Justice and grace

When Samereh Alinejad slapped her son’s killer on the face, forgave him and removed the noose around his neck on the gallows in a northern Iran city last week, peace overpowered the hatred that had gripped her heart for seven years.

On the day of execution, she chided the crowd for pressuring her to forgive the murderer, Balal, who had made her life “like poison” since he took the life of her son Abdollah Hosseinzadeh in a senseless, juvenile quarrel.