Terasing di Bumi, Tapi Tenar di Langit!

Jumat, 2014 Maret 28 05:51

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oleh: Emi Nur Hayati

Akhir tahun 1392 HS, TV2 IRIB dalam acara “Bist va Si” menayangkan berita tentang seorang talabeh muda basiji (santri muda basiji) yang berbaring di rumahnya menanggung derita luka akibat bacokan pisau di lehernya oleh lima sampai enam berandalan. Ia tak dapat mengeluarkan suara apalagi berbicara.

Beberapa hari kemudian, di saat-saat liburan tahun baru 1393 HS disiarkan di televisi bahwa talabeh muda basiji ini telah meneguk cawan syahadah.

Alkisah, pada 25 Tir 1390 HS,  Ali Khalili yang saat itu berusia 19 tahun sedang mengantarkan pulang dua sampai tiga orang anak buahnya dari acara Nisfu Sya’ban. Acara pesta ulang tahun hari lahirnya Imam Zaman af. Malam itu acara agak terlambat bubar dan ia tidak tenang bila membiarkan anak buahnya yang masih remaja pulang sendirian dan tidak aman di jalan. Ali mengantarkan anak buahnya dengan motor salah satu kawan seperjuangannya. Namun ketika di pertengahan jalan kira-kira pukul dua belas malam, ia bersama anak-anak bimbingannya menyaksikan kejadian ada lima sampai enam berandalan sedang mengganggu dan memaksa dua perempuan untuk naik dan masuk ke dalam mobil mereka.

Dua perempuan itu berteriak meminta tolong. Melihat pemandangan seperti itu Ali tidak bisa diam. Ia segera turun tangan dan melakukan amar makruf dan nahi mungkar menegur para berandalan. Karena ia menilai membela kesucian adalah kewajiban agama. Anak-anak bimbingannya tidak maju karena usia mereka yang masih terlalu muda, mereka masih kelas 3 SMP. Ali maju menegur para berandalan itu. Tapi para berandalan itu mengeroyok Ali dan melukai lehernya. Para anak bimbingan Ali juga mendapatkan pukulan dari para berandalan itu.

Para berandalan itu melukai pembuluh darah bagian leher Ali. Alipun jatuh terkapar bergelimang darah. Sekitar setengah jam ia terkapar pingsan dan bergelimang darah di jalan. Para berandalan melarikan diri dan salah satu anak buahnya yang bisa mengendarai motor mengejar dan berhasil mencatat plat mobil para berandalan itu.

Kemudian ada mobil lewat berhenti dan membawa Ali ke rumah sakit. Karena saking parahnya beberapa rumah sakit tidak mau menerimanya, akhirnya dengan syarat membayar uang muka lima puluh juta riyal dari biaya enam puluh juta riyal, sebuah rumah sakit swasta mau menerima Ali dan mengoperasinya. Ali kehabisan darah sehingga menyebabkan otaknya tidak bekerja dan koma selama seminggu. Dalam jangka dua tahun menderita sakit, Ali mengalami mati otak selama tiga kali.

Ali tidak menyebut tindakannya malam itu sebagai amar makruf dan nahi mungkar tapi menyebutnya membela kesucian. “Membela kesucian muslim wajib bagi setiap muslim,” kata Ali. Ia mengatakan, ‘Aku tidak melakukan amar makruf tapi aku membela kesucian Muslim.”

Tragedi Pesawat MH370

Jumat, 2014 Maret 28 06:02

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kisah pesawat MH370 merupakan pelajaran pahit bagi dunia penerbangan. Proses pencarian pesawat Malaysia Airlines ini memakan waktu lama dan membuat marah keluarga penumpang. Kekacauan tak akan terjadi andaikata pesawat itu dilengkapi dengan sistem komunikasi yang canggih.

