Religion of love and peace. Iran style *Warning* on images

[Caldric]

I found these images of what is claimed to be an 8 year old child punished in Iran for stealing bread in the local market. I will just post the first two because the others may be very disturbing to some. It is amazing this is still going on in the 21st Century.

Childs arm will be crushed for stealing. There are a few more images actually showing the tire going over the childs arm. I thought they may be a bit much for the forum.

[Jeff High]

I can not find the worlds to describe how disgusting these actions are. How is it that they call themselves civilized?

Jeff H

[Woodmonkey]

Really cruel punishment, but they are a cruel people, at least the ones in charge now.

My cousin married an Iranian, a Shi ite Muslim who was very devout and said his prayers 5 times a day etc. However, the only way she would marry him is if he agreed to raise the children as Roman Catholics and he agreed - he really wanted to marry her. He kept his promise.

Ahmad was a very gentle man and would never have done this to a child, or anyone else for that matter. Well, maybe he would have done it to someone who threatened his family.

[Caldric]

They would have executed me if that was my child cause I would hit that one guy in the head with a tire iron hard enough to remove his head.

[Snowden]

No - this is a hoax, as Snopes will tell us. What they would do is cut off the kid's right hand. Neater, you have to agree. In Saudi, for instance, this would be done immediately after prayers in the city square. I don't know that a kid this young would be punished in such a way - I don't know that he wouldn't be punished in such a way. But crushing his arm? No. That is not shar'ia law.

Bread and Media Circuses
Claim: Photographs show a boy having his arm crushed under a truck as a punishment for stealing bread.

Status: Real photos; inaccurate description.

Examples: [Collected via e-mail, 2005]

An 8 year old child caught stealing bread in a market of Iran is punished in a public place, in the name of Islam!!!

His arm will be crushed and will lose its use permanently. A religion of peace and love, they say? How can anyone believe them when they commit such inhuman acts?


Dear Friends,

My first reaction to these pictures was "I don´t believe this, it must be a photographic trick".

Unfortunately, the truth seems evident, a little boy gets punished because he has stolen bread and they drive a heavy vehicle over his arm ....

What do you do when you receive a series of pictures like this? You ignore them???? Delete and think, thank God I am not living in Iran? This does not happen in my world ....

But the world is OURS - whether we live in Portugal, Sweden or in Iran. OUR children grow up in this world.

I feel helpless but I don´t want to think I received these pictures for no reason. Therefore, let´s use the power of the computer and internet to spread the information around the world. Maybe it can save some children from abuse in the future ...???

Ignorance can be defeated .... And the internet is a wonderful weapon.

I have cut out the pictures - they do not copy anyway, and they are already in this thread. Snowden


The above-displayed photographs have been circulating on the Internet since at least 2004, usually in e-mail forwards that set them in one of several Arab/Muslim areas (e.g., Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Palestinian territories) and claim that the boy pictured is being punished under a harsh sharia law system that imposes a penalty grossly out of proportion to the nature of the crime (i.e., having his arm crushed under a vehicle because he stole a loaf of bread.

What the photographs actually depict (according to the operator of the site that originally published them) is performers hustling money from onlookers by staging an act, one in which a subject seemingly allows himself to be run over by a heavy vehicle and then emerges unscathed. (Note the man with the microphone in the first picture, who drums up business and describes the action for observers. Also note the blanket placed under the boy's arm — not a consideration persons intent on severely punishing a lawbreaker would be likely to provide.) This a common illusion, variations of which are performed by many magicians and accomplished through a variety of means. (More than that we cannot say without running afoul of the magician's code, other than to note that information about how this type of illusion is performed is readily available to those willing to expend the effort to look for it.) That the subject is a small boy who grimaces his way through the stunt is all part of the act, intended to elicit sympathy and extra cash — despite his contorted facial expressions, the boy is not seriously hurt.

The versions of these photographs circulated via e-mail generally leave out the last pictures of the original series, which show the same boy after the conclusion of the stunt: Last updated: 1 March 2006

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/photos/gruesome/crushboy.asp

[Headhunter]

I thought they cut the hand off of a theif. I agree it is a 'little' nuts.

[Caldric]

Shia law is ignorance wrapped om stupidty. Does not look like muh of a hoax too mel. But hey I suppose to some cutting his had is somehow less barbaric...