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A kiss and an embrace

A kiss and an embrace

A kiss, via Ynet News:

Two Iranian officials could be facing trouble after being caught on camera as they shared a kiss in an elevator.

Footage captured by a security camera and broadcast by Sky News Arabia showed Iranian Higher Education Minister Kamran Daneshjoo and Azadeh Ardakani, the director of the National Museum of Iran, in a passionate embrace.

In the clip, which went viral in the Islamic Republic after being aired on Sunday, the two well-known figures appear to be waiting for the elevator to clear before locking lips.

And an embrace, via Rod Dreher  (h/t @jpodhoretz):

This is a photo taken in Tehran yesterday. The man in the middle is about to be hanged by the regime for stabbing a man and stealing $20 — an act he claimed he was driven to by poverty. He puts his head on his executioner’s shoulder, and his executioner stretches out his arm for comfort. The moment of humanity between the killer and he who is to be killed is something terrible to think about. As Walter Russell Mead puts it, this is what the Islamic regime in Iran is about: making a victim even of its executioners. May the Iranian people free themselves from these tyrants.

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Comments

BannedbytheGuardian | January 23, 2013 at 9:54 pm

I thought it might have been an execution vid.

Nobody does them like the Iranians.

Was that the same dress Michelle Obama is wearing in the Branco cartoon?

Hmm… What about the victim? I see that he was stabbed, but no word on if he survived. If he died, the punishment would be in line with what a killer would get here in the USA. Not to defend the creeps who run Iran, but I like more facts before I get outraged.

    Milhouse in reply to Anon Y. Mous. | January 23, 2013 at 11:28 pm

    The victim survived, but the judge decided to make an example of these two because violent crime has become a major problem and people are terrified. Hopefully this will do something to mitigate it.

    schizuki in reply to Anon Y. Mous. | January 26, 2013 at 8:32 am

    Personally, I don’t know why attempted murder isn’t a capital offense. It’s just a matter of luck at that point.

Just goes to show you, that inspite of Barack Obama being a complete and utter buffoon when it comes to dealing with the economy and social issues, that America’s founding fathers built a system that is hard to break, even when you try. Thank God for the 2nd amendment, and our ability to defend ourselves against tyrants. I pray that Iran also will live one day protected from tyranny.

The couple in the elevator would be funny if it weren’t for the possibility of very serve consequences. Since the video didn’t show sex, they might get off with destroying their careers.

Justice tempered with mercy is a wonderful thing.

My views on capital punishment have changed. While the state killing monsters is one thing, killing one who has committed just one murder is something else. Islam has a serious dark side.

    Mary Sue in reply to Milwaukee. | January 23, 2013 at 11:44 pm

    I wondered what would happen to the two kissing in the elevator. Who knows how these barbarians think, if you can call it thinking. Then again I wondered if the people who made this video viral were thinking about the potential consequences to the two when they elevated the video profile. Maybe they considered them hypocrites who espouse the beliefs of the regime in public while ignoring them when they think they are not being watched? I have no doubt there is a great deal of anger simmering among the Iranian people at those they consider responsible for propping up this oppressive government.

    In any case, no one deserves punishment for kissing in an elevator. More troubling is the photograph of the man about to be executed for a crime committed out of hunger and poverty. There will come a point when the Iranian people have had all they can stand. It nearly boiled over the top last election. Iranian leadership will likely receive as much mercy as they delivered. I oppose the death penalty largely for religious reasons but occasionally I have no problem looking the other way. Should Ahmadinnajacket find himself in a hole facing a fate like Saddam’s I think I will have no problem looking away.

    xbradtc in reply to Milwaukee. | January 23, 2013 at 11:59 pm

    killing one who has committed just one murder is something else. Islam has a serious dark side.

    Really? How many mulligans on murder should we be giving? As noted by others, this would in many US jurisdictions be (had the victim died) a capital murder case.

    Frankly, while I’m appalled at much of the Islamic “justice” system, I have no problem at all with the severity of its sentences for theft or violent crime.

      Milwaukee in reply to xbradtc. | January 24, 2013 at 12:24 am

      “…mulligans on murder…

      Your words. I have no problems with long prison sentences or even life without parole. A robbery gone awry is one thing. 25 years? Sure. That fellow who started torching a neighborhood, and shooting firefighters had been in prison for beating his 80-year-old grandmother to death for no apparent reason. He probably should have been in prison for life with no parole.

      We would waste a lot of societal assets executing everybody guilty of murder.

Mister Natural | January 24, 2013 at 4:03 am

“All right Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,”
apparently the camera was being monitored in real time as it was zooming in and out to capture the action.
sucks being them if they’re not married
pretty long elevator ride too

So sad. In more normal parts of the world this would be a source of mild amusement. For them I think the best they can hope for is an end to their careers.

What if they were a gay couple? Then their system would really be in a bind. To remind readers: Homosexuality is punishable by hanging in Iran. Same as the guy in the picture is getting.
To those commenting that his punishment is just, consider: That Iranian justice is anything but, is a fact. You can’t take the position that yes, it’s sometimes despotic and unspeakably cruel, but sometimes it isn’t. The former strips the system of any credibility.
Unfortunately, on a more political level, I see the US slowly advancing down the same road. Laws are for the little people, the ruling class can break them, up to and including the Constitution, and still be accepted. (For example Jon Corzine) No wonder people gradually lose respect for the rule of law and only fear punishment. Predictably, the response will be more laws and more punishment.

Islam. Big Brother. Barack Obama. Chuck Hagel. Nidal Hasan

And remember, hanging in Iran isn’t standing on a trap door, waiting to die a quick death from a broken neck. It is having a noose tied around your neck and being hauled up into the air by a crane. We are talking taking long minutes to strangle to death.

Henry Hawkins | January 24, 2013 at 2:52 pm

Re: The elevator kissers – They will be questioned, the male will blame the female for seduction, and only she will be punished, quite possibly with death.

Stabbing a man is a pretty serious offense. I have no respect for the government of Iran, but I have no problem with hanging people for such a violent assault. The stabber is hardly a sympathetic character.

Where are the Mongols when you need them?