Probably one of the best papers on news reporting, the Wall Street Journal recently found and published the identity of the photographer of a Pulitzer Prize-winning shot of an execution in Iran. Eleven men, condemned by a show trial with no evidence, were lined up at an airport. What looks like irregular soldiers armed with G-3s crouched in front of them. And then they're shot, apparently in the chest, falling backward and collapsing behind the spot they were standing. The series of photographs shows one of the executioners putting a bullet in their heads afterwards.
Very disturbing images. One of those executed is apparently already in bad shape, and he's lying down when they shoot him. Dust flies up as the men collapse. They're standing there blindfolded, probably knowing what's about to occur but resigned to doing nothing but wait for it to happen.
What bothers me about this and capital punishment is the self-righteousness of those doing the condemning and executing. I suppose they have to convince themselves that they have the moral right to do what they're doing, and this seems to fall easier to fanatics than to others. But it seems to me that even if you accept the premise that capital punishment is necessary (which I don't) it should be something that is done with the greatest reluctance and sorrow.
The release of the entire contact sheet from the execution tell a broader story than the one image that's been famous for all these years.
You have to wonder about several details. Why did they go to an airport for the execution? Why did the soldiers crouch in front of the condemned? What was the story with the man on the stretcher? Who is the woman who appears in the photographs? Were there many spectators? And of course, what was the story with the dead men?
Norway executed 37 people - all men - after World War II, some of them for treason, others for war crimes, several arguably for both. The execution was done with an 11-man firing squad that shot at the condemned from a distance of five meters under the command of the local police chief. No eye witness accounts of the executions have ever been made public, but I would imagine they were much more disciplined than those in the photographs from Iran. Still, a man was taken out, lined up, and shot with every deliberation. I can understand that those who did the shooting believed that it was justified, and even moral, but it's hard to be convinced that it was entirely legal.
Comments