A daughter executed her own mother by kicking away the chair as she was hanged in line with one of the Iranian regime’s most barbaric laws.
Maryam Karimi was condemned to die for killing her husband – who reportedly subjected her to years of abuse and refused to grant her a divorce.
Her dad and only relative Ebrahim did his best to solve the issue peacefully but was unable to convince his stubborn son-in-law, so he aided his mistreated child in the killing, reports say.
After their arrest, Maryam’s six-year-old little girl went to live with her dad’s grandparents, who told her she was orphaned after both parents died 13 years earlier.
Just weeks before Maryam and Ebrahim’s execution date, the now 19-year-old daughter was told how her dad met his end.
On February 22 last year, Maryam and Ebrahim were transferred to death row, but the hanging was delayed for unknown reasons.
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AFP/Getty Images)
Under Iran’s take on Islamic Law, it is the relatives of murder victims rather than the state who decide the killer’s punishment.
On conviction, families are asked if they want revenge in the form of “qisas” or an “eye-for-an-eye”, or if they want to spare them and receive a sum of “blood money” instead. Forgiveness is also an option, one which is surprisingly popular.
The qisas law becomes even more barbaric when the victims are related or married. In Maryam’s case, the only person who could make the decision was her daughter.
A few weeks later, the teen was taken to Rasht Central Prison to kick the chair out from under her own mum’s feet, causing her to drop as she was hanged from the rafters.
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Iran HRM)
Ebrahim was given a temporary reprieve but guards made sure to escort him in front of the stage where his daughter’s body was still swinging from the gallows.
In June this year, Ebrahim was killed in the same prison as his daughter.
Iranian rights groups believe the qisas system gives the Iran’s clerical leaders plausible deniability, allowing them to shirk the responsibility of being the second most prolific state executor, with only China beating its grim annual tallies.
It also breeds an insidious violence which permeates throughout Iranian society.
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AFP/Getty Images)
Director of Iran Human Rights Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam shared this harrowing story with The Mirror, adding that the judicial system is “converting” victims into executioners.
He explained: “It’s important to illustrate what qisas lead to beyond the actual executions.
“The Iranian penal code, not only does it have inhumane punishment, but it also promotes violence on the society.
“In cases of murder where they talk about Qisas, or ‘retribution-in-kind’, what they actually do is they put the responsibility of an execution on the shoulders of the murder victim’s family.
“So from being a victim, they are converted to becoming an executioner.
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Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“But then it becomes even more brutal when we have these murders within the family.”
Mahmood explained how the regime waits until the child turns 18 before calling on them to carry out an “impossible” task.
He added: “They put the child in an impossible situation, where they say ‘your mother has murdered your father’, and it’s you who’s going to decide their fate.”
Iran’s clerical leaders laud the family’s “right” to retribution as “holy”, Mahmood said, adding that other civil liberties such as freedom of expression are routinely ignored or suppressed.
Judges and prosecutors pressure families to choose blood over other options, saying that it is their right and duty to their slain relative and to god, he added.
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Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mahmood said: “They’re made to feel guilty if they don’t ask for retribution. It’s done using psychological pressure, so it’s in a very subtle way.”
But despite these subtle pressures the majority of everyday Iranians choose to spare the lives of those who tore their loved ones from them.
“The number of people who choose, you know, blood money or forgiveness, instead of the death penalty is much higher than those who ask for a hanging,” Mahmood added.
“Last year, there were more than 700 cases where the plaintiff either gave their forgiveness, or said no to that penalty and went for blood money.
“The number of actual cases of execution were below 200 I think.”
He said: “Despite 40 years of promoting violence through a death penalty there is an increasing number of people say no to them – even when it involves members of their family.”