Thread: Beheaddings for Protest

Wow, all i can say is i hope either the people revolt or Iran's main trading partners (one of them being the U.K.) start squeezing harder

A senior cleric on Friday urged Iran's protest leaders to be punished "without mercy" and said some should face execution -- harsh calls that signal a nasty new turn in the regime's crackdown on demonstrators two weeks after its disputed election.

Hard-liners have ordered long sentences and hangings before, and some fear those awaiting trial by a judiciary whose verdicts reflect the will of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei could face the most severe punishments the Islamic system can dish out.

"Anyone who takes up arms to fight with the people, they are worthy of execution," Ayatollah Ahmed Khatami, a ranking cleric, said in a nationally broadcast sermon at Tehran University.

Khatami said those who disturbed the peace and destroyed public property were "at war with God" and should be "dealt with without mercy."

His call for merciless retribution for those who stirred up Iran's largest wave of dissent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution came as Mir Hossein Mousavi, the nation's increasingly isolated opposition leader, has been under heavy pressure to give up his fight and slipped even further from view.

Mousavi said he would seek official permission for any future rallies, effectively ending his role in street protests organized by supporters who insist he -- not hard-line incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- won the June 12 election. And an aide said Mousavi's Web site, his primary means of staying in touch with supporters, was taken down by unknown hackers.

Either way, not going to be pretty. Glad I'm not over there.

Originally Posted by Heart Of Malice

It's a scary situation for sure, but at least there have been no official executions yet. This is only a call for them from a Cleric.

You do know that Iran is a theocratic republic right?

As in clerics have real, tangible, political power.

From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocracy#Iran

Iran's government is described as a "theocratic republic". Iran's head of state, or Supreme Leader, is an Islamic cleric appointed for life by an elected body called Assembly of Experts. The Council of Guardians, considered part of the executive branch of government, is responsible for determining if legislation is in line with Islamic law and customs (the Sharia), and can bar candidates from elections