December 13, 2004

Retarded Girl Sentenced to Death in Iran

I'm sorry, did my use of the word retarded offend you? The retard was also a whore. Yes, a retarded whore. You think that's offensive? How about a religion that sentences retarded whores to death? Now that's offensive. Amnesty International:

A 19-year old girl, “Leyla M�, who has a mental age of eight, reportedly faces imminent execution for “morality-related� offences after being forced into prostitution by her mother as a child. According to a Tehran newspaper report of 28 November, she was sentenced to death by a court in the central Iranian city of Arak and the sentence has now been passed to the Supreme Court for confirmation.

Leyla M was reportedly sentenced to death on charges of “acts contrary to chastity� by controlling a brothel, having intercourse with blood relatives and giving birth to an illegitimate child. She is to be flogged before she is executed. She had apparently “confessed� to the charges. Earlier reports stated that there would be an appeal, and the 28 November report indicates that this process is now at an end.

Social workers have reportedly tested her mental capacities repeatedly and each time have found Leyla to have a mental age of eight. However, she has apparently never been examined by the court-appointed doctors, and was sentenced to death solely on the basis of her explicit confessions, without consideration of her background or mental health.

Leyla was forced into prostitution by her mother when she was eight years old, according to the 28 November report, and was raped repeatedly thereafter. She gave birth to her first child when she was nine, and was sentenced to 100 lashes for prostitution at around the same time. At the age of 12, her family sold her to an Afghan man to become his “temporary wife�. His mother became her new pimp, “selling her body without her consent�

Paranthetically Digger ran a poll on "Should Prostitution Be Legalized?" last week. I'm guessing that even the %14.9 percent of right-wing hate-monger Christians who answered "No, It's Immoral" wouldn't favor the death penalty for purveyors of the world's oldest occupation. Just a hunch.