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"Etableringen av Berlin Filmfestival er en politisk handling", sa politikeren Willy Brandt året 1951, da festivalen ble arrangert for første gang. "Den symboliserer denne byens vilje til å overleve", fortsatte han med kraft og selvsikkerhet på nyhetsrullen som ble vist under åpningsarrangementet. Festivalen ble en viktig del av gjenoppbyggingen av byen etter krigen. I 2010 feirer den altså sitt 60. års jubileum, med celebre gjester og salutter.
In 2009 three people have so far been stoned in Iranian prisons. The last public stoning happened in 2007, when a married couple were sentenced for infidelity – with each other.
- Also in countries like Nigeria and Pakistan people are executed by stoning, but what is special in the case of Iran is that it is the authorities that are behind the stoning (in the others countries local communities are behind it).
The Norwegian-Iranian human rights activist Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam has a serious expression on his face. We are talking about the film The Stoning of Soraya M, about stoning, women’s rights and human rights in general.
Powerful symbolism
A woman in white is walking slowly towards a hole in the ground. She is to enter the hole after which earth is shovelled over her so that only her torso is visible. Then stones of various sizes are thrown at her body, head and face. It is the intention that she shall die a slow and painful death.
- Many of the rituals shown in the film are from reality, Amiry-Moghaddam says. – But in real life the entire body and face of the victim shall be covered by a white cloth, but that does not make it any less dramatic – to see the white become red.
In the laws there are detailed instructions how the stoning is to be performed. The size of the stones is important: they must not be too large but also not too small.
- There is now an ongoing campaign for a law without stoning. It is not enough just to change people’s attitudes – the laws must change as well.
Made co-responsible
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam portrays a society where women are regarded as half-people, where they risk being whipped if hairs are sticking out from under their hijab and where the system helps make people becoming co-responsible for crimes. Because i is not only the imam or the police that throw the stones, also the common man can join in and thus make themselves co-responsible.
- In this way the system creates allies and ”partners-in-crime”, but there are many people who are against this form of punishment. When a man was publicly stoned in 2007, the villagers did not want to join in.
Back to the film. Soraya M.’s husband wants to marry a 14-year-old but does not wish to pay for the ex-wife and their daughters. The solution is to spread false rumours of infidelity. Witnesses confirm the accusations and it is up to Soraya M alone to prove her innocence.
- The judicial system is based on confessions and the power of the judges. Judges are pressuring witnesses to give false statements and forcing the accused to make false confessions. Before a sharia court only two witnesses are required to convict a person, Amiry-Moghaddam explains.
Stronger reactions needed
In The Stoning of Soraya M there is only one woman who really rebel, shouting out that Soraya M has not done anything wrong, but only a foreign journalist will listen.
Also in reality’s Iran pressure from foreign media may result in the postponement of a stoning – at least for a while. When the capital punishment is nevertheless completed, western countries criticise it immediately. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam thinks that it is no longer viable just to condemn the stonings – stronger reactions are needed.
- Criticising Iran for breaking human rights has become a routine, like brushing our teeth in the evening. As long as there are no practical consequences no substantial changes in the system will happen.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a full member of the UN. Norway and other western countries have economic and political co-operation projects with Iran. Amiry-Moghaddam emphasises that politicians are more interested in discussing Iran’s nuclear policies rather than the discrimination of women and other violations of human rights.
- We have to stop defending oppression of women as part of the culture or the religion. It is not merely the ones who throw the stones that are guilty. Also those who close their eyes to it but in reality have a chance to do something, are the guilty ones.
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