Chesler Chronicles

September 25th, 2008 9:12 am

The Stoning of Soraya M in Iran: Not America’s Fault

Phyllis Chesler’s Speech for the Women United 9/25 Rally Protesting Ahmadinejad and his Christian Supporters. 5:30pm NYC, across the Street from the Grand Hyatt Hotel, East 42nd St and Lexington Ave.

I wish I could be with you in person this evening but, given my recently implanted titanium steel hip, my days of street rallies may be over. But I am with you in spirit and have sent a colleague to cover the rally for me.

I congratulate you all: the inspired and hard-working rally organizers, the speakers, and those who have gathered here to protest the nuclear, misogynist, genocidal, and barbaric policies of Iran whose public face is That Man–Ahmadinejad–the mullahs’ little errand boy.

You are also here to protest the so-called Christian groups who have assembled inside the hotel to honor this modern day Hitler. They should be ashamed of themselves. However, let me remind us: 55,000 other Christians from 128 nations have demanded that the UN arrest and indict Ahmadinejad over his threats to Israel. (God bless them).

Khomeini killed more Iranians in his first month in office than the demonized Shah ever did during his entire thirty eight year reign. And the killing has never stopped, it has only gathered steam both in Iran and abroad, in all the places where Iran sponsors terrorism against civilians. But I have learned that people find it hard to emotionally comprehend large death counts which numb and terrify us.

So, let me tell you a story about one tragic incident that took place in that cursed country in the summer of 1986. Telling this story and listening to it is a way of mourning, and of bearing witness. Iranian expatriate journalist Freidoune Sahebjam resurrected the facts for us in his jewel of a book, The Stoning of Soraya M which is now also a film which stars the great Iranian expatriate actress, Shohreh Aghdashloo. Sahebjam writes that in contemporary Iran, “being born female is both a capital crime and a death sentence.”

The book is a haunting and carefully rendered account of how, on August 15, 1986, a thirty-five-year-old woman was stoned to death in Kupayeh, Iran. Soraya, (peace be upon her), was lynched and stoned to death by the villagers with whom she had lived all her life. Her own father, her two sons, and her greedy, heartless criminal of a husband, Ghorban-Ali, all threw the first stones.

How did this happen? When Soraya was only thirteen, an arranged marriage with the twenty-year-old Ghorban-Ali took place. Soraya was docile, obedient, and fertile. She did everything uncomplainingly. Her husband routinely insulted, beat, and then abandoned her and their children; he also consorted with prostitutes and brought them into the marital bed. Soraya dared not say a word. A “complaining” wife is easy to divorce.

Ghorban-Ali had begun to work with a group of extortionist mullahs in some distant towns and had been well rewarded. He “did not want to live any longer” with Soraya, who had become a “silent, resigned woman who was old before her time and, what was worse, completely above reproach.” Ghorban-Ali had a new wife picked out, and although he could now afford many houses, he wanted his old mud house back. For him to get it, Soraya had to die.

He therefore falsely accused Soraya of adultery. Soraya’s aunt, Zahra, a village elder (and the author’s main informant (who is played by Aghdashloo)), loved Soraya and knew she was innocent. But she was powerless and could not save her. Ghorban-Ali tricked Soraya’s own father into condemning her. He also had the support of one of the many fake, pederast, drug-addicted mullahs who, under Khomeini, enriched themselves personally by jailing and extorting money from their prisoners and by then executing them and confiscating all their wealth—a process very similar to the European Inquisition in which the Catholic church amassed great wealth in precisely this way.

After Ghorban-Ali denounced Soraya, she was sentenced to die later that same day. Ghorban-Ali was “radiant, jovial. Men slapped him affectionately and heartily…others hugged him.” The crowd of villagers began to chant: “The whore has to die. Death to the woman.” The villagers—who had know Soraya since her birth—cursed her, spit on her, hit her, and whipped her as she walked to her stoning. A “shudder of pleasure and joy ran through the crowd” as their stones drew blood. According to Sahebjams’s account, Soraya died a slow and agonizing death.

