Earlier this week, two men were executed by hanging in Iran for their actions during the post-election unrest in 2009. What did they do during this period of post-election unrest, you ask? According the the state-run news agency in Iran, they were sentenced to death "for distributing placards and photos of the terrorist group, making videos and images during the post-election unrest in Iran in 2009 and chanting slogans in favor of the MKO."
Yet, Hillary Clinton apparently didn't see the terrorist connections with making videos and images of the unrest in Iran. She urged Iran to halt the executions as the men were "exercising their right to free expression" back in August of 2010.
Iran paid no attention to the request and gave two of their own citizens the ultimate penalty for expressing themselves politically, something that we Americans cannot even fathom. Of course the state-run news agency attempted to link these two men making videos of the civil unrest to a terrorist organization. Yet, with no independent and free news agencies inside the country, the state can fill the airwaves with whatever falsities without any objections or independent verification.
These terrible destructions of a right we find so fundamental to our every day lives is almost incomprehensible. The blessings that we share, to be able to freely speak for or against our government and to have a free and independent press deliver the news, are part of what has made our country so great. We have constitutionalized in our government the natural want of humanity to be able to express itself. I hope one day the people of Iran are able to enjoy same freedom of speech and press without having to worry about sacrificing their lives for those ideas.
The CNN.com article on the hangings: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/01/24/iran.executions/index.html?iref=allsearch
I like that you posted about this. I think most Americans forget how lucky we are to have freedom of speech. I can't imagine not being able to speak out about the government nor being executed for doing so. It's such a fundamental right that can be easily taken for granted. Thank you for reminding us of how privileged we are to have freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost impossible for me to put myself in the shoes of these Iranian citizens. Growing up in America with so many mediums and modes of speech, it is so easy to take our freedom of speech for granted. It's hard to comprehend living in a society without these freedoms. If there is any nugget to be mined from this story, it seems to me that it is a painful reminder of the dangers that may arise if we ever decide to begin to cede away our basic liberties.
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