Nasib pesawat yang menghilang dari radar sejak 8 Maret itu baru bisa dipastikan beberapa hari yang lalu. Pesawat Boeing 777-200ER ini diperkirakan jatuh di Samudra Indonesia bagian selatan–sekitar 2.000 mil dari daratan Australia. Besar kemungkinan, tak ada penumpang yang selamat. Serpihan-serpihan yang diduga bagian dari pesawat itu ditemukan lewat pengindraan satelit.

Spekulasi muncul karena pesawat ini lenyap begitu saja dari pantauan radar saat melintas di atas Laut Cina Selatan. Pesawat yang mengangkut 239 penumpang dengan tujuan Beijing ini kemudian terdeteksi berbalik arah ke Selat Malaka, lalu berputar lagi menuju Samudra Indonesia bagian selatan. Boleh jadi, pesawat ini dibajak. Tapi kemungkinan adanya kerusakan belakangan semakin menguat. Kejadian sebenarnya baru akan terungkap setelah black box ditemukan, yang bisa menghabiskan waktu berbulan-bulan.

Pesawat itu sebetulnya juga dilengkapi dengan aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS). Kalaupun peranti ini rusak atau sengaja dimatikan oleh pilot, Boeing telah membuat sistem pelacak jejak cadangan. Masalahnya, Malaysia Airlines sengaja tidak mau memperbarui sistem komunikasinya walaupun biayanya cuma sekitar Rp 114 ribu per penerbangan.

Aplikasi yang disebut Swift itu terbukti bisa membantu menemukan pesawat Air France yang jatuh ke palung laut Samudra Atlantik pada 2009, hanya dalam lima hari. Swift akan tetap menyala meskipun pilot mematikan sistem komunikasi. Tanpa aplikasi ini, proses pencarian pesawat MH370 berlangsung lebih lama dan harus meminta bantuan banyak negara.

Di tengah era digital sekarang, sebetulnya memungkinkan pula pesawat mengirim data penerbangan secara real time ke bandar udara atau kantor maskapainya. Hanya, biaya untuk teknologi ini masih lumayan mahal, sehingga jarang digunakan oleh maskapai penerbangan.

Dunia penerbangan seharusnya tidak mengorbankan sistem komunikasi dan keselamatan hanya untuk menekan biaya. Inilah yang mesti diperhatikan, termasuk oleh maskapai penerbangan di negara kita. Beberapa tahun silam, misalnya, ada maskapai nakal yang tak mau memasang sistem komunikasi pesawat yang standar, sekalipun harganya tak terlalu mahal.

Pemerintah kita juga perlu mengevaluasi longgarnya pemberian izin mendirikan maskapai. Tidaklah tepat memberikan izin bagi perusahaan penerbangan tanpa persyaratan modal yang memadai. Kebijakan ini akan membuat maskapai mengabaikan sistem keselamatan penerbangan karena tak sanggup membeli peralatan komunikasi yang canggih. Jangan sampai insiden seperti pesawat MH370 terjadi pada maskapai penerbangan di negeri ini. (IRIB Indonesia / Tempo / SL)

TKW Satinah, 10 Hari Lagi Menanti Maut di Tiang Gantung Saudi

Senin, 24 Maret 2014 11:48 WIB

ISTIMEWA

Satinah (kiri) dan putrinya.

TRIBUNNEWS.COM

Nasib baik seperti tak pernah memihak Satinah.  Wanita berusia 41 tahun itu ditinggal suaminya ketika dia mencari sesuap nasi dengan menjadi TKI di Arab Saudi.

Kini, Satinah menghitung hari. Pada 3 April 2014 nanti, atau 10 hari dari sekarang, Satinah akan dihukum pancung. Dia seperti tahu kapan ajal akan tiba. Menit demi menit menunggu datangnya maut tentu bukanlah pengalaman yang mengasyikan. Apalagi di negeri orang, jauh dari sanak famili.

