
Let's let them hang gays and lesbians.
Let's let them beat their wives for any reason whatsoever.
Sure. No problem.
When will Iran become become human, that is when will they grow up and stop killing children under age. Is it because they don't like them or is there an under lying problem. Remember they will be call upon someday for their the sins against the young, just like the Nazi were by the whole world.
The problem is simple. THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTS! We have our owns problems also though. The war on drugs. Failure. Pro-lifers against healthcare, gun laws. The list of our zany ways goes on for miles.
Our own problems. Humanitarians for abortion. Ex war protesters now okay with the overseas execution of 16 year-old US Citizens by drone, ordered by our president. The disarming of common citizens, while DHS orders over450 million rounds of hollow point ammo that is not allowed to be used in international warfare. Where do you stand on these things?
Hilarious, because that is what my family in Iran is always asking me about the United States! They wonder why children would kill each other in school. Why fathers would kill their own families and then kill themselves. Why people would drive by and shoot each other. They ask me why I'm choosing to live in such a violent country.
The sad thing is that we all ONLY hear the terrible news about other places. So we live our short little lives paralyzed and embittered by fake fear. The government wants you to be afraid and to really believe that THOSE people over there are crazy and so different from you. Because that is the moment you hand all your power to them to keep you "safe".
Iranians are no different than any other people on earth. Some are ruled by their hate and fear and some are ruled by love and peace. Just like humans EVERYWHERE.
We all wake up in the morning, have breakfast, send our kids to school, go to work, visit with friends and family. We are SO much the same, yet we allow the beautiful and insignificant cultural differences we have to drive us apart.
Power to the Peaceful.
I'm sure you see the theme in these threads of US right / left wing politics, that keeps us trapped in a tiny box of thought. If you root for the Republicans, you ignore the false flags, wars of aggression, and stripping of personal privacy and liberties. If you vote Democrat, you cared about these things until 4 years ago. All of a sudden, wars of aggression are now a necessity. And the Patriot Act must have been an okay thing, because it's been expanded by Executive Order by the current administration. It doesn't make any sense at all to me anymore. It's too obvious..
INSIGNIFICANT! The biggest difference is the gov't is doing those things over there. Over here it's individuals. The gov't is supposed to take care of the people. You cant control what an individual will do all the time.
In the US, a father who kills his wife and or daughter is called a criminal. In the middle east, it's demmed an "honor" killing. He's a hero.
Hey Andrew why dont we drop the bomb on Israel instead and arrest all the jewish bankers here in the US? Talk about instant world peace.
Your point? Like killing Jews will solve all the problems. Trust me, these whack jobs will come up with something else to b-itch about.
We should take a lesson from them and start putting some of these stupid kids on death row also. However, I think we have them beat per capita regarding our adult prison population. What a thing to be proud of. We should look at our own record before we go around talking about the prison records or the humanitarian records of others. JUST TAKE A LOOK AT THE HOMELESS IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES...such a pretty site huh? The US seems so quick to point the finger at other countries before accepting any responsibility of our own. AND SHAME ON YOU CNN.
Why is the shame on CNN?
Does anyone remember the story about Iraqis throwing babies out of incubators, just before Desert Storm. Later came out that it was a lie. Gulf of Tonkin, pretext for Vietnam war? Also a lie (false flag). This is typical media hype, meant to get idiots all riled up in a tribe mentality and ready for war with those people that don't look like them. Do people really still fall for this stuff?
careful, or i'll get you with my weapon of mass destruction.
Nothing wrong with what Iran does with their Penal Code in Sentencing Child Molesters to death, nothing wrong with that...
And nothing wrong with sentencing Child Criminals to death too!, nothing wrong with it. Iran is 1000% on target. You know the Crime, you pay...
Having the death penalty is wrong. Our legal system is good but not perfect. There have been many individuals on death row who were found not guilty later. A system so imperfect should not have such a permanent penalty.
@curias You sound like you're mad at everyone! One at a time.
Abortions should be legal. I don't see any pro-lifers offering any money to help these children. Which proves one thing pro lifers don't care about the kids.
I'd rather drones drop bombs then send our troops over there to be killed..
As far as lies are concerned about Iraq. The biggest one is the WMD's. We're still looking for those.
In Texas they not only execute children, they execute the mentally retards as well. Death penalty has no place in a civilized society.
TRUE! The gov't should try to set an example and not kill individuals.
For a minute I was reading this story and wondering what the big deal was. 17 y/o's are not children, they are adults hiding behind a date (it's called false adolescence in sociology). Its only halfway down the page that the author gets to the crux of the issue and begins mentioning how bad the system really is. Bad writing CNN, I almost stopped reading because it looked like another stretch of the truth to hook people into a liberal story.
(it's called false adolescence in sociology) This is the B.S. you want us accept. You obviously don't have any children and if you do they should be taken away. Should a 17 year old be working and supporting a family? You need to pull your head out of your AZZ.
Iran is a backwards country with the morals of a river rat. I would be pleased if the US had nothing to do with them for eternity --and I would not grant a VISA for any Iranian President to set foot on US territory – every.
Can we stop with the stolen oil claims? If we stole someone's oil I'm not seeing any relief in what i pay for gas. If we are stealing Iran's oil lets at least get a cut since we all pay taxes, am I right?
The stolen oil claims is just crap. My policy would be that if any country attacks the U.S. We should take their land. If you want to fight the U.S. beware of the consequences.
Iran the Texas of the Middle East, oil and massive capital punishment programs.
Extremist nut jobs come in all colors and speak many languages. Whether they are from Iran, Afghanistan or Texas, they are all nut job religious extremists. In in the USA we would do well to clean up our own house before we criticize others about theirs. The US would also do well to sell off most of the states south of the 38th parallel. Whether it's the heat, the water, or both, it would seem that most of the crap the rest of us have to deal with emanates from the south.
If I could get in a dark alley with that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for just a few minutes I would do the world a huge favor. I hate that guy, I hate the stupid way he looks, His beady little to close together eyes and his insanity. He really really needs to be purged from existence.
I laugh still when I remember a commentor likening Ahmadinedork to a wino. So funny!
Muslims being muslims.
Why carry on the charade?
Most world issues begin … and end with Iran.
It’s unbelievable – and Obama came into office planning to “talk” with the radical leaders in Iran?
Talk about – “not ready to be president”. Obama is over his head and it’s obvious.
If you read my latest book “Legacy of Success” then you know I show how Obama is following a plan that – even if he is unaware – it’s eerily identical to Iran’s plan for Israel…
You just can’t ignore it – when something like 22 actions Obama has ALREADY done –
-call for 1967 borders
-install radicals in Egypt
-encourage rift between Turkey and Israel
-resist helping Iran’s uprising
-leak Israelis plans/route/bases
-end U.S. help in Lebanon
-publicly disrespect Israelis leaders
-ignore Iranian plots in the U.S.
-keep oil prices high – more $$$ to Iran
and on and on
Even Obama restoring aid to N. Korea allowed the NK rulers to divert $$$ to misslles technology – that was then sold and shipped to Iran.
Stunning!
I hope our friends in Israel realize that most Americans are embarrassed by Obama – we stand with Israel.
Liar, liar, pants on fire!
The problem with Iran's code is that they have a small penal! Hahahahahahah