h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"i just get so wound up seein people get off lightly for breakin the law, that it would be nice to see harsh justice every once in a while",

I feel very uncomfortable about just how "wound up" some people seem to get sometimes. It seems to me that it goes beyond outrage at a particular crime and becomes a kind of sadistic impulse that's got nothing to do with justice and everything to do with vengeance and (most of all) the desire to see someone else suffer. I can understand those impulses, because I feel them myself to a certain extent, but I think we're better people and a better society if we think carefully about the origin of those impulses and resist their worst excesses.

"instead of people bein banged up in prison with all the mod cons, gettin university degrees n other qualifications .....all payed for by the tax payer"

I can understand this frustration too. Why should those who play by the rules their whole life fork out for those who want a free ride, or worse, a free ride at the expense of everyone else? However, Robyn's analogy is exactly right.

I find it very hard to believe that prison life is as soft as some would have us believe. For me, the deprivation of liberty and loss of privacy alone would be awful. Want to see friends and family? Visiting times only, during which time everyone is searched. Want to see a film? Tough. Want to play sports, watch sports, go to the pub, go swimming, go to a gig? Tough. Fancy a curry? Eat what you're given, when you're given it. In fact, do everything when you're told to, and at no other time. Privacy? Most likely a shared cell. Company? Other prisoners. Of the same sex as you. An all male (or all female environment). Stuck locked up with other prisoners who are likely to have untreated mental health or drug issues and will be violent and unpredictable. Work? Maybe something menial - nothing remotely rewarding or stimulating.

Sorry, but it'll take more than a colour TV and occasional access to table tennis and a pool table to make prison anything other than a nightmare for me. Maybe someone will object that I'm reasonably comfortably off and middle class and therefore have further to fall, but I cannot imagine anyone (except perhaps young adults or ex-military personnel) who would be accustomed to that level of lack of liberty and privacy.

And what do we do with people in prison? Education (to whatever level) is overwhelmingly a force for positive change. Most criminals have few skills and poor employment prospects, and those prospects are worsened by their newly-acquired criminal record. How do they get back from that to become a useful member of society? One way is to get qualifications as a way of demonstrating a determination to change. Every criminal who goes straight as a result of work and life skills learnt in prison rather than continuing a life of crime saves an absolute fortune. It's an outstanding investment for the taxpayer.

It seems no-one knows what happened in the end.
It's really strange. There was all this stuff on the net about the case, with articles in March saying the sentence was due to be carried out in April, and then absolutely nothing. No indication as to whether it happened or whether there was a reprieve.

To be fair, there was something else happening in Iran in April that might have contributed to the lack of news...

Maybe Jo Moore is working in Iran now?

RF

Yes that's true. Was it April all that was going on? Anyway, good point.

But you try to find out what happened. I challenge you. Notwithstanding all the upheaval in Iran, I'd have thought it would be possible to do some googling and find out, but there's nowt about it after March.

Well, the election was in June, but things had reached fever pitch before then. I've got a mate with an Iranian husband, I could see if she knows anything.

If she does know and you tell us, that would make this about the only place on the web with any info on this.

The sentence being carried out is not as newsworthy as it being suggested in the first place.

If people who come out of prison have nothing to fall back on, they´ll have no reason not to return to a life of crime. It seems in society´s best interest to let them learn some crafts or such in prison. Though I have seen some Danish prisons that seem awfully cozy.

"I do think some people won´t care or be too short sighted."

I hope, given the context, that that was deliberate.

was that me?

no, it wasn't deliberate. Sorry! I'll try harder...

Any news from your Iranian contact, H.I.?

Not yet, her eldest is back from Tehran today though, so I might get a text/email later on.

As soon as I do, I pop it up on here.

Looks like there is now an answer on wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameneh_Bahrami

According to the Mail it's still unclear whether the sentence was carried out:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1342684/Iran-court-orders-man-lose-eye-ear-childhood-bully-acid-attack.html

According to Spanish ABC the sentence was to be carried out at noon today, but has been postponed due to pressures from human rights groups.

BBC report about it:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13401360

Animals.

It seems that the person who destroyed the face and sight of a young
woman because she refused to marry him, has become a symbol of
victimhood himself in the west, and a totem upon which western scorn
can be poured onto middle-eastern systems of justice.

Well, yes, he has, just as Derek Bentley, who nobody disputes went armed to commit a crime, was a "symbol of victimhood". The fact that the "victim" here is a proven criminal doesn't make what the animals who have him are preparing to do to him any less barbaric.

"Barbarians act barbarically" is a headline that should surprise nobody, and "justice" as bad as this and worse is handed out every day. The only question on my mind is why this case in particular is getting reported. Whose agenda is served?