Masih ada cara menyelamatkan Satinah. Dia harus melunasi diyat (tebusan) Rp 21 miliar. Uang teramat banyak bagi Satinah, warga Dusun Mrunten, Desa Kalisidi, Ungaran Barat, Jawa Tengah. Dia jelas tidak sanggup membayar tebusan begitu banyak. Para politisi sedang menggelar kampanye dan mengumbar janji. Tak ada sepotong janji pun untuk Satinah. Dia hanya punya satu suara.

Untungnya, ada yang peduli pada nasib Satinah. Kepedulian yang sangat berharga, tapi –tentu saja—tidaklah gampang mengumpulkan uang Rp 21 miliar dalam waktu yang pendek ini.

Di antara sedikit pihak yang peduli itu adalah Pemerintah Kabupaten Semarang. Sekretaris Daerah, Budi Kristiono, mencoba menggalang dana. Dia mulai dari PNS di kota itu. Layaknya pemerintah, penggalangan dukungan dana disampaikan lewat instruksi.

“Suratnya kami kirim ke semua kepala dinas. Dana yang terkumpul akan kami salurkan melalui rekening pemerintah provinsi,” kata Budi, Senin (24/3/2014), seperti dilansir Tribun Jateng (TRIBUNnews.com Network).

Pemerintah tolak bayar diyat Satinah

Terbaru  24 Maret 2014

Satinah membunuh majikannya Nura al Gharib

Pemerintah menolak membayar kekurangan uang darah (diyat) kepada keluarga korban majikan Satinah binti Jumadi yang terancam hukuman mati di Arab Saudi.

Satinah mengaku bersalah membunuh majikannya, Nura Al Gharib, di pengadilan Arab Saudi pada 2010 dan dijatuhi hukuman pancung.

Berita terkait

• TKI Satinah menunggu hukuman mati di Saudi
• Pemerintah tawar diyat Satinah Rp7,7 miliar
• Perlukah negara membayar uang darah?

Topik terkait

• Pekerja migran,
• Arab

Berdasarkan hukum di Arab, eksekusi bisa dihindari jika pelaku membayar kompensasi yang disebut diyat kepada keluarga korban.

Diyat yang dituntut oleh keluarga Al Gharib semula sebesar 15 juta riyal namun kemudian turun menjadi 7 juta riyal atau sekitar Rp 21 miliar.

Direktur Perlindungan WNI Kementerian Luar Negeri, Tatang Razak, dalam jumpa pers mengatakan pemerintah hanya bersedia membantu empat juta riyal saja.

“Pemerintah menunjukkan keberpihakan tapi jangan pemerintah yang harus membayar, kami sudah mendekati semua negara Filipina, Bangladesh dan tidak ada satu pun negara yang menyediakan bantuan bagi warga negaranya dalam kasus-kasus kriminal,” kata Tatang.

Pemerintah mengaku sudah berusaha maksimal dengan mengadakan pendekatan dengan pihak keluarga hingga meminta keringanan hukuman kepada pemerintah Saudi, termasuk memundurkan jadwal hukuman mati hingga lima kali.

Negosiasi lagi

“Tidak ada satupun negara yang menyediakan bantuan bagi warga negaranya dalam kasus-kasus kriminal.“

Tatang Razak

“Kini caranya ada dua pendekatan yaitu pertama pendekatan khusus kepada keluarga korban agar bersedia menerima diyat empat juta riyal itu,” jelas Tatang.

“Kedua agar eksekusinya mundur lagi, jika keluarga tidak bersedia terima empat juta riyal,” tambahnya.

Namun opsi persuasif kepada keluarga atau menunda eksekusi dinilai tidak efektif oleh LSM pegiat hak-hak buruh migran, Migrant Care.

“Kalau dibicarakan lagi dengan keluarga, tebusan bisa naik lagi atau kalau mereka ga terima ya eksekusi.”

“Jadi saya kira pemerintah harus dukung masyarakat sipil yang menggalang dana di daerah dan mengakui upaya-upaya mereka agar sebelum 3 April bisa terkumpul dan satinah bisa bebas,” kata direktur eksekutif Migrant Care Anis Hidayah.

