We all remember how the Democrats used to scorn the Bush administration for Guantanamo and the CIA’s waterboarding practice – once it was publicly known. It turns out, however, that

A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a CIA briefing in early 2003 in which it was made clear that waterboarding [...]]]>

We all remember how the Democrats used to scorn the Bush administration for Guantanamo and the CIA’s waterboarding practice – once it was publicly known. It turns out, however, that

A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a CIA briefing in early 2003 in which it was made clear that waterboarding and other harsh techniques were being used in the interrogation of an alleged al-Qaeda operative, according to documents the CIA released to Congress on Thursday.

— The Washington Post

Pelosi herself denies any direct (wtf!?) knowledge of the CIA practice, but, still according to The Post

Michael Sheehy, a top Pelosi aide, was present for a classified briefing that included Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking minority member of the House intelligence committee, at which agency officials discussed the use of waterboarding on terrorism suspect Abu Zubaida.

Well waddayaknow… (the posting continues after video clip)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuYrp2tP1Wo

U.S. President Barack Obama (D).

“I can stand here today and say without equivocation or exception that the United States of America does not and will not torture,” president Barack Obama said on his visit to the CIA last April, followed by “Don’t be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we’ve made some mistakes,” Obama told the CIA staff. “That’s how we learn. But the fact that we are willing to acknowledge them and then move forward, that is precisely why I am proud to be president of the United States, and that’s why you should be proud to be members of the CIA.” (The San Francisco Chronicle)

But if he – and other leading Democrats – were aware of CIA torture as early as 2003, 2002, maybe, the Democrat’s Bush criticism over both Guantanamo and the waterboarding practice definitely does sound a little hollow. To say the least.

You may also want to see this, by the way, recently released by Amnesty Int’l:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=09m798EcJxI

Scandinavian media coverage:

• – Demokratene var informert om vanntorturen – db.no
• And that’s it – so far

P.S. I apologise if the post appears a little under par, even by my standards, but coherent blogging interrupted by kids, constant domestic chores and work, as is the case with most of my blogging, I’m afraid, is something pretty damned close to impossible. Please bear with me.

Top photo: U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D)

Safar Angooti (19) and Amir Khaleghi (18), scheduled to be executed by hanging Wednesday morning, both escaped the gallows for now. Their sentences, which fell when the boys were 17 og 16, still stand, leaving few hopes of their survival, as

Safar Angooti (19) and Amir Khaleghi (18), scheduled to be executed by hanging Wednesday morning, both escaped the gallows for now. Their sentences, which fell when the boys were 17 og 16, still stand, leaving few hopes of their survival, as 22 yo Delara Darabi, hanged last Friday, originally scheduled to be executed on 20 April, was granted a two-month stay, shortened to a week and a half, without prior warning.

Safar Angooti (19).

According to Iran Human Rights, four offenders were however executed by hanging Wednesday morning, the female prisoner Zeynab Nazarzadeh and three men: Hamid, Safar Ali and Hassan Ali.

Furthermore, from Iran Human Rights:

According to the report 9 men and one woman were scheduled to be executed this morning, but execution of six of them was postponed for six months. The report also said that the youngest person who was scheduled to be executed today was 17 years old!

The report didn’t mention whether the 17 eyars [sic] old boy was executed or not!

Amnesty International reports of demonstrations in 20 different countries today, among them outside Iran’s London embassy at 4 PM, protesting Iran’s inhuman practices – and in memory of Delara Darabi.

The young Iranian woman Delara Darabi (22), executed on Friday 1 May (myspace.com/helpdelara).

As many as approximately 150 minors are still awaiting the execution of their death sentences, which may me carried out at any given point of time.

Top photo: Two Iranian boys prepared for hanging (illustration photo)

Not a week after the appalling hanging of Delara Darabi (22) last Friday, two minor offenders, aged 18 and 19 (16 and 17 when convicted) are to be executed by hanging in Tehran tomorrow, according to

Not a week after the appalling hanging of Delara Darabi (22) last Friday, two minor offenders, aged 18 and 19 (16 and 17 when convicted) are to be executed by hanging in Tehran tomorrow, according to Iran Human Rights in Norway:

According to Mohammad Mostafaei, lawyer of several Iranian minors on the death row, the two minors scheduled to be executed on Wednesday are Amir Khaleghi and Safar Angooti.