When Soraya’s aunt Zahra went to retrieve her body for burial, she was greeted by a “hallucinatory” spectacle. On the exact spot where Soraya had been stoned to death, a joyful fire was now burning, and around its flames the villagers were dancing. The strolling performers had started their show. The village women had donned their finest multicolored dresses and were turning in circles.”

Afterwards, the fake mullah declared that the sinful Soraya could not be buried in a Muslim cemetery. He ordered some women to carry her broken body away. They half-buried her near a stream that Soraya happened to love. But when Zahra returned the next morning, she found that dogs had devoured most of her niece. She sat and wept, collected Soraya’s bones, and buried them.

I must emphasize that this ghastly, local stoning cannot be blamed on the crimes of either America or Israel.

What will it take to stop the stoning of women in Iran? The rape and torture of dissident prisoners in Iran? The lashing and hanging of rape victims in Iran? The forced prostitution and temporary “marriages” in Iran? What will it take to ensure that Iran does not become a nuclear power, does not attack Israel, Europe, America, or other Muslim countries in the region? Iran is a huge state sponsor of terrorism. It has funded Hamas and Hezbollah and conducts military operations against civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Argentina.

Again, I ask: What are we willing to do? Not engaging has not worked. Engaging equals appeasement. Military action is dangerous, unthinkable, inevitable.

I have been asking this precise question for four years now. Your rally brings us one step closer to an answer.

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9 Comments

1. George Jochnowitz:

A good reason to have invaded Iraq was that there were NOT weapons of mass destruction there. I have no idea whether the administration knew this. But they knew the Iraqi Army would quickly be destroyed. That’s what happened. The problem is that after we defeated the Iraqi Army, a whole new set of problems appeared, some of which still remain.

Dangerous, unthinkable, inevitable. Doing nothing is extraordinarily dangerous. Doing something is extraordinarily dangerous. There is no safe choice.

Many Iranian civilians are as barbaric as their leaders. Many are not. I keep thinking of the large group of Iranian tourists I met in Beijing in 1989. I spoke to them in English, and when I said I was from New York, they said, “We are old friends.” I must have looked very surprised. They said, “The mullahs are not your friends and are not our friends. WE are old friends.”

I am very happy that I am not the President of the United States, despite the fact that the President gets excellent medical care.

Sep 25, 2008 - 10:29 am 2. iammefrommiami:

Ms. Chessler, May you be healthy and well for this new year! We should all fight the good fight a well as you have. May the haters of women be ashamed and abashed.

Sep 25, 2008 - 12:55 pm 3. iammefrommiami:

oops make that Ms. Chesler-sigh

Sep 25, 2008 - 12:56 pm 4. Amaryllis:

I very much agree with Mr. Jochnowitz that we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. We find ourselves in quite a predicament, eh? An attack on Iran by the US would probably garner resentment from the international community as well as the wrath of Islamic countries. Living in Europe, I’ve have witnessed and been subjected to much anti-American sentiments as a result of our invading Iraq. I wouldn’t know where to begin advising what course of action would be most viable regarding the Iran situation, and it is not solely due to my lack of extensive knowledge on the issue. All one needs to do is apply simple ratiocination to understand that this is quite a delicate matter we have on our hands. I would love to hear from anyone who has any ideas as how the US should proceed. Certainly with caution.

Sep 25, 2008 - 3:15 pm 5. shriber:

In the meantime Juan Cole is at it again. He is defending Ahmadinejad over at Salon.

He needs to be answered loud and clear.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/09/24/ahmadinejad/

I can’t figure out if Cole is a moron or just plain antisemitic.

Sep 25, 2008 - 9:59 pm 6. From California:

What are we willing to do to take Iran down? And please realize that the local village mullahs and the local villagers who played roles in the stoning of Soraya M are collaborators and opportunists. They back the regime. They share the regime’s extremist views. The civilian population of Iran is not composed only of peaceful, democracy-oriented, dissidents. Many are as barbaric as their leaders.
You seem to sincerely believe that more people in Iran are evil, hateful people. Yes, you mention that some are not, but only in passing and it seems that you believe most of the population consists of cruel and “barbaric” (always a word that carries a certain amount of racial prejudice, by the way). It is sad that you think of it as “taking Iran down” rather that helping Iran become peaceful. I have friends, many of them, who came from Iran to America as adults who are not sexist and have always treated me, a woman, with complete respect of my intelligence, body, etc., and who are some of the most welcoming, kind people I know. There are terrible things that happen in Iran, yes, but aren’t you aware that terrible things happen here, as well? Up until fifty years ago (though it still happens quite often; many people seem unaware of this), hate crimes were incredibly rampant and socially acceptable. Did the international community intervene? No. Would we have been upset if they had? Yes. So please, stop trying desperately to encourage America, who has often had a blatant disregard for human (as well as environmental and animal) life, to pretend we have the right to go off into other countries that we don’t understand and “correct” everything that goes on there. We’re damned if we do, yes, but so are they.