Ia berharap agar tidak ada lagi TKI yang menemui ajal di meja eksekusi.

“Seperti kami yang mengadvokasi kasus buruh migran, masa-masa Ruyati dieksekusi kan masih terasa, kita tidak akan membiarkan Satinah dieksekusi hanya karena negara tidak mau membantu,” tambah Anis.

Data Kementerian Luar Negeri menyebutkan, sejak 2011 hingga awal 2014, setidaknya ada 249 warga Indonesia yang terancam hukuman mati di berbagai negara, termasuk 20 kasus terakhir pada awal 2014 ini.

Link terkait

Berita terkait

• TKI Satinah menunggu hukuman mati di Saudi

  11.02.14

• Pemerintah tawar diyat Satinah Rp7,7 miliar

  19.12.12

• Perlukah negara membayar uang darah?

  20.12.12

Ali ar-Ridha

Imām Alī bin Mūsā ar-Riđhā (Bahasa Arab: علي بن موسى الرضا) (Madinah, 11 Dzulkaidah 148 H – Masyhad, 17 Safar 203 H^[2]) (diperkirakan 1 Januari 765 – 26 Mei 818) adalah imam ke-8 dalam tradisi Syi’ah Dua Belas Imam. Dalam Bahasa Persia, dia sering dipanggil dengan nama Imam Reza dan dijuluki dengan panggilan Abu al-Hasan.^[2] Dia hidup pada masa berkuasanya tiga orang Khalifah Bani Abbasiyah yaitu Harun ar-Rasyid, al-Amin dan al-Ma’mun^[3] dan diangkat oleh al-Ma’mun menjadi putra mahkota kekhalifahan dimana hal ini menyebabkan pemberontakan dari keluarga Bani Abbasiyah lainnya terhadap al-Ma’mun.^[2]

Julukan lainnya yang diberikan kepada Imam Ali ar-Ridha adalah ash-Shabir, ar-Radhi, al-Wafi, az-Zaki, dan al-Wali.^[4] Selain itu julukan lainnya adalah:

1. Imam Zamin’i Tsamin, Tsamin berarti delapan, Zamin berarti keselamatan dan keamanan.^[5]
2. Gharibul-Ghurabaa^[5]
3. Alim’i ali Muhammad^[5

Kelahiran dan kehidupan keluarga

Makam Imam Ali Reza di Masyhad, Iran

Kelahiran

Pada tanggal 11 Dzulkaidah 148 H, seorang anak laki-laki lahir di rumah Imam Musa al-Kadzim (Imam ke-7) di Madinah, yang nantinya akan mengambil posisi keimaman, setelah ayahnya.^[6] Namanya adalah Ali dengan julukan ar-Ridha. Dia lahir satu bulan setelah kakeknya, Imam Ja’far ash-Shadiq meninggal.

Ibu

lbunya bernama Taktam^[7][2] ada pula yang menyebut bernama Najmah^[8][3][9], yang dijuluki Ummu al-Banin, seorang yang shalehah, ahli ibadah, utama dalam akal dan agamanya dan setelah melahirkan Ali ar-Ridha, Musa al-Kadzim memberinya nama at-Thahirah.^[7][2]

Saudara

Dia memiliki saudara yang bernama Zaid, yang melakukan revolusi dan membuat kerusuhan di Madinah. Zaid pernah tertangkap dan dibawa atas perintah al-Ma’mun ke Khurasan untuk diadili. Al-Ma’mun membebaskannya sebagai penghormatan terhadap Imam Ali ar-Ridha.^[10]

Imam memiliki saudara lain yang bernama Abdullah, dimana ia hidup sampai masa Imam Muhammad al-Jawad.^[4]

Imam memiliki seorang saudari yang bernama Fatimah Maksumah, ia meninggal di Qom, Iran ketika datang dari Madinah menuju Masyhad untuk mencari kakaknya, Imam Ali ar-Ridha. Kuburan Fatimah Maksumah, sampai saat ini masih terdapat di Qom, dan menjadi pusat ziarah di sana.^[11]

