I sought out some Iranian artists and social activists and asked them all this question: why do people like to watch executions? I asked those who accidentally happened upon an execution and those who had gone to watch on purpose, those who had witnessed executions as children and are still tormented by the memory, and those who have watched them as adults or as teenagers. I asked them what took them to the scene and how they felt watching the state takes a citizen's life.
I tried to select my interviewees from a cross-section of Iranian society and amongst the younger generation. I received different kinds of answers and different stories from different experiences. Since they all live in Iran, they preferred to be known only by pseudonyms. I will let their responses speak for themselves, though as you'll see when you read, only one individual expressed any support for publication executions, and as such, I queried him more extensively.
Negar from Tehran: Is horrified to see these scenes on the streets, but watches violent movies on the Internet.
“I had no plan to watch an execution,” she says. “I was following my usual route to my grandmother’s house when I saw a man spread-eagled in the street and they were whipping him. I was curious, but there was no joy in it. I was frightened. I ran away and for hours I cried. When there is something like this on the Internet or Facebook, I try to see it to the end even if the speed is slow, but I cannot watch such things with my own eyes and in close-up.
“My father has seen many executions and has known the condemned more or less. He says that they were all innocent and the only reason for executing them was that they were politically disagreeable to the government.”
Roxana from Shiraz: After three decades, she has not forgotten the execution she once witnessed.
“I was around 14-years old. Two of my friends—Mehrdad, 15, and Fariba, 17—were killed in a horrible way by the gardener’s son, who was 19. When we were children, he was our playmate. When he was older, he stood at a distance and joked with children. He enjoyed fooling around and sometimes hid behind a tree and gazed at us. It must have been around that time that he decided to murder the children.
“It was not long after the murder that he was executed. I only saw him being pulled up. I did not want to watch, but suddenly the onlookers laughed. He had wet his pants. I looked up and saw him swinging with his black baggy pants. My heart broke, both for the murdered children and for him. There was no joy. Now whenever I cross that square, I turn my face away. I have not been able to forget it.”
Mohammad Esmaelzadeh from Turkey: He was the last person to hug a condemned man and never asked about his offense.
“It was late July, 2009. I was under temporary detention in a prison in Babol (in northern Iran) with students from the city’s universities, in the cell block for the clergy. Every prison officer who entered the cell block talked about a condemned prisoner who was to be executed at dawn the next day. I did not know what he had done and why some prison officials were troubled.
“One evening I went to the prison office to talk to the officer on duty about a few problems in the cell block. In the waiting room, a man was sitting in front of me, handcuffed to two soldiers on each side. Between his feet, on the ground, there was a big container of fruit juice. He greeted me and invited me to drink some. It was clear that he wanted to talk to somebody. He asked if I was a student. I answered yes. He said god bless you and fell silent. I asked him what he was doing there. ‘I am going to be executed tomorrow,’ he replied. I was undone by this and felt dizzy. He understood how I was feeling and joked about it. ‘I am going to be hanged and you are troubled?’, he asked. I could not talk and only looked at him. I did not even ask why or for what crime. None of the questions that went through my mind seemed important. I was only tormented because I was thinking that in the morning the life a human being was going to be taken away by his own kind.
“I went into the office. I had no idea what to say to the officer on duty. I wanted to be done as soon as possible and return to the cell block. Leaving the office, I tried not to look at his face and just go away. But I heard him say loudly ‘give my regards to your friends.’
“This was the last wish a man condemned to die who had only a few hours to live. Without thinking, I went to him and hugged him. Then I kissed his forehead. Maybe I was the last person who kissed him. I did not want to let him go. The soldiers separated us. I looked back a few times and we bade farewell with our eyes.
“They returned me to the cell block. The moment that I was back, a cellmate came to me and asked what was wrong and if I had talked to the officer on duty. He asked many questions to understand why I was feeling the way I did. I told him the story. His eyes filled with tears and threw something at the wall. Each one of us busied himself with something, but it was clear what we were thinking about.
“I could not sleep and just laid on the bed. I think many of us were awake but, unlike other nights, nobody talked. Prison nights are long and it was long for us as well. But maybe for the man who had just one night to breath, the moments were passing with the speed of light. I looked constantly at the window. I did not want the sun to come out. I noticed that most of us were gazing at the sky.
“When the call to prayer sounded, a cellmate said that it was over; he had been executed. We could no longer lay on our beds. We sat up. Everybody was awake and sitting but nobody said anything. We were distraught over the execution of a man whom we did not know. I have heard many stories about executions but, for me, the condemned is always the same tall man in a black T-shirt who has been handcuffed to two soldiers.”
