The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-09-05
Justice in Persia.
A traveller, writing to the St. James
Gazette Tondon saws

GaZette, London, says
The judicial punishments of Persia Ger.
tainly seem very cruel, but the most en-
lightened rulers of the country insist that
they are not vindictive; they are simply
deterrent The late Hissam-u-Sultaneh,
uncle of the king, was one of the most
severe of provincial governors; yet, as he
himself triumphantly pointed out to me, he
shed less blood, first and last, than his
rivals, while the provinces under his gov
ernment were remarkably free from crimes
of violence. II" he remarked "take the
great criminal red handed, and l punish
him in such way that his punishment
will not be forgotten and that his fate will
be terror to evil-doers Unlike you
Europeans, don't shut the man up fo1
years; | have no grudge; my punishments
are policy. / commenced my governorship
by severe measures toward criminals, to LET
them know who they have to deal with
1t is true / then mercilessly execute some
Of them; but there are no more crimes OF
violence during my tenure of Office, nc
more unsafe roads, no burglaries. Muir
ders-mostly unprecedented murders
there certainly are, as there will be in all
countries; [ execute these men in simple
way. So do Europeans" These are the
ideas of great Persian statesman The
result in Persia is undoubtedly what the
Nissan stated: The province is quiet,
criminals are afraid, honest men are safe
The ordinary punishments are-the bas-
tinado, fines, Imprisonment Simple confne-
ment), Imprisonment in irons (the chain
gang, manning, death. The bastinado is
administered upon the bare soles of the
feet. Save by the Kings express order, it
is never nowadays carried to fatal issue;
in twenty years never heard of a fatal
beating. The ordinary application of the
bastinado means what we should term a
''good hiding" nothing more. In the
eyes of Persian there is nothing degrad-
ing in having ''eaten stick Within the
last ten years the Muschir-ul- Molk, the
then wealthiest man in Ears (the richest
province in Persia, was severely bastina-
doed; he was over 20 years of age. The
bastinado is usually administered to all
small delinquents who are not fined. 1t
is the punishment of peccadilloes. The
accomplices of criminals are usually basti-
nadoed to obtain confession. Criminals
of the minor class are generally bastinadoed
and discharged. The sticks used are not,
as in Turkey, heavy batons, but sticks
tapering to a point. The best criterion of
the real value of bastinadoing may be ar
rived at from the reply of soldier who,
when I asked him which he would prefer,
an ordinary beating on his feet such as was
being given to one of his fellows, or the
loss of a months pay, answered: "Why,
the beating, of course. Criminals, when
offered the choice of fine or the bastinado,
always choose the latter. 1t must be re
membered that the lower classes in Persia
walk much barefoot and that their feet are
hard. OF course, to a European basti-
nadoing would be terrible punishment.
Mira Abdul Wahab Khan, late physician
to II. R. H. Zil-es-Sultan, told me that he
had seen 1000 sticks fairly broken over the
feet of criminal-say 5000 blows This
was done by the Shah's farrashes; the man
survived. Fines vary according to the po-
sition of the person fined or the rapacity
of the finer Simple Imprisonment is dealt
out to those who are guilty of misdemeanor
or the greater crime of not paying their
taxes Imprisonment in chain-gang, OF
Imprisonment in irons, is reserved for
crimes of violence, burglary, coming, OF
theft from the person Manning is resorted
to for thieves from shops, cut-purses and
and horse and cattle stealers As a rule a
single joint of the finger is cut off for first
offense, the hand for second; or the Grim.
inal is lamed by removing portion of the
tendo Achilis. Binding of one OF bott
eyes is now a rare punishment. Sometimes
the ears are cut off or the nose slit, and the
criminal is led through the bazaar by the
executioner, (It may be mentioned thai
at every execution the executioner levies
as right, a fee of few coppers from eacf
merchant and shopkeeper). Amputatior
of the tongue has not occurred within my
knowledge during the last twenty years
Strange to say, in such cases the sufferer
gradually regains the power of ineligible
speech The objection to surgical ampu
tations in the East generally, and especially
in Persia, arises from the terrible loss Of
caste to those who are manned judicially
Death-painless and instantaneous.
usually inflicted by throat-cuttipg, The
simple punishment of death is mostly exc
cuted on murderers, robbers, and those
guilty of crimes of violence, and on the
secretaries of the Baab; it is also the pen
atty for high treason. In some cases mer
of high rank, condemned for the latter
crime, are either poisoned OF strangled
In my time, Zohrab Khan, who could not
pay his revenue to the Crown and there
fore revolted, had his throat cut in Shiraz
He had surrendered upon a sworn promise
that his life would be spared; but the
Muschir-ul- Molk, his personal enemy, wa:
actually present reading an order for his
death when Zohrah Khan was executed al
the back of the Governors palace. Within
the last three years Hussein Kuli Khan
chief of the Bakhtiaris, was offered cuI
of poisoned coffee when the guest of lilies
Sultan; on his refusing it, two farrashes
stepped forward and strangled him. The
only crime of Hussein Kuli Khan, noble
and enlightened man, was that he was toe
powerful.
The exceptional punishments to Persi;
are blowing from guns or mortars, crucifx
ion, walling up or hurying alive, burning
alive, aud in the few capital punishment
Of women (who are usually strangled. OF
wrapped up in carpet and jumped upon
flung from precipice or down a well.
All these punishments have been inflicted
within the writer's knowledge. One poo
fellow twice experienced the bitterness o
death. He was led out to be blown from
a gun. A fellow-culpFit had just been ex
ecuted in this way before his eyes Th'
executioners prepared to lash him to tn,
muzzle of the gun; but as he was littl'
man they had to get some bricks for hin
to stand on. When all was ready th'
printing was fired, but in the hurry th'
artillerymen had forgotten to load the gun
Though urgent representations were made
to the Governor, he refused to spare th'
man, and the poor fellow was unbound, tn
gun was loaded, and the culprit blown away
The first part of this tragedy myself wit
messed. Crucifxion in Persia is don'
against wall; the sufferers occasionally liv,
many hours. The crime of one man SO ex
ecuted was that of having stolen the COLDER
necklet of the Prince Governors horses thi