Istri-istri

Imam menikah dengan Sayyidah Sabika yang juga dikenal dengan nama Khaizarun. Istri Imam ini adalah keturunan sahabat Muhammad, yang juga pembela setia Ali, Ammar bin Yasir. Khaizarun merupakan ibu dari Imam ke-9, Muhammad al-Jawad.^[1]

Selain itu, Imam dinikahkan pula dengan putri dari khalifah saat itu, Ummul Fadhl binti al-Ma’mun, dimana menurut riwayat, Ummul Fadhl begitu mengetahui Imam telah memiliki istri lain yang telah memberikan keturunan, maka ia menjadi marah, dan setuju untuk memberi racun kepada Imam hingga menyebabkan wafatnya Imam.^[1]

Keturunan

Putra-putra Imam bernama:^[7]

1. Hasan
2. Muhammad al-Jawad, penerus keimaman
3. Ja’far
4. Ibrahim
5. Husain

Putri Imam bernama Aisyah.^[7]

 

Referensi

Sumber

1. ^ ^{a b c d} (Inggris)Biography of Imam Muhammad at-Taqi (AS)
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Riwayat Hidup Imam Ali Ar-Ridha a.s di abatasya.net
3. ^ ^{a b} Imam Ali bin Musa Ar-Ridha a.s. di al-shia.com
4. ^ ^{a b} Imam Kedelapan: Imam Ridha AS. Ayatullah Ibrahim Amini
5. ^ Kesalahan pengutipan: Tag <ref> tidak sah; tidak ditemukan teks untuk ref bernama karbala
6. ^ Sayid Mahdi Ayatullahi. Teladan Pejuang yang Sabar. Islamic Cultural Center, Jakarta, 22 November 2007
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Imam Ali Ar-Ridha as di fatimah.org
8. ^ Ulama Sunni Bicara tentang 12 Imam Ahlul Bayt. Blog Kian Santang.
9. ^ Imam Ali bin Musa Ar-Ridha as di al-hadj.com
10. ^ (Inggris)An introduction to tenth infallible Hazrat Imam Ali Reza (AS)
11. ^ Qom, Kota Sejuta Ulama. Persia Tours

From Public Horror to Abolition: Capital Punishment in Juxtaposition

By Roland Elliott Brown

Introduction

Of all countries that kill prisoners, Iran has one of the highest profiles. Only China executes more people but, whereas China is secretive about the practice, Iran places itself among a tiny group of nations – notably, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and Somalia – that kill some prisoners in public. Amnesty International, which opposes capital punishment in all cases worldwide, has pointed out Iran’s unusual method of execution, whereby executioners sometimes drag the condemned upward by their necks from cranes. It noted in a 2013 report that “the authorities appeared to believe that public executions deter crime and protest by spreading fear among those who witness them”.

The organization advances a centuries-old argument that capital punishment does not deter crime. It also makes the case that, “by definition, a person under sentence of death is no longer an immediate threat because he or she is already imprisoned and therefore removed from society”. It warns that Iran sentences people to death based on confessions extracted through torture, and that it punishes “crimes” such as adultery and apostasy, which “should…not be considered crimes at all”. On January 16^th, Amnesty reported that Iran had executed 40 people since the beginning of 2014 (killing at least one person in public) and risked making authorities’ attempts to improve their international image “meaningless”.

While the Iranian government might frame executions public and otherwise as symbols of Islamic Revolution or a matter of sharia law, capital punishment continues to decline worldwide, and many societies have successfully challenged the practice through media coverage and legislative reform. Many western countries once conducted public executions from motives of deterrence, only to move executions inside prison walls in reaction to the disturbing behavior of crowds and public revulsion aroused by media reports. The decision to move executions inside prison walls has usually been followed by the decline or abolition of capital punishment.

