Mother Forgives Murderer as he Faces Execution

A woman who waited years to exact revenge for her son’s murder showed mercy for his killer at the last minute.

The mother of Omid Habbibi shouted “I forgive” just as the noose was placed over the head of the murderer, exempting him from execution by hanging.

Following seven years of grieving and mourning, the mother of Omid Habibi told Iranian Students News Agency: “When I put the rope around the neck of his murderer, he looked at me and whispered, ‘forgive me, for Imam Hossein’s sake.’ On hearing that, it was as though a ray of light pierced my heart and I forgave him.”

Omid Habbibi was stabbed and killed during a fight in Dahigah in Fars province in 2008. His parents insisted on enforcing the Islamic law of qisas and called for retaliation for their son’s murder. The village elders and local authorities had called for the family to forgive the murderer, but they refused.

The murdered boy’s father told the news agency: “We traded with God. It is something between us and our God.”

Praising Habbibi’s family, the governor of Kazeroon said: “What they did was extraordinary. It is difficult to forgive. Forgiveness is one of the highest divine virtues connecting us to God.”

Read the original article in Persian