Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-05-24
Punishment Of Persian Criminals
The BAsTINADo, FINES, IMPRISONMENT
MANNING, AND CRUCIFIXION.

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 Sc
we're of provincial governors; yet, as he
himself triumphantlv pointed out to me.
he shed less blood, first and last than his
rivals, while the provinces under his gov
eminent was remarkably free from crimes
OF violence. The ordinary punishments
are the bastinado, fines, Imprisonment
(simple confinement), 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 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 degrading in
having .eaten stick Within the last
ten years the Muschir- ul- Molk, the then
wealthiest man in Ears (the richest prov
ince in Persia), was severely bastinadoed;
he was over 20 years Of age. The bastin-
ado is usually administered to all small
delinquents who are not fined. 1t is the
punishment of peccadllloes. The accom-
plices of criminals are usually bastinadoed
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 taper
ing to point.
Fines vary according to the position of
the person fined or the rapacity of the
finer. Simple Imprisonment IS dealt out
to those who are guilty of robbery of
misdeamor, or the greater crime Of not
paying their taxes. Imprisonment in a
chain gang, or imprisonment in irons, is
reserved for crimes of violence, burglary.
coming. or theft from the person. Maim-
ing is resorted to for thieves from shops,
cut purses, and horse and cattle thieves.
As rule single joint of the finger is cut
off tor the first offense, the hand for a Sec
ond; or the criminal is famed by removing
a portion of the tendon Achillis. Binding of
one or both eyes is now rare punishment.
Sometimes the ears are cut of, or the
nose slit, and the criminal is led through
the bazaar of the executiOner ct may
be mentioned that at every execution
the executioner levies, as right, fee of
a few cOppers from each merchant and
shopkeeper.) Amputation 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 amputation in
the east generally. and especially in Pea
STA, arises from the terrible loss of caste
to those who are manned judiclally.
Earthquakes and instantaneous-is
usually inflicted by throat-cutting. The
simple punishment of death is mostly ex-
ecuted on murderers, robbers, and those
guilty of crimes and violence, and on the
secretaries OF the Baab, it is also the pen
atty for high treason. In some cases men
of high rank, condemned for the latter
crime, are either poisoned or stran-
! gled. The exceptional punishments in
Persia are blowing from guns or NOR
tars, crucifixion, walling up, or burying
alive, burning alive, and in the few cap
ital punishments of women(w who are usu-
ally strangled, or 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.
Crucifixion in Persia is done against a
wall the sufferers occasionally live many
hours. The crime of one man so execut-
ed was that of having stolen the golden
necklet of the prince governors horse
this was looked on as a sort of treason
Some highway robbers, who, among
many other achievements, had looted and
carried off the writer of this article Che
fortunately escaping from them,) and
murdered Syud or holy man, were
walled up alive near the scene of their
crimes in hollow brick pillars. Eleven
other highway robbers in one batch were
thus buried alive in Shiraz in 1872 while
priest was burned to death in the public
square of Shiraz just before my arrival
in Persia Che was an exceptionally afro
cious criminal .)-St. James Gazette.