After the Iran’s disputed presidential election in 2009, thousands Iranians took it to the street protesting the – in their eyes sham election. One of the brave individuals who took part in a protest while visiting relatives was Zahra Bahrami, an Iranian-Dutch woman. She got arrested and detained on the ground of being a threat to the Islamic republic. Later on she was brought to court to face charges of drugs smuggle, a crime she said she was forced to accept under physical and emotional torture and pressure. The penalty for such crime in Iran is death by hanging. The western world was in ire and the Dutch government was throwing tantrum. Iran said from the outset they do not recognise dual nationality and therefore it was a domestic affair and the Dutch or any other critic could put a sock in it.
Efforts by family, the media and the Dutch government tactics of quiet diplomacy did not help a thing. On Saturday January 28th, Zahra Bahrami, 46 years old was reportedly hanged. The behind-closed-door-trail and the hasty manner the sentence was carried out call for serious examination, just like many other political sentences in the dictatorial country. But what caught my attention was the fact that Zahra Bahrami was sentenced before for drug trafficking in The Netherlands. Something I did not hear the international media reporting till days before her death. I too am suspicious of Iranian human right policy and the fairness of the legal system, which often disadvantage dissidents. But to leave out such important evidence is worrying. The media must show professionalism at all times and do a thoroughly research first and foremost before reporting to us. This could give the Iranian government a leverage of their complaint that the international media are bias. I hope next time the media do their job and report the whole truth to the people.
I find Zahra Bahrami very brave just like others who took their resentment to the streets of Tehran after the dubious election in 2009. Seeing the process and the way the sentence was carried out I have a strong feeling that she died for showing courage and standing up against the authoritarian authority, which makes her a martyr in my opinion.