Amir Khaleghi (18) is convicted of an alleged murder when he was 16 years old. According to his lawyer, Amir was heavily drunk (from the alcohol he bought from a drug store) when he got involved in a street fight which led to a stabbing injury in the chest of another boy identified as Ali Malekpour (who later died).

Amir was scheduled to be executed on February 22, but it was postponed after orders from the Iranian judiciary.

The other minor offender scheduled to be executed on Wednesday, Safar Angooti (19), is convicted of a murder when he was 17 years old.

Here’s the thing, though: The United Nation’s convention of children’s rights, also signed by Iran, explicitly bans death penalty for offences committed under the age of 18, as was the case with Delara Darabi (although she pledged her innocence to the very end), too, convicted at the age of 17.

The young Iranian woman Delara Darabi (22), executed on Friday 1 May (myspace.com/helpdelara).

While Iran’s judiciary system prepares tomorrow’s two hangings, protesters around the world show their contempt for the country’s practices. Amnesty International Norway, for one, plans several rallies during Wednesday 6 May, among them, outside Iran’s Oslo embassy.

Read also:

• Iran: 150 juveniles to be executed – Insignificances
• Two more juveniles to be executed on Wednesday – Iranian.com
• Life Without Parole for Juveniles? – Blogger News Network

Please tweet this, share via social media (see below buttons) or blog about it. Time most certainly is of the essence, even if Iran’s authorities have demonstrated their lack of respect for the international community.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTv6ZDRyqe8

Top photo: Iranian mass-execution (source/photograph’s origin undisclosed).

It’s been two days since news broke of Iranian prisoner Delara Darabi’s (22) execution in the Rasht prison Friday morning; a sentence originally scheduled to be carried out on Monday 20 April, postponed for two months, following massive international protests.

The international community and human rights organisations, such [...]]]>

It’s been two days since news broke of Iranian prisoner Delara Darabi’s (22) execution in the Rasht prison Friday morning; a sentence originally scheduled to be carried out on Monday 20 April, postponed for two months, following massive international protests.

The international community and human rights organisations, such as the Amnesty International, mourns the all-too premature death of the young artist, whose painting, The prisoner of colours, is shown here.

Delara Darabi received her sentence at the tender age of 17, which, according to international law, ratified even by Iran, renders her under-aged, for a crime she later denied. Since, at the age of 17, she was not elligible for a death sentence, she took the blame for a murder commited by her boyfriend, in order to save his life. When her own sentence fell, in spite of international law, she retracted her confession, to no avail.

MAY DAY EXECUTION: Delara Darabi, hanged on 1 May 2009. (Photo from myspace.com/helpdelara)

The two-month stay of Delara’s execution, announced on 20 April, gave hope that Iranian authorities might be convinced to spare her life in response to a massive two-month international campaign.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s deputy chief for the Middle East and North Africa, said that the execution was a cynical move to avoid international protests.

— BBC News

According to the above quoted BBC report, the BBC’s Jon Leyne in Tehran says that Delara Darabi early on Friday morning made a desperate phone call to her parents, saying she could see the hangman’s noose:

“Mother they are going to execute me, please save me,” she said, before a prison official took the phone away and said: “We are going to execute your daughter and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Programme Deputy Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said:

Amnesty International is outraged at the execution of Delara Darabi, and particularly at the news that her lawyer was not informed about the execution, despite the legal requirement that he should receive 48 hours’ notice.

This appears to have been a cynical move on the part of the authorities to avoid domestic and international protests which might have saved Delara Darabi’s life.

This indicates that even decisions by the Head of the Judiciary carry no weight and are disregarded in the provinces.

Clearly, there’s little left to do with respect to Delara Darabi’s all-too short life, but according to Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam of Iran Human Rights in Norway, another 150 Iranian juveniles are still awaiting the execution of their death sentences, which may me carried out at any given point of time. Furthermore, according to the organisation’s web pages, the EU presidency strongly condemns the execution of Delara:

The Presidency of the European Union strongly condemns the execution of Miss Delara Darabi carried out by the Iranian authorities in the City of Rasht on May 1. Miss Darabi was sentenced for crime she committed as juvenile at the age of 17.

