Kamangir (Archer)

Victimizing The Children

Kamangir | June 22, 2006 | Category Iran

I remember when I was watching the national television couple of years ago. There, a five-year-old boy was sitting on a chair with a microphone close to his mouth and five or ten other children of his age were sitting on the ground in front of him. If you did not know Persian you would be thinking that the boy is talking about his last summer adventure. However, strangely enough, the boy was using many Arabic quotes. Furthermore, you would soon realize that his gesture is not very much fitting to his age. Then, I assume, you would probably think that he was pretending to be a Mullah. Unfortunately, he WAS the Mullah. The boy had memorized the whole Quran. He was able to read a verse when the beginning part was recited. He was also able to give a “Quranic” answer to an ordinary question. I remember that the boy was asked about Israel and he replied with one of those angry verses in which Allah is talking about the disastrous fate of his enemies. Then, the reporter talked to his dad, whom was very proud of his son’s performance. He described how had started reciting Quran for his boy when he was not even able to read it himself. As I remember they had spent two or three hours a day doing that job. The man finished his description of his son by saying that he is very mature and does not act like children anymore. He thanked God for his blessings to his son and showed his other girl, whom was at the middle of a similar process.

These pictures are taken during Ahmadinejad’s meeting with delegates of Hamedan province. The boy is wearing Mullah’s official clothing. I saw nothing in the news describing this event but the boy’s gesture and the way Ahmadinejad treats him, with a CD in his hand which I think probably contains parts of the boy’s speech, I think we are looking at another five-year-old Mullah. Not only Ahmadinejad, everybody in the room seems to have enjoyed the young boy who has probably given a very serious speech about “the importance of Quran in our daily life”. I have no word for describing this. Give me one argument that makes this type of treatment different from child pornography.