Iran acid blinding sentence postponed

The Iranian authorities have seen sense. They postponed blinding a man with acid following an international outcry over the retributive punishment imposed after he was found guilty of doing the same to a woman who refused to marry him.

In a literal application of the sharia law of an eye for an eye, Majid Movahedi was scheduled to be rendered unconscious in Tehran's judiciary hospital today while his victim, Ameneh Bahrami, dropped acid in both his eyes.

But Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency reported that officials had postponed the sentence on Friday night and not indicated when the punishment might be carried out in future.

Ameneh Bahrami has been severely damaged, physically, mentally and spiritually. She is hellbent on retribution and, from a human perspective, that sense wells up quite effectively. We all get that revenge feeling from time to time. Many are siding with her. But this sharia law goes directly opposite to the Christian Gospel. She will have to reveal her true fellings and reasons for her actions at the "dreadful day of judgement", as the Prayer Book puts it, and what she wants to do will have to be put before the "whole company of heaven".

Much of the world believes in an eye for an eye. Somehow it lets them eat their breakfast more easily after a good nights sleep. George Bush is cock-a-hoop Bin Laden's dead. That's the Bin Laden of Abbottabad fame and not the ones he and his father did or do business with. And George professes the Christian Faith, now in the United Methodist Church, having departed his Episcopalian background. He should know that Christ told us to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."

It's not easy being a Christian, but saying you are a Christian and then defying the Gospel repeatedly, then that's something else entirely.

Ahmadinejad is a Jewish cloth weaver!

Well, well, old Dinner Jacket isn't what he claims to be. He portrays himself (other than as a scruffy tax driver) as the leader of the Iranian people, safeguarder of Islamic truth and comfort. However, all is not as it seems. According to the Daily Telegraph, his real name is Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver. Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies, says it reveals a lot. "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him. Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith." In Dinner Jacket's case this is done with liberal doses of fantasy and fiction.

No wonder the electorate felt he stole the election. Not because he's Jewish, but because he's an inveterate liar. Porky pies comes to mind, but they're not kosher or halal. But I'll stick with porky pies as the guy is good at lies.

Supreme Leader has a slate loose!

The chief ayatollah, who is also the self-styled Supreme Leader of Iran, gave a rant of a sermon to a hunkered down mass of severe looking disciples. They clapped in unison, they grimaced in unison. The sort of people you wouldn't want to mess with. They all looked liked automotons as they appeared to relish the godless garbage that masqueraded as Islamic peace. Any dissenter in that crowd would have been promptly set upon by those around him, of that I have no doubt. If this bearded wonder thinks this represents a tolerant society he is on another planet.

Can you imagine the Archbishop of Canterbury delivering a diatribe of similar slander? The mind boggles. If Rowan Williams had done so, not only would the country think he had taken leave of his senses but the rest of the world would quite rightly be upset with Britain. I was struck by the humanity of the demonstrators in recent days. Faces displaying human courage and dignity, quite unlike the stony-hearted look of the ayatollah's followers.

As I write this the streets of Tehran are heavily laden with police eager to thrash the democratic life out of the protesters. It is all so sad. Some people just have the misfortune to be born into a country with despots and depraved persons in charge. Far from being a holy man, Khamenei is a vengeful man with a quixotic understanding of democracy. He thinks it is a fair election. If the man had an ounce of sense in his brain he would realise that this election was not only rigged but was farcicly unrealistic as a believable fix.

Khamenei is a man wedded to the violent oppression of those who would dare to challenge his authoritarian rule. In that he is palpably un-Islamic. Peace is a word that has Humpty Dumpty connotations for this tyrant.

Iranian amateur ballot rigging

You have to hand it to Ahmadinnerjacket and his Interior Ministry goons. He's another brazen leader with all the democratic legitimacy of a cuckoo in a nest. His attempts at rigging the Iranian election would look a lot better if he hadn't given two of the losers 1% and 2% apiece. In such a hotly contested election, the result is more a joke than a serious attempt at ballot rigging. In that he has proved to be a shambolic amateur.

It is a sad reflection that for many human beings their whole lives are lived in countries run by despots and tinpot dictators. There isn't a person in the world that doesn't want personal freedoms and just to be left alone by the state. The likes of Ahmadinnerjacket, who looks like the worst kind of scruffy taxi driver you could be lumbered with, think they know best. They don't, but in this new world of American diplomacy, he's going to get away with it. I reckon we can be counting on more asylum seekers, and who could blame them?

Interestingly, Google confirms that the Iranian leader is to be called Ahmadinnerjacket if one is cheekily mocking his name. Any other form of spelling gets a rebuke from Google. "Did you mean Ahmadinnerjacket?" I surely did!