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JUSTICE took a long time to catch up with the man called the Vampire of the Desert. Death came just as slowly yesterday. Under the blazing hot sun, in front of a baying crowd, Mohammad Bijeh paid a very public price for his wicked crimes. In a barbaric execution, the serial child killer was flogged, stabbed in the back by the 17-year-old brother of one of his victims and stoned by the chanting mob. Then, to shouts of "make him twist", he was hoisted up on a crane by a noose placed around his neck by the mother of another victim. It took more than five minutes for him to choke to death, while he was taunted and spat at. "Dance and think of what you did to our kids," one bereaved father shouted. Bijeh's corpse was then left dangling for another20 minutes. In any other country, such a monstrous spectacle might have been mistaken for a scene from a film about medieval torture. This is justice Iran-style. Despite years of protest from human rights groups, such punishment remains darkly familiar in Iran. Amnesty International figures confirm there were at least 159 executions last year, mostly in public. Nearly 200 people were flogged, others had fingers or limbs chopped off for more minor crimes. Bijeh's crimes were horrendous. The 23-year-old and an accomplice preyed on children around the poor town of Pakdasht, south of the capital Tehran. They tricked them into going with them into the desert to find wild animals. Instead, they poisoned or knocked out their victims and sexually abused them. The bodies, mostly boys aged between eight and 15, were either burned or left to rot in shallow graves. Bijeh was convicted of raping and killing 16 children and is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of at least another four. His cohort, who confessed to the kidnappings but was acquitted of murder, was jailed for 15 years. Adelaide Advertiser (18-3-2005) Paul Harris |
Australian News
2005. All Rights Reserved.
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