We have previously discussed violence and legal measures targeting dogs by some Muslims who view canines as “unclean.” Even postcards with dogs and service dogs (and here) have raised the ire of some Muslim groups. Now this issue is getting some long-needed attention in Iran after a short film that showed stray dogs being tortured and killed by having acid injected into them.
The video was taken an industrial area of Shiraz, 900 kilometres south of Tehran. The animal activists claimed that those responsible paid $4 for each dog. As with environmentalists in China, I have always had overwhelming respect and admiration for secularists and animal (particularly dog) advocates in Muslim countries. This is more than an impressive commitment to principle but putting your actual life on the line for those principles.
The good news is that the Iranian government is acting on the video. While there was an effort to criminalize the ownership of dogs under Sharia law (and subject dog owners to up to 74 lashed last year), Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar has called for an investigation into the video. While she referred rather mildly to the practice as “an immediate end to unconventional population control method[] for stray dogs,” she did call upon the interior ministry to “deal with the criminals responsible”.
Some Iranian celebrities like Ali Karimi, once a star on Iran’s national football team, posted a picture with his two dogs on Instagram and the message “Dogs are the kindest domestic animals. I hope those who, under any excuse, did this to these animals get what they deserve.”
…”trying to prove that all Muslims are extremists…”
Just the ones who do this:
A heavily armed Algerian jihadi was arrested for the murder of Aurelie Chatelain, a 33-year-old mother and fitness instructor, who was riddled with bullets as she sat in her car in a car park in the Paris suburb of Villejuif.”
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/04/22/17/27DCB1FB00000578-3050216-image-a-47_1429719966081.jpg
And Karen, attempting to indicate I’m not in favor of women’s rights around the world because I won’t demonize ALL Muslims, is sort of sick too. You have a really bad habit of jumping to conclusions.
Attempts to silence debates on Islam:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/meet-the-honor-brigade-an-organized-campaign-to-silence-critics-of-islam/2015/01/16/0b002e5a-9aaf-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html
Karen – I do know that CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood have paid bloggers. Could be that Inga has joined the herd.
What is sick is sitting silently watching other commenters post numerous excerpts from an ancient religious text (like BamBam did) trying to prove that all Muslims are extremists and then try to say that all Muslims take those words literally. Moderate Christians don’t take all the nutty things in the Bible literally either. The double standard doesn’t work.
Baghdadpo: “mind if I use the moniker?
I like its accuracy.
Look who’s jumped on the bandwagon as soon as Po starts claiming that any critic of extremist Islam hates all Muslims and is stupid.
All critics who call for reform are called Islamophobics and other names. It is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer, merely by reviewing the comments on any thread about abuses.
And the same ones who claim they are for women’s rights jump to their defense.
Sick.
Po, the outrage against Iranians and other Muslims gets watered down when we speak of similar abuses in other countries, even our own. That makes them angry, they want to cling to that ‘righteous’ outrage.
Of course Po, that is what she always does, blame moderate Muslims for the abuses the extremists do. When called on the Islamaphobia, we then see a quick scurrying backwards to deny lumping moderates and extremists together. Same old song and dance.
Well, good for you. Shelters are rare in Iran. I posted a link to the first one ever built. “First” implies there are more than one.
What does that have to do with dogs being najes? Seized on the street from their owners’ arms? Dying of thirst and starvation in government pounds?
Why is Po obsessing about the plight of pregnant pigs? Why not lambs and steers, who are also gelded without anesthetic? Many calves are taken away from their dams in dairy farms. Horrors of the slaughterhouse? Overuse of antibiotics? Overcrowding and debeaking in poultry farms?
Does he eat no beef, goat, lamb, chicken, or fish? Drink no milk? No ice cream? No cream in his coffee? Does he wear cotton that was produced with heavy use of pesticides? Eat GMO veggies? Spray Round Up? Does he spray his roses with pesticide and kill the local pollinators?
Apparently sourcing humane pork that does not use gestational crates is not sufficient to satisfy him. I suppose being a vegetarian would not be enough until all animal husbandry is ended and we all wear synthetics.
Holier-than-thou false hare as a desperate measure.
Karen, my link speaks of FOUR such animal shelters in Iran, not just Vafa.
http://www.dogster.com/the-scoop/iranian-dog-killings-video-sparks-demonstrations-throughout-iran
Iranian people having demonstrations against the mistreatment of dogs. All these Iranians are Muslims, I believe.
Annie
She has conveniently and stubbornly refused to address the fact that pets are killed in mass elsewhere around the world. She is adamant in making it an islamic issue. Why? I so wished I knew!
perhaps she cares so much about Islam that she wants everyone to know only the sins of Muslims, those being the ones dearest to her heart.