That Iran, a populous, youthful, and media-savvy nation so important to its region should remain in the moral company of its Wahhabist adversary, its blinkered Stalinist ally, and one of the poorest, most dysfunctional countries in the world, seems to contradict a law of history.

United Kingdom

Britain carried out its last public execution in 1868. Authorities hanged Michael Barett, an Irish Fenian [19^th century revolutionary nationalists who fought for Irish independence] convicted of killing 12 people in a London bombing. Two thousand spectators gathered and sang patriotic songs outside Newgate Prison. Barrett’s conviction and execution troubled some observers, and a socialist newspaper speculated that historians might find that Barrett “was sacrificed to the exigencies of the police, and…the good Tory principle, that there is nothing like blood.” Britain abolished public executions the same year, with the Prisons Act of 1868, although executions by hanging continued into the 20^th century.

One notable opponent of public hanging in Britain was Charles Dickens. In an 1849 letter to The Times, he wrote that though he had “no intention of discussing the abstract subject of capital punishment”, he wanted the government to make execution “a private solemnity within the prison walls”. Dickens had attended the execution of murderers Frederick and Marie Manning, and deplored the “wickedness and levity” of the large crowd that had gathered to see them hanged. “I am solemnly convinced,” he wrote, “that nothing that ingenuity could devise to be done in this city…could work such ruin as one public execution…I do not believe that any community can prosper where such a scene of horror and demoralization…is presented at the very doors of good citizens.”

The history of capital punishment in Britain is one of incremental reform followed by stages of abolition. In 1872, Britain introduced the “long drop”, a “scientific” method of hanging designed to kill the condemned quickly rather than risk strangling them slowly. In 1923, activists established the Howard League for Penal Reform and the National Council for the Abolition of the Death Penalty in response to the troubling execution of Edith Thompson, accused of being an accomplice in the murder of her husband. In 1933, the Children and Young Persons Act protected anyone who was aged under 18 at the time of their offence from the death penalty.

By the 1940s, capital punishment remained popular, but public executions held such horror in the public imagination that George Orwell reintroduced them to the dystopian London he imagined in Nineteen-Eighty-Four, in which children demand that their parents take them to hangings, and one character remarks, “I think it spoils it when they tie their feet together. I like to see them kicking.”

Britain’s last executions took place in 1964. In 1965, the Murder Act established a moratorium on capital punishment for murder, a move made permanent in 1969. It was not until 2002, however, that Britain ratified Protocol 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which abolished capital punishment in all cases, including during times of war. Britain now opposes the death penalty, and lists Iran as a “priority country” in its strategy to abolish capital punishment worldwide.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia beheads prisoners in public.

Amnesty International’s 2013 report on capital punishment worldwide mentions Saudi Arabia and Iran in several connections, including the extraction of “confessions” through torture and the use of capital punishment for crimes that “did not involve intentional killing”.

France

France carried out its last public execution in 1939. Authorities decapitated Eugen Weidmann, a German convicted of murder, by guillotine outside St Pierre Prison in Versailles. According to historian Paul Friedland, the French press objected to the behavior of spectators, which one paper described as “disgusting” and “unruly”, with members of the public “devouring sandwiches” and “jostling, clamoring, whistling.” Friedland argues that little of this was new, but that worldwide publicity, including the reproduction of clear photographs of the execution, caused the government to express “its regret that such spectacles, which were intended to have a ‘moralizing effect’ instead seemed to produce ‘practically the opposite results’”.

French revolutionaries adopted the guillotine in 1791 as a “humane” method of execution, and they used it to execute thousands. Long after the era of political terror, the public execution of criminals, though popular, worried thoughtful observers. Victor Hugo, a leading critic of the guillotine, wrote about “thirsting and cruel spectators” as early as 1829. In 1859, Leo Tolstoy reproached himself for being so “stupid and callous” as to attend an execution in Paris, and wrote, “if a man had been torn to pieces before my eyes it wouldn’t have been so revolting as this ingenious and elegant machine by means of which a strong, hale and hearty man was killed in an instant”.