Sheema from Mashhad: He asked his father why he goes to watch executions.
“When I was nine, our neighbor, Mohammad, killed one of his friends and his wife informed the police. The story made a lot of noise everywhere. On Fridays we usually slept late but on the Friday that our neighbor was to be executed we woke up early and went to watch the execution. For my father it was as though we were going hiking or on a weekend picnic. I was very upset and much later I asked him why we had gone there. He answered that everybody was going there, so we went, too. A few years later, they were executing an acquaintance of my father on drug charges. He and a friend went there to watch. When I asked the same question, I got the same answer.”
Pirouz Yousefi from Tehran: He watched the execution of his friend’s mother.
“I was curious to see something that I had only seen in the movies before. Besides, one of the three people who were to be executed was our neighbor and the mother of my friend, and this heightened my curiosity. Also, the execution was going to take place in a main square on my way to the high school. So I did not have to go out of my way.”
Samira Cheraghpour from Khorramshahr: Views execution as a nightmare.
“I don’t know whether I moved forward or the crowd pushed me. I think I was in the last year of primary school or had started middle school when I saw the execution of two people in the square. For years I have remembered the scene like a nightmare. It was horrifying.”
Pooya R. from Khuzestan: He agrees with executing rapists.
“Yes, I went to watch the execution of two rapists. They had raped a woman and her daughter and then murdered them with knives. I wanted to see them suffer and beg.”
Do you know what led to their execution?
Yes. A few years ago a young man and an older man were arrested on charges of raping a women and her daughter and killing them afterwards. They confessed that during the rape the victims were crying and begging them but they were only after their own satisfaction and nothing else. When they were to be executed, the older man was so frightened that he wet his pants. When I learned why they were going to be executed, I went to the scene to see them suffer and be a close witness to the putting down of two dogs.
Then you agree with death penalty in certain cases. Why?
I believe that the death penalty must be the answer to rape, intentional murder or even large embezzlements from the people.
When somebody allows himself to forcibly rape others or to take somebody else’s life, the best way to deal with him to take his life. Those who embezzle millions are really dipping their bread in the blood of the people and are denying them their livelihoods. What else can compensate for their crimes except death?
The death penalty is used as deterrence by only a very few countries in the world, and they happen to have extremely high rates of crime. In your view, can the death penalty prevent crime?
When they execute a person, the verdict applies only to one person. There is no reason to believe that another criminal would be scared because a criminal always thinks that he is more intelligent and smarter than the next guy. He imagines that nobody can catch him, unaware that nobody can escape the law. God would not allow anybody to commit a crime and get away easily. Whoever commits a crime must accept the consequences.
How did you feel watching the execution? Did you enjoy it?
I was happy to see the execution of two of the most depraved people in the world who had raped and then killed their victims. I must not lie: Watching a human die from close-up was a little difficult. But at that moment there was only one question which I was thinking about: Why had these two had done something which made them wet their pants as they were being hanged? But I made peace with it.
Do you agree with death penalty for children? If a child kills somebody, does that child deserves to be put to death?
I have not heard or read or seen that anywhere in the world they execute children. But no. As dangerous as some children can be, they can be reformed and returned to the society with some education.
Why would people want to watch an execution?
I don’t know about the people but I would want to see criminals punished—any time, day or night. I can learn lessons from what they have done and make my own life better. Or perhaps I should say I go to watch so that I would not repeat such bad experiences.
In the Koran God has repeatedly called on people to forgive. His kind words are many more than the harsh ones. If God is forgiving and accepts repentance, why should his servant be unable to forgive and order that the life of another human being be taken away?
If something that I described in my first reply happened to you, would you still believe that the criminal must be forgiven? What happens to the honor and the life that you have lost? We are not Imams or prophets to do everything the way that God has ordered. True, we know God and are used to the Koran. But we would be saints if we could carry out all God’s commands.
If somebody close to you, somebody dear like a member of your family, kills somebody, would you still insist on the death penalty?
First of all, who am I to insist on the death penalty for anybody? Second, my brother is a sportsman and my father is a coach. They are not the kind of people who would commit crimes. However, if someday they do something to deserve the death penalty, I am sure I will remain silent. What else could I do except cry and be miserable?
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Put Death Penalty to a Referendum: an Interview with Emadeddin Baghi
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The Value of Human Life: An Interview With Mohammad Mostafaei
The Most Disadvantaged Groups at Risk of Execution
Mohammad Mostafaei’s 10 Steps For Abolishing The Death Penalty
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