“I am a believer. I had a dream in which my son told me that he was at peace and in a good place… After that, all my relatives, even my mother, put pressure on me to pardon the killer... The murderer was crying, asking for forgiveness. I slapped him in the face. That slap helped to calm me down,” she said. “Now that I’ve forgiven him, I feel relieved.”
Balal said the “slap was the space between revenge and forgiveness.”
April 17, 2014
"An Iranian mother spared the life of her son’s convicted murderer with an emotional slap in the face as he awaited execution with the noose around his neck..."
"Balal, black-hooded and standing on a chair before a makeshift gallows,
had the noose around his neck when [the mother, Samereh] Alinejad
approached."
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19 comments:
Translation: The families reached a finacial settlement (blood money).
I doubt I would have that capacity for compassion. To see someone grant life to a murderer like this though remains impressive.
Muslims get criticized a lot for the acts of their crazy fringe. They deserve credit when they act out of compassion and forgiveness.
Good on her. I wonder if I could do the same.
Amity Police Chief Brody was unavailable for comment.
While this forgiveness is allowed under Iranian law, I do like how the parents waited until he was standing on the chair with the rope was around the man's neck to forgive him. Made him sweat, no doubt.
The mother may be at peace, and offered him absolution, but, murder is a crime committed against the individual, society, and humanity. It is only ever justified in defense, or as a resolution to an individual choice.
Iran's playing the media, folks.
A huge campaign had already raised the blood money. This poor mother was allowed to display mercy, but the fix was already in.
According to the article, the woman was under a great deal of social pressure to accept "blood money" in exchange for sparing the life of her son's murderer. I don't agree with Greg that this shows the finer side of shariah law.
But why should society put the burden on the family of the murder victim to decide whether the killer lives or dies? In a civilized society (yes, I know this happened in Iran, but use your imagination), criminal punishment is imposed by society, through society's laws, in the interests of society. We should/must listen to the victim or the family of the victim in deciding what punishment to impose, but society isn't acting as merely their agent of revenge.
Probably, in a civilized society, this guy would not have been sentenced to death (I assume that a civilized society would impose the death sentence under some circumstances), but if his act was sufficiently heinous (evil) to merit the death penalty, either the mercy of his victim's family, or their acceptance of blood money if that's what happened here, would not change that.
This shows promise. Perhaps John Kerry could incorporate it into his Middle Eastern negotiations. The Americans and the Israelis could put together a team, something like the Peace Corps. Every Iranian could get a slap at an American and an Israeli. If not an Israeli, perhaps a Zionist from another country.
Would the Iranians be likely to go for this as well?
Good for her, but I think he deserved at least a sharp kick to the nuts.
David:
Only if the Israelis get to slap the Iranians. We wouldn't want to be perceived as selective, would we?
I feel sorry for the mother of the next person this fellow kills.
In reality, forgiveness is given freely (though often with pain) with no qualifiers like revenge.
This was still a noble action when you think of the enormity of losing a child.
Accepting money for a blood debt is immoral.
You can be as emotional as you like, it's still a vile thing. Should have swung the dude.
Accepting money for a blood debt is immoral.
On it's face, yes. However, in Iran, it's enshrined in Law. In order to forgive, blood money must be paid.
From what I understand the blood money rarely factors in with these type of cases. It's the "forgiveness" part that the aggrieved struggle with. Blood money is a mere legal prerequisite, and the offending party rarely can afford to pay the legal debt mandated by Sharia Law.
Big Mike said...
I don't agree with Greg that this shows the finer side of shariah law.
Exactly right. It shows that Sharia has found a way to protect the elite from the laws everyone else lives by. No wonder those who make the law don't worry about how harsh and unjust they are.
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