Eamonn Maloney

It is simply unacceptable that the Irish Times did not report on this major antisemitic attack in London; one being investigated by counter-terrorism. This was the single biggest news item in the UK yesterday, with media statements from Prime Minister Starmer and the leaders of every single other major political party (with the noted exception of Rupert Lowe of Restore). The UK is our closest neighbour, a vital trading partner, crucial for our airspace defence, and still governs six counties on this island. Ireland’s paper of note failing to report on this at all is an astonishing - and very deliberate - decision.

20 years ago today (Aug 15, 2004), 16-year-old Atefeh Rajabi Sahaaleh was publicly hanged from a crane in Neka, Iran. Sahaaleh was convicted of fornication under Iranian Penal Code Article 221 (a crime against chastity) when she was 13 years old. Following a police raid, she was discovered alone in a car with a boy. She was jailed and given 100 lashes. While in prison, she was further allegedly tortured and raped by prison guards. She told her grandmother that she could only walk on all fours because of the pain. In the following years, she was arrested twice more for crimes against chastity, and both convictions were punished by flogging and jail time. Under Iranian Penal Code Article 136, a fourth conviction for a hadd crime for which the punishment was carried out three previous times results in the death penalty That fourth conviction started in May 2003, when Sahaaleh was arrested at home and charged with adultery and immorality. Police presented a report which they claimed supported the charges against Sahaaleh, but the only signatures on the report were police officers and other local authorities The judge presiding over the trial was Haji Rezai. After Rezai interrogated Sahaaleh, she confessed to being raped by Ali Darabi, a married 51-year-old ex-revolutionary guard turned taxi driver. Sahaaleh was raped repeatedly by Darabi over the previous three years. Judge rezai had personal grudges against her and refused to trust her testimony When Sahaaleh realized that she was losing her case, she removed her hijab, an act seen as a severe contempt of the court, and argued that Darabi should be punished, not her. She removed her shoes and threw them at the judge. Rezai sentenced Sahaaleh to death. Her lawyer appealed to Iran's Supreme Court in Tehran, where the verdict was upheld due to Sahaaleh's confession and three prior convictions for similar offenses Her age was falsified to 22 to allow execution, violating Iran's own treaty obligations against executing minors. Before the noose tightened, she pleaded: "If you forgive me, I will never look into the eyes of a man again." She asked the crowd for forgiveness. She was executed at the age of 16 and her body was made to spat on by children She was the youngest victim of Khamenei moral police apparatus which doesn't follow any law protocol or transparency.

The Irish Left, who uncritically swallow every bit of Hamas propaganda whole, have treated a meticulously crafted report on antisemitism by their own compatriots with utmost suspicion; ultimately disregarding and ridiculing it. They believe Islamist terrorists more easily than their own Irish brothers and sisters. It’s sick.

Q: "Do you think that Donald Trump should be deposed by this committee?" Hillary Clinton: "Absolutely…Donald Trump has been held civilly liable for sexual assault by a jury of his peers…That is behavior that fits a pattern if one were looking for a pattern."