Page 193 - PERSIAN 2 1879_1883

residency and muscat political agbnct for 1880-81: 25
punishment of lobbers was building them uphead downwards, tbe feet
only being left visible. This death is less revolting thau others which
are iudieted.
The most common form of punishment, in fact quite a national
institution of Persia, is asticks,” that is “ bastinado,99 the soles of the
feet being beaten until a certain number of sticks have been broken over
them.*
Torture is much resorted to both to extort confessions (or bribes)
and as a punishment. The clever versatile Persian mind displays pecu­
liar ingenuity in the pursuit of evil, and the list of tortures in vogue is
as varied ns revolting. Within the immediate influence of the capital,
no doubt this is now much checked, and the higher officials would not,
as a rule, tolerate the barbarities which are known to occur. It is fortu­
nate for the people of Persia that their nervous sensibility is usually
dull, for they are liable to agonizing torments on very 6mall pretence.
It is a common expression to hear that such a prisoner has been u an­
noyed” by his guards, and on inquiring tbe precise form of “ annoyance,”
you are told perhap3 that sharp wedges have been driven under the nails
of his hands and feet, or he has been kept from sleeping for several
nights running by constant pricking with sharp instruments..
Besides the ordinary forms of capital punishment, there are some
said to be occasionallj* employed which constitute death by torture.
Such as impalement, hanging by the legs, and cutting with a sword
(called shagh gha), crucifixiou—” nezapeech,” which is the term for death
inflicted by placing the victim in the centre of a circle of soldiers, who
stab him with their spears or bayonets from whatever direction he turns
his face to, until death ensues—mortaring up alive; death by gagging
and by boiling; by fire and by stoning.
The list of minor (?) tortures is a long one—all are horrible. Some
rendered more diabolical by their indecency; and in some cases the oper­
ation is carried out as a sort of theatrical exhibition amidst the laughter
of the spectators.
Money if forthcoming ordinarily avails to save altogether, or to
mitigate punishment, and it sometimes happen that a stalwart handsome
malefactor escapes a well deserved death by entering the service of the
disposer of his fate.

• Not*.— Large landowners and persons of rank tuoallj claim and exercise the privilege
of punishing their tenants and retainers* and a M Zanjirkh&na” (chain-room) is of tee
attached to the establishment.

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