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January 28, 2025

In mourning of an execution/ Hossein Raeesi.

This is a picture of a beautiful flower.
Hossein Raeisi

Questioning about the death penalty is one of the most important events that has been entering legal and even public discussions for years. One of the criteria for a civilized society is looking at this issue; the degree of distance from civilization is undoubtedly related to this issue.

With international pressures, efforts have been made to abolish this punishment for certain drug crimes and it has reached the Islamic Consultative Assembly. In this note, in order to facilitate the cessation of execution and the legal approval to prevent some executions, and to put those who beat the drums for the continuation of the punishment – including the people – in front of the corpse of one of the executed, efforts have been made to highlight the necessity of abolishing the death penalty for them.

When a lifeless body of a human is placed in front of you, this is where you can confront yourself with the test of human morality and ask yourself if this human – even if they have committed a crime deserving of punishment – deserves to die. Which infallible law is available to humanity today that can say without any religious, political, or traditional bias: “This person deserves to die”? As someone who has been defending individuals for over twenty years who have faced this punishment, or unfortunately have been executed, I present you with the reality of execution and urge you to delve deeper into this question and bring the most important question to light about its injustice – regardless of the degree of their guilt or crime, or even their innocence.

The prison veil was on her head and she had a restless and anxious expression; the scales of justice were repeated in a circular pattern on the veil. She was sitting next to two other women and two men, facing a large and imposing table in the first row of court seats. She has two teenage daughters who were waiting outside in the hallway and spoke to her briefly when she was being transferred to the court. The children’s faces did not have the same expression as their mother’s. The judge, who is also a clergyman, sat in the middle of the table with his secretary on his right. The Islamic Revolutionary Court was formed at the appointed time with the presence of the defendants and their lawyers. The secretary was writing and reading at the same time. Each of the defendants answered the questions. She said, “My husband is an addict and has abandoned me and my two daughters for years. I haven’t had an education and at the age of over 50, I can’t work

The judge, who did not seem to pay much attention to his defense, continued the session. My defense – which I had prepared beforehand – was allowed to be read; right there, I requested for his release, but the court, disregarding all defenses, asked the final question and two weeks later issued the death sentence. This sentence was confirmed and his request for clemency was also unsuccessful. I requested clemency three times, each time it was immediately rejected. I went to the Office of Women’s Affairs of the Judiciary, the Office of the Headquarters for Civil Rights, and also the Judiciary Commission of the Parliament; but there was no evidence of any correspondence between them and the Judiciary and no request for clemency in the case.

Finally, on one of the relatively cold autumn days when the leaves had reached their peak and the cold air was accompanied by wind, as the trees prepared for their winter sleep, in the early morning, Hojat al-Islam — personally appeared in prison and explained that the judiciary had allowed the execution of this order and had given a final verdict to the officers who were like machines ready to pull the rope of a human. They carried out their task without hesitation and in the blink of an eye, the whole world turned dark. The sun had not yet risen, and some of those present in the gathering went to pray the morning prayer and thank God that they were alive and not forced to transport or sell drugs.

That night, he had not slept and had prayed until morning. He was also grateful to God and a little hopeful that perhaps someone in charge would wake up during prayer and stop the execution. This hope turned into despair and his prayer ended before it was finished. Before the prayer was over, he was taken away.

He, like all the dead, was registered in the book of the dead and, like all of them, was buried in the cemetery with a simple grave. His involvement in drug crimes was cut short. However, the statistics of addicts or the number of those involved in these crimes were reduced, or rather, added to the statistics.

The funeral ceremony for him was held like all other deceased; I attended his ceremony in hopes of finding something. He was fortunate to have a grave and a memorial service held for him because he was executed. Reciters and Quran readers recited elegies and prayers for him, and the attendees, who were all people from his hometown, said “Amen” for him and repeated requests for forgiveness. After the Quran reciters and prayers, the clergyman also attended the gathering and spoke about death in front of the attendees, mentioning a compensation that one of the relatives had given. He asked God to forgive him for his mistakes and repeated prayers. The gathering ended and his family thanked the people dressed in black and took their grief back home, to live alone with it.

This ceremony is sometimes held in most cities. At his funeral, no one could ask if he could have been alive if he had not been sentenced to death.

The fundamental question is that even in crimes that individuals may commit, the society’s share in the crime of citizens is not calculated and no one is punished or will be punished for this share. Therefore, the society mourns itself until it demands the death penalty.

Hossein Raeesi
February 25, 2017

Citizenship Rights Headquarters Client Death Drug offenses Execution Funeral ceremony Hossein Raeisi Judge Lawyer Narcotics Oath Prayer Revolutionary Court Right to life پیمان صلح ماهنامه خط صلح ماهنامه خط صلح