The Presidency strongly protests against her execution as an act running counter the international commitments that Iran has voluntarily accepted. The Presidency of the European Union urgently calls on Iran to avoid any juvenile executions and to eliminate the death penalty for juveniles from its penal code. Such human rights violations erode the ground for understanding and mutual trust between Iran and the European Union.

If Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam’a estimates are right, Amnesty International’s and the international community’s focus should be to convince Iran’s authorities to respect international laws, in the hope it’s not – once more – too late.

See also:

• Rights Groups Condemn Iran for Execution – The New York Times/Reuters
• Amnesty International condemns hanging of Iranian woman – CBC News
• EU condemns Iran execution – Radio Netherlands
• Outcry as Iran executes artist over juvenile conviction – The Guardian
• – Mamma, de skal henge meg! Redd meg! – VG Nett (in Norwegian)

Top photo: “The prisoner of colours”, painted by Delara Darabi.

Twitter rumours Friday morning would have it that 22 year-old Delara Darabi’s death sentence was carried out today – by hanging. There’s been little evidence to corroborate the news, except (at 11:45 Norwegian time) these tweets – among several others:

Please join our global blog campaign to save Delara Darabi.

The execution of the Iranian woman convicted of murdering a relative when she was 17 has been postponed. Delara Darabi was granted a two-month reprieve by the Head of the Judiciary on 19 April, the day before she was due to be executed.

Delara [...]]]>

Please join our global blog campaign to save Delara Darabi.

The execution of the Iranian woman convicted of murdering a relative when she was 17 has been postponed. Delara Darabi was granted a two-month reprieve by the Head of the Judiciary on 19 April, the day before she was due to be executed.

Delara Darabi’s lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, has confirmed that her execution has been postponed for two months after the family of the victim refused to attend the execution. They are, however, still demanding that she be executed. The lawyer has stated that he has forensic evidence proving that Delara Darabi could not have been the killer, but that the courts have refused to consider it.

Amnesty International has urged the Iranian authorities to commute her death sentence. Iran is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibit the use of the death penalty against juvenile offenders – people convicted of crimes committed when they were under 18.

According to Article 7 of Iran’s Code of Procedure on executions, the blood relatives of the victim or their lawyer are required to be present for the implementation of the sentence. Delara Darabi remains at risk of being executed unless the victim’s blood relatives agree to pardon her, either outright or in exchange for compensation.

(Above text from Amnesty International)

We have two months on us to exercise global pressure on Iranian authorities, if we manage to attract enough bloggers to the campaign. It helps! The postponement itself comes as a result of international pressure.

You can contribute in a number of ways:

• Copy this blog post and pass the challenge on (please feel free to alter the text for personal customisation)
• Sign the petition online
• Copy the below quoted text, which can
  - be emailed to shahroudi@dadgostary-tehran.ir or info@dadiran.ir
  - faxed to + 98 21 3390 4986

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: In the subject line write: FAO Ayatollah Shahroudi
Salutation: Your Excellency

Your Excellency

I am expressing my concern that the juvenile offender Delara Darabi is in imminent danger of being executed for a murder that was committed when she was 17 years old.

I am also concerned that reports say that Delara Darabi confessed to the murder in 2order to defend her co-accused.

I urge that the planned execution of Delara Darabi is halted, and that the death sentence imposed on her is commuted immediately. The Iranian authorities have by undertaking the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights committed to the law constituting that “sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age.”

Furthermore, I call on the Iranian authorities to implement the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which called on Iran in January 2005 to “immediately suspend the execution of all death penalties imposed on persons for having committed a crime before the age of 18, and to abolish the death penalty as a sentence imposed on persons for having committed crimes before the age of 18, as required by article 37 of the Convention”.

I acknowledge that governments have a responsibility to bring to justice those suspected of criminal offences such as murder, but I unconditionally oppose to the death penalty. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violation to the right to life.

Yours sincerely

Please join the campaign/blogathon or pass the word on to other bloggers. I’d be happy if you tweet it (see below Twitter button) – or share through either of the below social media. Relevant Twitter hashtags are #Delara and #Iran.

If you wish to challenge Norwegian bloggers, please see this blog post.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofeLS1LCIzc

Photo: The young Iranian woman Delara Darabi (20) is sentenced to death by hanging (myspace.com/helpdelara).