A CNN report the other day said that 2 political prisoners were executed by hanging at end January. According to Amnesty International, this execution is the first since violent demonstrations erupted following the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Well there have been executions of political prisoners in many countries around the world, so what’s so special about this particular exection? How about the charge against these 2 political prisoners? They were charged with the crime of being mohareb, which literally means being enemies of God.
Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies at Stanford University said: “A mohareb, according to Shiite law, is executed.” Abbas Milani added that being mohareb (enemies of God) is the worst possible crime in Shiite Muslim law.
Amir Taheri, Iranian journalist said that charging political opponents with a religious label of being mohareb is something new. He said: “It was not like that the beginning of the revolution. The revolution was an Islamic revolution but they did not try to give a religious aspect.”
Amir Taheri added: “Now unfortunately they are giving a very dangerous and arguably un-Iranian religious aspect to it by hating the Jews, hating the Baha’is, using anti-Christian propaganda, executing or even murdering some Sunni Muslim preachers.”
Amir Taheri said that Ayatollah Ruhollah Kohmeini, founder of the Islamic regime, did not charge his opponents as being mohareb, or enemies of God. Instead, Ayatollah Ruhollah Kohmeini charged his political opponents as being “mofsed fel-Arza”, which translates into “he who brings corruption”.
So why did the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad charge political opponents with the crime of mohareb? Amir Taheri thinks it is a sign of panic. He said: “It takes a lot of political insecurity to say if you don’t do something I tell you to do, you are an enemy of God. They were completely caught off guard by the ferocity and extent of the opposition and they pulled out all the stops.”
But labelling someone as being mohareb may have limited the government’s hand for further action. Indeed what higher charge can you bring against another political opponent than being mohareb? Amir Taheri said: “I can’t imagine them upping the legal ante. What you can do is increase the number of people they are executing in an in-your-face manner to bring terror to the people.”
And that may well be what is happening now. Iran Students News Agency quoted the Tehran Judiciary as saying that at least one other person is now awaiting execution for being a mohareb.
Think about it. Why bring religion into politics? Is Amir Taheri right in saying that the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has hit the panic button in labelling political opponents as mohareb, or enemies of God? In any event, how is one being classified as enemies of God? Since when does being against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad equates to being enemies of God? Unless of course he happens to be a god. But surely even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dare not claim to be one?
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