In 1957, Albert Camus recalled in Reflections on the Guillotine that his father had once “got up in the dark”, so eager was he to see the execution in French-ruled Algiers of an “assassin” who had murdered a family: “My mother relates that he came rushing home, his face distorted…and suddenly began to vomit. He had discovered the reality hidden under the noble phrases with which it was masked. Instead of thinking of the slaughtered children, he could think of nothing but that quivering body that had just been dropped onto a board to have its head cut off.”

The French Constituent Assembly first debated abolition of the death penalty in 1791, and, though it voted to retain capital punishment, the controversy led France to adopt the “humane” device. In the late 20^th century, Robert Badinter, Francois Mitterand’s justice minister, led the campaign for abolition. The last execution in France took place in 1977, and France abolished the death penalty in 1981. In 2010, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris exhibited the last intact guillotine in France. France identifies itself among “the main states committed to fighting the death penalty”, and places Iran among “the hard core of retentionist countries”.

North Korea

According to a United Nations report published this month, “As a matter of state policy, [North Korean] authorities carry out executions, with or without trial, publicly or secretly, in response to political and other crimes that are often not among the most serious crimes. The policy of regularly carrying out public executions serves to instil [sic] fear in the general population. Public executions were most common in the 1990s. However, they continue to be carried out today. In late 2013, there appeared to be a spike in the number of politically motivated public executions.”

United States

The United States carried out its last public execution in 1936. Authorities hanged Rainey Bethea, who was convicted of rape and murder, in Owensboro, Kentucky. Twenty thousand people attended the execution, which journalists later denounced as a “carnival.” Media from other states noted the sale of popcorn and hot dogs at the site, and Time magazine reported that “tipsy merrymakers rollicked all night” and held “hanging parties”. Negative publicity influenced state lawmakers’ abolition of public executions in 1938.

The Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based non-profit organization, traces the origins of capital punishment in America, as well as the movement to abolish it, to colonial times. In the late 1700s, some American intellectuals drew influence from European Enlightenment thinkers, notably Cesare Beccaria, who had argued in a 1767 essay that no crime entitled the state to take a life. Benjamin Rush, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, argued that capital punishment did not deter crime.

The history of the death penalty in the United States is complex, and has been determined mainly by lawmakers in individual states. Pennsylvania was the first state to end public executions, in 1834. Michigan abolished capital punishment for all crimes except treason in 1847. Wisconsin abolished it in 1853, and Maine in 1887. Six states abolished it between 1907 and 1917, but all but one brought it back by 1920. Meanwhile, scientific innovations in execution continued from the 19^th century (New York first used the electric chair in 1890) into the 20^th (Nevada introduced cyanide gas in 1924, and Oklahoma introduced lethal injection – which is now the most widely-used method– in 1977).

In 1972, the US Supreme Court raised constitutional objections to capital punishment as practiced and “effectively voided 40 death penalty statutes, thereby commuting the sentences of 629 death row inmates around the country and suspending the death penalty because existing statutes were no longer valid”. Many states re-wrote their death penalty statutes to address the court’s objections; Utah ended an effective moratorium when it killed a prisoner by firing squad in 1977.

In recent years, the United States has seen executions by such diverse methods as electrocution (2013, Virginia), hanging (Delaware, 1996) gas chamber (Arizona, 1999) and firing squad (Utah, 2013). But the practice is in decline, and several states have repealed capital punishment since 2007, including Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, and New Jersey. Human rights groups continue to press the United States to abolish the practice, as do Britain and France.

Somalia

Death Penalty Worldwide, a database associated with the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, notes that “many executions in Somalia should be considered extrajudicial executions because they are not carried out by a functioning government…and it may be wise to view them as acts of terrorism by militias to frighten and subjugate the population in areas under militia control”.

