Animals, Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Iranian Dog Torture Video Sparks Outrage

blind_dog250px-flag_of_iransvgWe 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.”

461 thoughts on “Iranian Dog Torture Video Sparks Outrage”

  3. Po, I see the “Everything wrong with the world is because of Islam” gang is still singing the same old song. You have so much patience, you are to be commended.

  4. bam bam
    … how can one expect a society, consisting of a religion, which encourages its adherents to kill and destroy any who are of another faith…”
    ——————————
    bam, prove the statement above or take it back and come apologize to me personally.

  6. Okay then, if the torture of dogs is caused by Islam, how do you explain this?
    1- This practicing Muslim has a dog, Luna, a yellow lab is cuter than any dog you have ever had.

    2- fnn
    …stories of mass dog poisonings in Israel

    http://www.chai.org.il/en/campaigns/campaigns_strychnine_i.htm

    3- azazel
    Poisoning stray animals happens in the US too.

    http://www.kspr.com/news/local/stray-cats-to-be-poisoned-with-antifreeze/21051620_28145274

    4- You do know that Peta kills dogs in its shelters, right?

    5- there is hadith recounting the Prophet diverting a whole army because a female dog was giving birth along the path.

    6- Another hadith promising paradise to a prostitute for she gave water to a dog dying of thirst.

    BAM!BAM! BAM!!!!!!

  7. Although dog torturing among Zoroastrians seems unlikely:

    “Dogs are given utmost importance in our religion. Sarosh Yasht Hadokht (karda 7), mentions “Pashush-harun” dog and reveals that just as this “dog” protects the other innocent, good creatures of Spenta Mainyu, Sarosh Yazata, similarly, protects us. Here, “dog” is compared to Sarosh Yazata! This “dog” therefore, is not just a dog in animal form, but its name “Pashush-harun” indicates that it is a mystic reference to “pasu” (life-atoms, seeds of consciousness); and “harun” or “haurva” indicates perfection and union with the Divine. This “dog”, therefore, leads one to Sarosh Yazata who is Manthra Incarnate, Keeper of the Mysteries, Protector of Souls in Both the Worlds!”

  8. Although it is possible the dog torturers are among the remaining 0.6% that associate themselves with non-Islamic religious minorities (the Bahá’í, Mandean, Yarsani, Zoroastrian, Jew, and Christian).

  9. Yes, po, there is a correlation between where this is happening and the people responsible for it occurring. As I said before, how can one expect a society, consisting of a religion, which encourages its adherents to kill and destroy any who are of another faith, to have any reservations about the mistreatment of animals? No rants, just the facts. Unlike discussing gun violence, this, is, whether you like it or not, on topic.

  10. “turns the topic to islamophobia”

    “According to the CIA World Factbook, around 90-95%[1] of Iranians associate themselves with the Shi’a branch of Islam, the official state religion, and about 5-10% with the Sunni and Sufi branches of Islam.”

  11. Does big agra chase dogs down the streets, injecting them with acid? I must’ve missed that memo.

    Just because certain INDUSTRIES, and big agra would fall into that category, need to be regulated and reformed, does not equate with what is transpiring in this article. The animals, in your example, end up on our dinner plates, and our government needs to regulate and reform the practices utilized by the big farming conglomerates. Much of what happens, as far as the treatment of animals, is ignored in an effort to keep the prices at your local A & P down. Not saying that it is right; just saying that there is a rationale for it. You do realize, don’t you, that this problem, involving the dogs, has nothing to do with big agra and every to do with a religion that places so little value on dogs that Muslim cabbies have been known, in the US, to deny passage to blind individuals due to the accompanying dog.

  12. So, if I understand well, Bam Bam rants against off topic comments then turns the topic to islamophobia and how evil Muslims are?????
    Bam, I hope you are not eating meat. If you are, you are complicit in animal torture and mistreatment. The whole structure that brings your steak to your table allows for animals to be mistreated from birth to plate. Have you heard of gestation crates?

    Look it up, Karen and be outraged!

    Wow, Pogo is able to see the log in our eye instead of the speck in the other’s eye. Nice!

    1. po – personally I like my steak so rare it moos when I stick my fork in it.

  13. Not the Onion:

    “Stevenson College is apologizing to its students for serving Mexican food during “Intergalactic” night.
    In a letter sent out to students, the college apologized for having “a Mexican food buffet,” while also featuring spaceships and aliens. The college received complaints saying the combination was racist because of the association between Mexicans and illegal immigrants.”

    Not the Onion:
    Boing Boing is getting trashed as being ‘transphobic’ and ultimately apologized for posting this:
    https://thisistwitchy.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/boingboing.png

  14. Hilarious.
    Max proved my comment true.

    You cannot even parody the left anymore; the parodic response has either already happened or will happen soon.

  17. “old nurse” earlier in this thread:

    “Gosh. I wish Americans would be as outraged over the harm done to Arabs/Muslims and their countries by the USA over the last 25 years as they are about the torture of dogs. We are oblivious about the consequences of our actions, convinced as we are by our moral superiority and exceptionalism, both of which are total BS.”

    Right on the mark, “old nurse.”

  19. Issac, the more you ramble on the more obvious it becomes that you don’t want to be confused by facts, you already have your mind made up. There is a reason the 2nd amendment was written into the constitution, Nazi Germany would not have caused so much harm had there own citizens been allowed yo have guns as well as people who’s country was destroyed, they could have defended themselves. Hopefully the time will never come that a dictatorial government try’s to take over the US.The first step in that is to outlaw civilian ownership of guns. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS ARTICLE
    http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/01/gun-control-dictator-style-tyrants-who-banned-firearms-before-slaughtering-the-people/

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