Posted on 08/10/2007 8:00:29 PM PDT by nuconvert
In Death, a Martyr's Smile Foretells Victory
August 10, 2007
The Denver Post
Opinion
The world has seen nothing like it. When Majid Kavosifar was hanged in public in Tehran for killing criminal judge Hassan Moghadas, no one expected to see the expression they saw on his face the day of his execution.
As Kavosifar was jostled through the crowd by the regime's demonic henchmen in ski masks - and even as he was hoisted onto the platform that he was to be hanged from - he wore a triumphant, almost joyful smile on his face. If there were ever an image that qualified for "Is there something wrong with this picture?" it would be this one.
Hanging in public serves the purpose of quelling dissent and evoking fear for Iran's people. The recent wave of hangings in Iran has proven once again that many of those who are hanged under the pretext of social crimes are indeed people who are fed up with the unjust Iranian regime and are taking matters into their own hands.
Most of the public images of hangings in Iran that have taken place normally show a victim with a much different demeanor than that of Majid. Sullen eyes that speak of endless pain, faces blank with fear, and for the women, dark cloaks, chadors that enshroud their bodies and a blindfold to disguise their anguish.
This scene has become all too familiar, especially since the Iranian regime has stepped up its public executions to horrifying degrees. On July 22, the Iranian regime hanged 12 people simultaneously, and several other hangings took place in July all over the country, including another group hanging in Azerbaijan.
In a televised interview regarding the group hangings, Ahmad Reza Radan, the commander of Tehran's police force, stated that, "The response to those who stand firm against the Iranian regime and its practices is execution."
In Iran, legal procedures to execute the most outspoken against the regime are often expedited or simply ignored. Such was the case with Atefeh Rajabi, the 16-year-old girl who was hanged in Neka. Her case was expedited to lightening speeds. In Iran, the judiciary and the government are one and the same, thus leading to dangerous exploitations of the law simply for political purposes.
Majid Kavosifar and his uncle, Hossein Kavosifar, were both hanged for killing Moghadas. They had collaborated and confessed to committing the act. Moghadas was Tehran's assistant chief prosecutor, responsible for signing countless death sentences. Moghadas's role was that of a ruthless cleric who bypassed judicial procedures to ensure the swift death of the Iranian regime's opponents.
Tehran's public prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, did not allow the press to interview the Majid Kavosifar, 22, and his uncle Hossein, 28, as is typical with public executions. However, after the execution, Mortazavi did state that he had spoken to both men, and that they refused to renounce their actions and expressed no regret for what they did. Majid is reported to have said, "I have reached a level of understanding to know who the corrupt and depraved are."
The price these victims pay for their bravery is the same, and all hangings are equally as disturbing and unjustified. However, the smile that gleamed over Majid's face as he strained to wave goodbye while handcuffed was indeed victorious, and the message was clear: "I defeated you, I am not frightened, and I am honored to die; hanging me will no longer repel resistance."
While Majid's courage is remarkable in the face of such torment and brutality, we can be sure that there will be other fearless Iranian youths ready to give their lives, until that proud smile gives way to the much awaited dawn of change.
Ana K. Sami (ansami.com) is a master's degree candidate at the Colorado School of Mines and a specialist on human rights and women's issues in Iran.
Why is this guy considered a ‘martyr?’
The story I read was that after the murder, Kavosifar went to the American Embassy in Abu Dhabi to ask for asylum and confessed to killing Judge Moghaddas. The Embassy contacted Interpol who in turn contacted Iran.
Thanks, I was about to post pics
He killed a tyrant and was executed for it by the State.
Majid Kavosifar and his uncle, Hossein Kavosifar, were both hanged for killing Moghadas. They had collaborated and confessed to committing the act. Moghadas was Tehran's assistant chief prosecutor, responsible for signing countless death sentences. Moghadas's role was that of a ruthless cleric who bypassed judicial procedures to ensure the swift death of the Iranian regime's opponents.
I salute this brave man...
Iran will need more to survive...
I suppose because he had the b#lls to kill one of the most corrupt judges in Iran. To quote another, one of the “most repressive judges in the Islamic Republic. Judge Moghaddas who was assassinated by Kavousifar and his nephew, was responsible for handing out long sentences to many political activists. Moghaddas sometimes even boasted that he sentenced the accused without even reading their files”
So, a martyr to the cause of those fighting against the regime.
OMG you’re kidding! If our state department did something that evil.......
I don’t think you can just walk into an American embassy and announce that you killed a judge and expect much different. Now maybe the person he spoke with didn’t take the time to check out the whole story and who this judge was before calling Interpol. I don’t know. But Kavousifar apparently didn’t realize that he needed a contact of some kind and assurances before walking in there.
It’s very sad.
Pretty moving...I am humbled.
martyr: One who makes great sacrifices or suffers much in order to further a belief, cause, or principle.
They made a small but defiant stand against Iran’s barbarously oppressive regime by killing someone that needed killing, and they paid for it with their lives and went down smiling.
There have been 10’s of thousands inprisoned, tortured and killed in the past 28 yrs.
Recently, the head of the prison system complained that the prisons were too full.
index. this is sad.
I’m sorry. I still wouldn’t lump them in with “Martyr.” Martyrs don’t usually kill people. The person may be heroic. But I wouldn’t call him a martyr. Martyrdom is a much narrower term; else, everyone who died in WWII fighting Hitler or Mussolini is also a martyr. Hero, yes. Martyr, no.
What is that quote from Thomas Jefferson?
Something like, “The tree of liberty is watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots, it is its natural manure.”
Personally I think the tagline is stronger without the last clause, but who am I to criticize Jefferson.
If this man’s fate and brave example help to spark an uprising I think he could fairly be considered a martyr to liberty.
For Republican Rome and in the time of the American revolution the ideal of liberty had a sacred, quasi-religious value.
We are soft. We have, collectively, lost the capacity to understand and appreciate liberty and the concepts understood so well by the Founding patriots. If his smile was in the knowledge that they could kill the body but not the spirit, he would be a martyr to liberty. If his killers/murderers can comprehend that, they should be experiencing a cold fear over their future existence.
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