Beyond the Bubble

Has the western world been hypocritical in its condemnation of the Iranian government for its implementation of capital punishment? Such was the claim that Iranian President Mahmous Ahmadinejad made in his address to reporters on Sept. 21 at the United Nations headquarters.

Ahmadinejad berated the West for engaging in what he felt was a “heavy propaganda” campaign against his government in its support of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning. Convicted in 2006 for adultery, Ashtiani has gained the support of the international media who have been successful in pressuring the Iranian government into delaying her execution.

Ahmadinejad however, noted the double standard he felt that his government was being subjected to. He recounted the news of American citizen Teresa Lewis’s execution on Sept. 23, and questioned why it failed to excite the same level of controversy as the case in his state did.

Ahmadinejad said that “millions of Internet pages” have been given to the plight of Ashtiani, while, “nobody objects to the case of an American woman who is going to be executed.” In a report given by the Associated Press it was also stated that the President remarked, “Today Western media are propaganda agents who continuously speak about democracy and human rights though their slogans are sheer lies.”

Though the sentiment behind Ahmadinejad’s claim seems just, he makes faulty assertions and illogical comparisons that allow his fundamental message to be dismissed.

In stating that the public has not been discussing the death of Teresa Lewis, the President is incorrect. According to an article in the Washington Post, she was a “Google trending topic of the week,” and prominent celebrities and international bodies alike called for her execution to be commuted to a lifetime jail sentence. Prominent author John Grisham called her execution “unjust,” and the European Union requested that the Virginia governor use his discretion to reduce the severity of the Lewis’s sentence.

The assumption made by the Iranian President that the women’s cases are comparable is also unreasonable. In the simplest terms, Ashtiani was convicted for adultery, Lewis for plotting a double murder.

Beyond this basic level, the cases get even more complex, and differ further. During the course of Ashtiani’s engagements with the Iranian government, she has been tried on three separate occasions, twice for adultery and once for murder. Lewis’s case also increases in complexity when one considers the fact that she was not the one who actually murdered her relatives, and that the two men who physically committed the crime were given life sentences in jail. Further complicating the Virginia woman’s case is the evidence that she is a mere two points away from being exempt from execution on the basis of her low IQ level.

Beyond the assertion that the President’s claims are unbalanced however, it is highly frustrating that because of irrational finger-pointing, both governments will be allowed to walk away from their respective executions unscathed.

Rather than having a productive and rational conversation on the relative merits of the death penalty, the western media would rather engage in sensationalist headlines accusing the Iranian government of being barbaric, and Iranian officials would rather use their airtime to berate the West for being a hypocritical purveyor of propaganda. Instead of creating a common dialogue, these two stories only produced muddled headlines that have exacerbated tension between the nations, and a led to a greater degree of misunderstanding of cultures.

Regardless of your beliefs on the morality of capital punishment, it seems that we should all be able to agree on the notion that the media should not be used as a way for government officials to evade their obligation to their electorate. With such a level of public outcry for both women, the American and Iranian governments should stop pointing fingers at one another, and look within their own systems to try and provide the most just states for their people.