A woman named Reyhaneh Jabbari in 2007 was sentenced to death for killing a man named Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi. This man allegedly raped her and the only reason Jabbari killed him was in self defense. However, she was still convicted of murder and the fact of her actions being self defense were ignored. She was held in solitary confinement for two months without access to a lawyer or her family. During those two months she was tortured as well. She had been waiting on death row for five years and her original execution date of September 30th was postponed due to public outcry against the execution. The United Nations and the The U.S. State Department had concerns about the trial saying that it was unfair and unjust. Although, Despite international pressure to spare her life she was hung. Iran has executed about 170 people this year and last year it executed the most people than any other country has. A connection in history that can be made to this event could be when the southerners hung black people who broke laws or went against white authority. They never got a fair trial and a lot of the time didn't even get their day in court. What do you think, Do you believe that Jabbari's sentence was unfair? Why do you think Jabbari was given such an unjust sentence? How do you feel about Iran executing so many people? What actions could the U.S. or other International organizations have taken to prevent this execution or countless others like this?
I think that it was unjust because she was given no access to her family or a lawyer. People who could help her gather her story together so she can convince the jury to not execute her. I think she was given an unfair trial because she is a woman. I think this because she was the one allegedly raped, but yet they saw the raper as the victim I think she should have been given a fair trial
ReplyDeleteI think that Jabbari's sentence was unfair. I believe she was right to kill her rapist as self defense. Why should she be punished and hanged for protecting herself from someone who was raped her? It is clearly unjust that victim was seen as a criminal and not having a fair trail, I believe she deserves one before action was made upon. I agree with Bianca in terms of they were more focused that the raper was the victim but really she was the victim of rape.
ReplyDeleteThis is an completely, entirely, and utterly unjust. She deserved a lawyer and her family. Simply having an unfair trial was bad enough, but to be tortured as well? What kind of punishment is that? Hmm. Sounds like it's cruel and unusual. It's pathetic enough that a man would rape her in the first place, but because he did, she had every right to defend herself. If that meant killing him, so be it. Overall, I think that more efforts should be put to raise awareness about rape. We live in a society that tells women not to get raped instead of teaching men not to rape. It's time the US step in to defend the morals of humanity.
ReplyDeleteI agree that her sentencing was unfair. There is no reason someone should be killed for defending herself from her alleged rapist. But we also have to put this into context. Many Islamic states such as Iran believe in the old saying, "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot." Essentially this is meaning that although someone did something bad too her she should have not done anything back. I do agree that it was fair of her to do to defend herself, but in their country they did not believe that this was ok, so she was sentenced to death.
ReplyDeleteIn America, this would be incredibly unjust and unconstitutional. I also believe that this was not fair. Everyone has a right to a lawyer and trial. She killed another man out of self defense and I don't think that it would be fair if she were to be killed. If the man who allegedly raped her also intended on killing her, the government in Iran looks as bad as this man who may have raped her. Gabe does have a good point, our views maybe very different from Islamic views, but in the end if the government does follow through with this death sentence they would be killing a victim. This is why I believe that international organizations or the US should take action to prevent this execution and more similar to this.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joy on the fact that there should be more awareness about rape to protect women from unjust acts such as this. Essentially this woman's entire case was unjust and the fact that she was killed because she defended herself idiotic and unfair.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jolene, if this happened in America, it would be extremely unjust and unconstitutional. She was doing it on self defense and she should not be punished so harshly by just trying to save her life. There should be more awareness because it does happen all the time. Iranians will eventually face protest sometime soon because of this act.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Jabbari's sentence was unfair because if this happened in America it would be unjust and unconstitutional. I believe she got this sentence because the court system was unfair towards her case.
ReplyDeleteDo not be so quick to judge everyone, iran could have different laws being biased towards the male race. Iran may have different beliefs and their way of life may be different than us. How african americans and other colored people used to be slaves and unequal. Like what we discussed in class, did slave owners go to sleep at night thinking he was a bad person and what he is doing is wrong? No, that was the mindset back then and that could be the mindset of people in iran. This may be the way people grew up and there was superior race and gender, that would be normal to them and different and "wrong" to us since there laws and beliefs are different.
ReplyDeleteBecause we come from America, we would think that her case was unjust and unconstitutional. This man had raped her? She was only doing this for self-defense? But we also have take it to account that this happened in Iran, and they might have different laws and regulations. They probably think that what she did was wrong. Personally, I think that because she was raped and this was for self-defense reasons, that this act was truly unjust. In America she would have gotten a trial, and she would have been the "victim."
