Why should we save Soghra?

by Azarin Sadegh
23-Oct-2007

She was the same girl who was condemned to death when she was only 12. She was the same girl who was sold as a maid by her own parents out of poverty and the price of her service was one sac of rice. She was the same girl who, at 18, fell into a deep depression once she was taken to be executed and was saved – in the last minute – by the parents of the victim who changed their mind. Soghra is the same woman who was released from an obscure prison only 3 weeks ago after losing 18 years of her youth. Now she is a 30 years old woman who has lost her teeth, in severe depression, having multiple surgeries (for the reasons we don’t know) and with incontrollable hand shakes. Since the parents of the victim – the victim that she always said she did not kill – have requested again for her execution, she is going to be executed in the next two days.

The news was asking for our action to help save her life.

Saving her life? But why?

Wouldn’t it much better for her just to accept her death? A quick simple death seems like an easier solution than this long slow path of death she has been on since 12. I wonder how does she perceive the life? What has she really known about love or joy or the beauty of living?

The hell with this life. Her life. Life or fear and helplessness and total despair?

As long as the we, the witnesses of her ordeal, stopped our fight and stopped our outrage and lost our belief in humanity and in humanitarian work, Soghra and other kids like her have no better option than to die, instead of dying million times every second and in each of their nightmares.

No.

It is not a life. At least, not a life worth saving.

So I beg the Iranian authority to tighten the rope around her neck as soon as possible so she wouldn’t suffer
anymore, but please cover her face under a chador so we wouldn’t be able to see her face and her eyes and we don’t hear the breaking sound of her relief, so her pain is not going to mess up our illusion of consciousness and pure contentment…