Everyone hates America because we are so incredibly ignorant already: we group together huge, huge numbers of people without fully realizing that they, too, are a “melting pot” as we are and each have unique opinions. We attack without real thought as to why. It’s sad, and it’s sad that people respect these sorts of viewpoints rather than trying to communicate with those from other countries that we are not in complete understanding with.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:23 pm 7. From DC:

“From California” is absolutely right. We need to stop attacking other countries. I have met dozens of people from Iran that are perfectly good human beings, better than most of us. The truth is every country has its problems. Let’s face it, we have our own issues like drugs, murder, etc. Do you see other countries invading Washington DC and Baltimore in an attempt to clean up the enormous amount of drug abuse there? Of course not. We need to tend to our own issues before we try to fix things halfway around the world that we don’t understand.

Oct 22, 2008 - 12:40 pm 8. Luke Ward:

http://pajamasmedia.com/phyllischesler/2008/09/25/the-stoning-of-soraya-m-in-iran-not-americas-fault/

Ok now,
From (nor) Cal

From Cal said
“”"”You seem to sincerely believe that more people in Iran are evil, hateful people…..you believe most of the population consists of cruel and “barbaric” ……

You seem to believe that there are not evil hateful people in the world. I know plenty right here in L.A. and if they had a Mullah (or the $$$Mullah$$$) to back them up they would cause unwarranted pain to kind people. Some people (like my eldest brother) are born bad. Some learn to be that way. We are all powerless of these realities; it’s what makes us humans so interesting.
The saying “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” I believe means so much more. Even though we study and observe the occurrences of our times if we really learned from histories mistakes we would have no history to learn from. It wouldn’t have been created. In our lives God gives us chances daily to confront evil, to stand up for what the Holy Spirit whispers in our ears what is right, to help the unfortunate and repressed. If we’re supposed to learn from our mistakes then we can be blamed for not being perfect.
A great example is that of Prime Minister Chamberlain when signing the Munich agreement which was an across the table negotiation with hitler that would take Czechoslovakia and hitlers thirst for expansion would be satisfied. We all know how that turned out. This example has been compared to why we should not make the same mistake with the hitler of our time ahmadinejad. Learning from our mistakes is not the way of the history of this world individually yes, not collectively. When things get really bad and we do move in you’ll blame us for not doing anything sooner.
From Cal said
“”"”It is sad that you think of it as “taking Iran down”…..I have friends, many of them, who came from Iran to America as adults who are not sexist and have always treated me, a woman, with complete respect of my intelligence, body, etc., and who are some of the most welcoming, kind people I know….
Saying something is “sad” is a manipulative, passive aggressive way of saying something offended you. Taking not the country down but the government in Iran would be a blessing to those people. Ever talk to your Iranian friends why they are here in our sand box instead of theirs? Know any Lebanese who remember the revolution? Ever talk to a south American border jumper why they risk death and worse to come and work the jobs I/we won’t? Frankly, From Cal, all the Iranian friends you have you did not meet in Iran, you met them here and here they want to be. You must not have asked them why they did come. The U.S. does not border Iran, getting your family here is not easy. The people whom immigrate here worked really hard to get here to better the lives of their families, if their countries were so great they wouldn’t have come to ours to become Americans. We are not wanting to “take out” a people or race but a radical idea that there can be only one religion. Ever heard the radical verse popularized in radical Islam “he who abandons Islam, kill him”? It’s kinda like if Jews brought back animal sacrifice or sitting outside town for a week while “unclean”. You wouldn’t want radical Judaism or Christianity moving in next door? In Tehran a woman is treated with more respect than the rural areas. They are very proud people and as you probably know have a thirst for education not indoctrination. Wouldn’t you want them to enjoy the freedom they once knew or experience a fraction of what we have? If it takes $$$ to make $$$ then you have to spill blood to spare blood. Ever hear ahmadinejads speech at Colombia (college not country)? You really should look it up!
