[April 15, 2004] AN IRANIAN mother spared the life of her son's convicted murderer with an emotional slap in the face as he awaited execution with the noose around his neck, the ISNA news agency reported.
Balal stabbed Abdollah Hosseinzadeh to death seven years ago in a street fight. He was 19 at the time, Abdollah was 17.
Convicted murderer Balal wore a black hood and was standing on a chair before the gallows with the noose around his neck. But after slapping him, Samereh Alinejad, mother of the victim, removed the hangman's rope with the help of her husband, Abdolghani Hosseinzadeh.
Mrs Alinejad also lost another son in a motorbike accident four years ago. Alinejad asked the crowd if they know "how difficult it is to live in an empty house."
"I am a believer. I had a dream in which my son told me that he was at peace and in a good place," Alinejad was quoted as saying. "After that, all my relatives, even my mother, put pressure on me to pardon the killer."
"The murderer was crying, asking for forgiveness. I slapped him in the face. That slap helped to calm me down," she added. "Now that I've forgiven him, I feel relieved."
The "slap was the space between revenge and forgiveness. I've asked my friends not to carry knives ... I wish someone had slapped me in the face when I wanted to carry one," Balal said in a television interview.
More than 170 people have been executed in the Islamic republic since the beginning of 2014, the UN says. The victim's family has the right to spare a convict's life in return for blood money, under Islamic laws.
Parents of the victim who removes the hangman's rope
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