Canada

Canada carried out its last public execution in 1869. Authorities hanged Nicholas Melady, who had been convicted of murder, outside a jail in Goderich, Ontario. According to author John Melady (a distant cousin of the condemned), Melady’s trial was controversial because of allegations that police had used a female prison informant to extract his confession. Melady was hanged several hours before the appointed time, and members of a crowd of several thousand people protested the change in schedule. Three weeks later Canada banned public executions, although later, photographs, such as the one featured on the slideshow, which was taken in 1902 in Hull, Quebec, suggest that Canadians found ways to continue viewing executions.

Correctional Service Canada notes efforts to abolish capital punishment as early as 1914, but dates the acceleration of the debate to the 1960s. The Canadian Bill of Rights, which the government enacted in 1961, changed Canada’s Criminal Code to classify murder by degree. Throughout the 1960s, existing death sentences were commuted “at an unprecedented rate”. Canada carried out its last two hangings at the Don Jail in Toronto in 1962. Protesters outside the jail denounced capital punishment as “public murder”, and authorities told the condemned that they would likely be the last people executed in Canada.

In 1966, parliament debated capital punishment, but a motion for abolition failed. In 1967, the government enacted a moratorium on

capital punishment for most types of murder, and all existing death sentences for murder were commuted. A 1973 bill extended it. In 1976, the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau introduced Bill C-84, removed capital punishment from the Criminal Code. In 1998 Canada removed references to capital punishment from its National Defence Act, which threatened death for treason or mutiny. Amnesty International has criticized Canada in recent years for not supporting the clemency appeal of a Canadian national sentenced to death in the United States.

Canada supports the abolition of capital punishment worldwide. In 2013, Canada led a resolution on human rights in Iran at the United Nations General Assembly, which its foreign affairs minister John Baird said “reinforced the expectations of Iranians looking to the new president to fulfill his commitments and address serious human rights violations”. http://iranwire.com/en/projects/5236

Iran Religious Tours

For many, traveling abroad is a spiritual experience visiting magnificent cathedrals, ancient temples and other historic religious sites can have a profound effect on anyone that encounters them.

In response, escorted travel companies have introduced specific itineraries that focus on the Holy Land, biblical sites, Catholic cathedrals and Iranian shrines. Sarvineh Parvaz, a pioneer in escorted travel since 1973. It has steadily increased its religious vacation offerings and now boasts dozens of departure dates throughout the year.

What to Expect on a Religious Tour

Faith-based tours aren’t all religion, all of the time. On a one- to two-week itinerary, you can expect several sightseeing visits to spiritual sites, accompanied by expert commentary from your tour director or local guides. But you’ll also enjoy traditional sightseeing, as well.

You’ll also enjoy plenty of free time for exploration on your own. Stops for shopping at popular markets may be included, and you’ll probably enjoy at least one festive dinner with entertainment on your tour. Carefully review the day-by-day itinerary, as well as What’s Included, so you’ll know exactly what to expect each day of your tour.

Naturally, other travelers on your faith-based trip likely have similar spiritual interests. That can lead to many interesting conversations over group meals, during sightseeing visits and while you’re traveling together by motorcoach. Many travelers cite the fellowship and new friends they make on religious trips as one of the highlights of their vacation.

Introducing Iran

A journey to Iran is a chance to peel away the layers of a country with a serious image problem. Beyond the stereotypes you’ll experience a country desperate to be seen for what it is, rather than what it is perceived to be. Whether you’re travelling in cities like Esfahan or Tabriz, in the Zagros Mountains of Central Iran or the deserts around Kerman, the real Iran will be revealed. It is a country where the desert glory of ancient Persepolis exists alongside the dynamic present of today’s traffic-choked Tehran. At its core you’ll discover a country of warm and fascinating people living within an ancient and sophisticated culture. Embrace Iran, and allow the Iranians to embrace you – it’s the most priceless of experiences.

http://welcometoiran.com/iran-religious-tours/