ReplyDeleteJason brings up a very good point -- not everywhere is like America, and they probably have some very different beliefs, so we have to be mindful of that when judging them. Even so, I completely agree with Joy. It's hard to say what will help at this point, but my guess is that the UN may have to be more firm in their actions if they want to effect change in Iran.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the United States constitution, everyone has the right to a fair trial; however, these are not the laws in Iran. The high number of deaths and causes controversy and questioning to their governmental system. Not giving a thorough investigation and putting Jabarri on death row for 5 years without a fair trial is highly unjust and inhumane. On the other hand, it is hard to deem other governments fraud just because it does not follow our codes; nonetheless, when the death rates are so high, it causes people to question. It is difficult to claim what would help evolve Iran's laws, and I do not believe the US should get involved because it would cause more conflicts.
ReplyDeleteI think this is very unjust. Like many others said, however, we can't project our ideals of fair trials onto Iran. However, the UN and Iranian public figures who tried to help the girl show that perhaps this was uncalled for and needed more investigation. I personally think that they definitely should've investigated more and made sure there wasn't any bias. Obviously, there seems to be no law protecting against self-defense over there. That is a separate issue. However, it sucks that a woman must be killed for protecting her self, and shows how misogyny can still be prevalent.
ReplyDeleteIn the Middle East, there has always been a lot of sexism. This was likely another case of that. It's really unjust, but sadly, it's how they do things over there. The person she killed was a former government official so that likely added a lot to it but I would say the main reason is simply that she is a woman and he was a man. It's wrong and it wont just be solved over night. This goes beyond just this case. In order for the UN to stop this, it takes a lot of time and reworking of the general values of the government.
ReplyDeleteThis is obviously very sexist and unfair. It's clear she was only acting in self defense, and I don't think she should have been punished at all, let alone tortured and killed. I think the UN should have got involved before this happened.
ReplyDeleteThe government system in Iran is very unjust an different than that of the U.S.I also agree with Jason that not everywhere is like America, especially places in the Middle East. Countries in the Middle East are very sexist against females and woman don't have a lot of power. I don't think she was given a fair trial because of the fact men are superior in this region and she killed a man. The government is most likely made up of all men so of course she isn't going to even have a chance at a fair trial. Although her actions were done in self defense the government iosn't looking at what she had endured, she was raped, they are only looking at the crime she had committed against a man.
ReplyDeleteI think that this issue is not as much of a specific case and rather a much larger problem. Treatment of women in certain Middle Eastern cultures is horrific from our point of view, as we try to have gender equality in America as much as we can. However, I think we cannot pardon them for their beliefs, as this is the 21st century and it is no longer acceptable to openly oppress certain people.
ReplyDeleteI believe this was definitely an unjust decision by the government of Iran. I know that many Iranian people protested against this false and sexist resolution, but unfortunately the current government of Iran is like a dictatorship. This does not have to do anything with the Persian culture. In the Persian culture women are highly valued, but the current government system of Iran has radical Islamic views which are not supported by its people. As long as this government is ruling over Iran, nothing will really change, and innocent people will die for their freedom.
ReplyDeletedoes anyone else feel that the middle east stands for every thing the u.s. is against but the only reason the u.s. doesent do anything is because they want their oil?
ReplyDeleteI do have to agree with Alton's comment about the Middle East being a terrible place for the treatment of women. The decision that the government did make for this trial was very unjust, as there is a completely justified reason as to why the woman did what she had to do to the rapist. Though we here in the US advocate for equality among all people no matter what race a person is or what gender is, it would be very difficult for the people over in the Middle East to change their culture quickly. Their culture has been ingrained in the people for generations, and it does not look like it's going to change soon. The only real way to change the current situation this is with some sort of radical change, and one can only hope that things over in the Middle East will ease up.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with David on this one. We honestly don't care what happens out there. Were just there for the oil. Its sad to know how a woman was murdered for protecting herself. Also like Vince says we cant just march in their and change thier culture, its very hard. They were raised to think that there way is the right way to go.
ReplyDeleteI believe that what happened here was wrong. No person should be tortured and killed because they tried to protect themselves. However, this is not a problem that the United States should interfere with. Iran does things differently than the US and we should not try to intervene with other countries' problems unless they directly have an impact on us.
ReplyDeleteJabbari's sentence was extremely unfair, however, it is well known that the Iranian government runs itself much differently from the US. The only thing we can do is attempt to persuade them to take a more just path, but to interfere any more would cause violence and war. Everyone has the right to fair trial, but if it is out of the US's control then there is not much more we can do but express our opinions
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