Upset at pigeon killing, Ayatollah orders probe

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2000:

TEHRAN––Abdolreza Izadpaneh, advisor to Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, in midJanuary told the Tehran newspaper Entekhab that the Judges Disciplinary Court would investigate the conduct of a lower court judge who earlier in the month ordered the slaughter of 170 pigeons to settle a dispute between two neighbors over who owned one of the birds.

“The head of the judiciary expressed sorrow upon hearing the verdict and ordered a probe into the case,” recounted Izadpaneh.

According to Associated Press, “The pigeons were slaughtered the same day the verdict was announced, prompting condemnations from animal protection groups and ordinary Iranians,” in a nation where public opposition to the actions of Islamic fundamentalist clerics is reputedly rare and sometimes fatal.