Karen, would you please, please address these?
fnn
…stories of mass dog poisonings in Israel
http://www.chai.org.il/en/campaigns/campaigns_strychnine_i.htm
azazel
Poisoning stray animals happens in the US too.
http://www.kspr.com/news/local/stray-cats-to-be-poisoned-with-antifreeze/21051620_28145274
You do know that Peta kills dogs in its shelters, right?
LOL. It was the Vafa animal shelter that I linked to before. It was the first animal shelter ever to be built in Iran, in 2004. An example of efforts to change from within which takes great bravery in that country.
Pogo
I like that, mind if I use the moniker?
Pogo – do you think he believes that if he keeps repeating it, it makes it true? Or the fact that the animal activists in Iran are obviously Muslim, means it isn’t happening?
Reform can only come from within, so my best wishes and prayers for the animal activists there.
I believe all these Iranians are Muslims.
“However there is hope as the kindness of ordinary Iranians is helping to save the lives of many of these animals. A non-governmental shelter in Mashhad called Mehr has taken in more than 300 stray animals. All of them are vaccinated, neutered and spayed. Near the Iranian capital Tehran, another animal shelter called Vafa has more than 400 dogs in its care. Since it opened in 2004, hundreds of North Americans and Europeans have adopted dogs from Vafa, creating a new and safer life for them in the West.”
From my link above.
Hahaha, Mullah, typical drivel… you attack, I respond, you claim bullying and victimization…meanwhile you keep offering untruths that you pass as truth, and when challenged, you quote selectively to hide your lies….or perhaps you really do have reading comprehension issues…? If so, my bad!
You offered 2 links, both of which say that the law targets dogs in the public sphere, further supported by this quote:” Tehran police officials announced that anyone driving with a dog or walking a dog will be punished, and any dog found on the streets will be picked up by authorities and taken away.”
And in case you did not know, Iran is much bigger than Tehran.
The bottom line, karen, is that owning a dog in Iran is NOT illegal. NOPE!
Now you can acknowledge that, offer a mea culpa of some sort and STILL pursue your original case. Instead, you double down on the misinformation (notice I did not say lies here? I am a gentleman after all!) and act as if I just misunderstood you!
You are not a critic of extremist Islam, Mullah, you are a critic of Islam, who loves to pin anything bad around the world on Islam WHILE claiming to only speak against the extremists. You and your idol Ayaan ALi Hirsi.
Meanwhile keep silent as more pregnant pigs are tortured in gestational crates, their babies taken away from them while you remain deaf to their yelps of pain and desolation.
At least DBQ acknowledges her dry heart…oops, lmeant to say lack of care openly (damn keyboard), unlike you who pretend to be the bleeding heart you certainly aren’t.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/iran-cracks-down-on-dogs.html#
30 dogs died of thirst and starvation after being seized by the police for being in a public space.
“All of these dogs had owners. Ahmad-Reza Radan, commander of Tehran’s Armed Forces Corps, warned dog owners to refrain from walking them on the streets. He said, “As summer approaches, we will make an effort to stop people from bringing out their dogs in their cars or parading them on the streets to show off. We won’t have any of that.””
The two reasons for the plight of dogs in Iran, who are viewed as “najes” (or “najis”, I’ve seen it spelled both ways):
“The Islamic Republic shows great hostility toward dogs. The government claims two reasons for this: the fact that Islam condemns cohabitation with dogs, and the fact that more affluent people could afford to own a dog, and that is troubling since they believe dog owners are generally spoiled rotten, from rich families who don’t have real problems. Owning a dog is considered a luxury, one inclined to the West, and that could be reason enough for angering the administration.”
As I’ve stated before, dogs cannot be kept in apartments, where their presence would “contaminate” shared spaces, or walked on the street.
More moderate Persians are pushing back, as they also periodically do with Westernized haircuts and easing on the hijab. And then their Supreme Leader cracks down on them.
It is unfortunate that there is a religious reason to view dogs so. Just think of the love, companionship, and loyalty so many are missing.
“Imprisoned dogs are kept in extremely poor conditions, usually among garbage, and often times without adequate food and water.”
So sad. I hope animal activists prevail.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/negar-mojtahedi/post_8178_b_5660215.html
Here are some Iranians who are trying to rescue dogs. I believe they are all Muslims.
“After years of campaigning by Pourirani and other animal advocates, the city council in Tabriz has now agreed to ban the killing of street animals. Any stray dogs or cats encountered by city officials must now be sent to Pourirani’s animal shelter called “Pardis,” which translates to paradise in English. While Pardis is being considered a success, other municipalities in Iran are continuing to kill homeless animals, some without using any anesthetic. Pourirani hopes other cities will replicate the model established in Tabriz.”