Thursday, December 2, 2010

IRANIAN WOMAN CONVICTED OF MURDER HANGED

IRAN FOOTBALL STAR’S “TEMPORARY WIFE” HANGED
AFTER EIGHT-YEAR CAMPAIGN TO SAVE HER LIFE

www.telegraph.co.uk - Shahla Jahed was executed at dawn at Evin Prison in the capital Tehran still protesting her innocence of the murder of Laleh Saharkhizan, the first wife of Nasser Mohammad Khani, a national team striker from the 1980s. State media said Mr Khani attended the execution. Before it took place, the condemned woman tearfully prayed and shouted for her life to be spared before the victim’s son pulled the chair she was standing on as Khani watched. Her family had refused last-minute pleas at the entrance of the jail from both judicial officials and a campaign group of artists and activists to commute the sentence. The main evidence against her was a confession which she retracted immediately she was brought to court, and Iranian judicial experts also questioned the strength of the conviction.

Miss Jahed’s case was held up by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, as an example of flaws in the Iranian judicial system. Mr Khani himself was in Germany with Persepolis, Tehran’s leading football team which he was then managing, at the time of the stabbing in 2002. Khani was held as a suspect in the murder, but was released after Jahed confessed. He said in an interview beforehand that he supported the execution. “Whatever my children and Laleh’s mother say is OK with me,” he was quoted as saying. “The killer of my wife should get the appropriate punishment.” Temporary or informal marriages are a common means of getting around strict Islamic codes of sexual conduct in a number of countries, including both Iran and Saudi Arabia.


Amnesty International has said that there were “strong grounds to believe that Shahla Jahed did not receive a fair trial, and may have been coerced into making a ‘confession’ during months of detention in solitary confinement.” Given that under Iranian law, sex outside marriage is forbidden and penalized, “temporary marriage” or “sigheh” is an arrangement that allows men to legally cheat on their wives for an agreed upon period of time and a fee. They have shown no compassion for this woman. We need to purify our lives through a spiritual process. Advancement in Krishna consciousness involves developing the qualities of mercy and forgiveness, among many others.


WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
We have forgotten Him. So we have to remember Krishna. How do we remember Him? ... “Whatever benefits human beings received in Satya-yuga by meditation, in Treta-yuga by sacrifice and in Dvapara-yuga by Deity worship, they can receive in Kali-yuga by the chanting of the Holy Name.” God has appeared as His Name. All strength has been given to His Name to rescue the fallen souls of this Kali-yuga. You have to accept the instructions of the Supreme Lord. Śrī Krishna, in the mood Śrīmati Radharani, appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahaprabhu and preached that by means of Śrī Nama Sankirtana, we can obtain Krishna-prema. We have been born into this Kali-yuga. Unlike the other prior yugas ... only one dharma remains: satyam (truthfulness). Satya is the Holy Name. Yet, we can easily get Krishna in this Kali-yuga because the Lord has graced the fallen souls of this era and given them the easiest way.


Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Mahārāja :
“Process of remembering Krishna in Kaliyuga”
“Easiest way in Kaliyuga”
Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math
http://www.sreecgmath.org
http://www.sreecgmath.org/scgmtimes/scgmbbtm.php

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