From Cal said
“”"”There are terrible things that happen in Iran, yes, but aren’t you aware that terrible things happen here, as well? Up until fifty years ago (though it still happens quite often; many people seem unaware of this), hate crimes were incredibly rampant and socially acceptable. Did the international community intervene? No”"”".
After living in south east San Diego, Harlem, San Pedro, Richmond and Oakland I know our worst neighborhoods are Beverly Hills compared to their ok ones. I’m sure From Cal you’ll want to debate this retort. Fifty years ago during civil rights a lot of hate crimes were committed by whites and white officers against blacks. Some precincts covered up the crimes yet Washington had never said it was ok to lynch anyone because their color. We don’t execute our opponents From Cal! You can act like we want to invade Iran because of civil liberty issues. In your heart you know it’s because they are the worlds largest financer of terror. You probably call terrorists “freedom fighters” and the U.S. is to blame for provoking 911 too huh?
From Cal said
“”"”So please, stop trying desperately to encourage America, who has often had a blatant disregard for human (as well as environmental and animal) life, to pretend we have the right to go off into other countries that we don’t understand and “correct” everything that goes on there”"”".
If you started watching the news before the last presidential election you might remember the headlines in the summer of 2001. That’s the few months before the attacks which I was present for in NYC. The major reoccurring issues were not terrorism or war but #1 shark attacks #2 womens rights in Afghanistan. In those stories reporters condemned America for not helping the women there. That’s when we were familiarized with the infamous burka, hijab, stonings, female circumcision and virginity tests. since the wars (police actions) began the main stream media rarely mentions anything positive especially improvements in womens rights. If you think we have a “blatant disregard” for humans, animals and the environment then your bad mouthing America. Go ask the So Koreans or the French or the British, Russian, Polish, Czech, North African, and many others we have NOT disregarded over the years. We are the only country of our size with any animal rights and India doesn’t count. Same goes with our strict environmental policy. I used to live one minute from Mexico. With thousands of murders in la frontera alone this year you think they give a crap about animal rights or environmental issues? I really think its funny how you think we would start a war over civil rights and not Terrorists like hezbollah or the also Iranian funded hamas.
From Cal said;
“”"”We’re damned if we do, yes, but so are they”"”".
The problem in the middle east is men. Hypothetically speaking if I or most the men I know, no, all the men I know, could carry an AK47, grow opium at $$$millions$$$ per harvest, have four wives, 24 kids, and no taxes I/we wouldn’t want to give it all up either. It takes men to fight men. And all we respect is strength and courage. The world changes; a hundred years ago Madhoff would be lynched by a very angry mob of Hollywood and retired investors. Times changed and just like with civil rights our countries attitude witch such things mostly has changed. (I sure would like to see an angry mob going after Madhoff) Times are changing in the middle east. With all the money we spend on oil they can’t keep their people in the dark ages any longer. God blesses all his sheep and to truly love your enemy is to be willing to die helping free them. You’re not damned if you do. You might not be liked, you’re surely not damned. If you hesitate to help, if you refuse to put yourself in harms way to help those in need, if you lack courage to believe in something greater than your own self comfort just shut up and let us do it for you and stop spitting at us from behind. We are not damned because we do; you will be damned because you did nothing.
If you expect the world to learn from its mistakes it’s not possible. We are imperfect. Stop saying we don’t understand them, the only thing we don’t understand is your opposition and blaming our great country for a cause we’ve only began to get involved in.

O ya, From Ny is an idiot!!!!!!!

Jan 6, 2009 - 4:25 am 9. Must Read Murder in the name of Honour and Must see The Stoning of Soraya M. both based on true stories of Honor Killings happening in our World yet today… « Northern Virginia, Richmond, VA and DC Metro Chapter:

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Jun 17, 2009 - 4:36 pm