Iran, Omaar and troublesome stonings

In G2 today, Hannah Pool talks to Rageh Omaar about his new film 'Inside Iran'. Hannah notes that in the film Rageh is moved to describe Iran as Wonderland.

Hannah Pool: "What about the more troublesome parts of Iranian society?"

Rageh: "Yes, there is oppression, people being stoned and hanged and all
that"

Ah yes, how 'troublesome' it is to be stoned. Like that itch that you can't quite reach, like that stain that just won't come out of the carpet, it can be a little irritating to have a baying crowd chuck rocks at you for, erm, getting your rocks off.

Mercifully, the stones in Iran aren't too large. Or at least they shouldn't be. Article 104 of the Iranian penal code states, with reference to the penalty for adultery: "...the stones should not be too large so that the person dies on being hit by one or two of them; they should not be so small either that they could not be defined as stones." Amnesty argues that this is clear evidence that "the punishment of stoning is designed to cause the victim grievous pain before death" (source: Wikipedia).

So far, so troublesome. But if stoning is one of life's little irritations, then hanging, by this benign interpretation, must be the community justice equivalent of finding chewing gum on your shoe. Annoying, yes, but not likely to prevent you from getting to work.

Of course, it is Hannah Pool who uses the remarkably benign word 'troublesome' to allude to the existences of such cruelty and barbarism in Iran. Omaar's lack of interest, in this film at least, in 'oppression, people being stoned and hanged all that' is he says because:

"there surely is an argument and a need to present the other side of Iranian society where changes are being made."

I'm not sure why this means the existence of cruelty in Iran have to be ignored but let's hope that the film shows there are enough reasons to be found in the developments of Iranian society to believe that such cruelty might become a thing of the past.