Last Sunday in northern Iran, a 16-year old girl was hanged in public for the crime of having a sharp tongue. (Hat tip: Mentat.)

On Sunday, August 15, a 16-year-old girl in the town of Neka, northern Iran, was executed. Ateqeh Sahaleh was hanged in public on Simetry Street off Rah Ahan Street at the city center.

The sentence was issued by the head of Neka’s Justice Department and subsequently upheld by the mullahs’ Supreme Court and carried out with the approval of Judiciary Chief Mahmoud Shahroudi.

In her summary trial, the teenage victim did not have any lawyer and efforts by her family to recruit a lawyer was to no avail. Ateqeh personally defended herself. She told the religious judge, Haji Rezaii, that he should punish the main perpetrators of moral corruption not the victims.

The judge personally pursued Ateqeh’s death sentence, beyond all normal procedures and finally gained the approval of the Supreme Court. After her execution Rezai said her punishment was not execution but he had her executed for her “sharp tongue”.

Reading between the lines, it’s entirely possible this poor girl was a rape victim, further victimized by the misogynistic barbarism of shari’a.

UPDATE at 8/22/04 11:26:21 am:

ActivistChat.com has more on this appalling story. She wasn’t raped; she was on trial for pre-marital sex. And the judge personally put the noose around the girl’s neck.