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Stoning - Women - Website
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BBC News
20
July 2008
9 Face
Stoning Death in Iran
At least eight women and one man are reported to have been sentenced to death by stoning in Iran.
The group, convicted of adultery and sex offences, could be executed at any time, lawyers defending them say.
The lawyers have called on the head of Iran's judiciary to prevent the sentences from being carried out.
The last officially reported stoning in Iran last year drew strong criticism from human rights groups and the European Union.
The eight women sentenced, whose ages range from 27 to 43, had convictions including prostitution, incest and adultery, Reuters news agency reported.
The man, a 50-year-old music teacher, was convicted of illegal sex with a student, reports said.
Moratorium imposed
Under Iran's Islamic law, stoning to death is the punishment for the crime of adultery.
In 2002 Iranian judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi imposed a moratorium on stoning, but at least three people are reported to have been executed by stoning since then.
Shadi Sadr from the Volunteer Lawyers' Network, which is representing the women, said: "We are very worried as there are at least eight women and one man with a definitive verdict which can be carried out any moment.
Our
specific... demand is to have the stoning sentence stopped by Ayatollah
Shahroudi since the defendants are liable to be stoned at any moment |
"There are no guarantees that the punishments will be halted or commuted."
She called on the international community to back their efforts, adding: "We are in close touch with human rights organisations and many of them have supported our campaign."
Fellow defence lawyer Mariam Kian-Arsi said: "Our specific and clear demand is to have the stoning sentence stopped by Ayatollah Shahroudi since the defendants are liable to be stoned at any moment."
Women 'poorly represented'
In theory the penalty of stoning to death applies to both men and women.
But the lawyers say that in practice, many more women than men receive the sentence because they are less well educated and often poorly represented in court.
Human rights group Amnesty International earlier this year called on Iran to abolish "this grotesque punishment" and said many facing execution by stoning were sentenced after unfair trials.
Under Iran's strict penal code, men convicted of adultery should be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests for stoning. The stones used should not be large enough to kill the person immediately.
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Amnesty International
Iran:
Death by Stoning, a Grotesque and Unacceptable Penalty
15 January 2008
As nine
women and two men in Iran wait to be stoned to death, Amnesty International
today called on the Iranian authorities to abolish death by stoning and impose
an immediate moratorium on this horrific practice, specifically designed to
increase the suffering of the victims.
In a new
report published today, the organisation called on the authorities urgently to
repeal or amend the country's Penal Code and to ensure total adherence in the
meantime to a moratorium on stoning issued by the Head of the Judiciary in
2002.
"We
welcome recent moves towards reform and reports that the Majles (Iran's
parliament) is discussing an amended Penal Code that would permit the
suspension of at least some stoning sentences, in cases where it is deemed
'expedient'," said Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North
Africa Programme at Amnesty International. "But the authorities must go
much further, and take the steps needed to ensure that the new Penal Code
neither permits stoning to death nor provides for execution by other means for
adultery."
Iran's Penal
Code prescribes execution by stoning. It even dictates that the stones are
large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the victim immediately.
Article 102 of the Penal Code states that men should be buried up to their
waists and women up to their breasts for the purpose of execution by stoning.
Article 104 states, with reference to the penalty for adultery, that the stones
used should "not be large enough to kill the person by one or two strikes;
nor should they be so small that they could not be defined as stones".
The serious
failings in the justice system commonly result in unfair trials, including in
capital cases. Despite the moratorium imposed in 2002 and official denials that
stoning sentences continued to be implemented in Iran, deaths by stoning have
been reported. Ja'far Kiani was stoned to death on 5 July 2007 in the village
of Aghche-kand, near Takestan in Qazvin province. He had been convicted of
committing adultery with Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, with whom he had two children and
who was also sentenced to death by stoning. The stoning was carried out despite
a stay of execution ordered in his case and in defiance of the 2002 moratorium.
It was the
first officially confirmed stoning since the moratorium, although a woman and a
man are known to have been stoned to death in Mashhad in May 2006. There are
fears that Mokarrameh Ebrahimi may yet suffer the same fate. She is in Choubin
prison, Qazvin province, apparently with one of her two children.
Amnesty
International is equally worried about the remaining eight women and two men
who may face the same fate, and whose cases are highlighted in the new report.
The majority
of those sentenced to death by stoning are women. Women suffer disproportionately
from such punishment. One reason is that they are not treated equally before
the law and courts, in clear violation of international fair trial standards.
They are particularly vulnerable to unfair trials because they are more likely
than men to be illiterate and therefore more likely to sign confessions to
crimes they did not commit. Discrimination against women in other aspects of
their lives also leaves them more susceptible to conviction for adultery.
In spite of
this gloomy reality, there are grounds to hope that death by stoning will be
completely abolished in Iran in the future. Courageous efforts are being made
by local human rights defenders in Iran who launched the "Stop Stoning
Forever" campaign following the May 2006 stonings in Mashhad. Since they
began, their efforts have helped save four women and one man - Hajieh
Esmailvand, Soghra Mola’i, Zahra Reza'i, Parisa A and her husband Najaf - from
stoning. As well, another woman, Ashraf Kalhori, has had her stoning sentence
temporarily stayed.
"We
urge the Iranian authorities to heed our calls, and those of the Iranians who
are striving relentlessly to obtain an end to this horrendous
practice,"said Malcolm Smart.
But these
efforts have come at a high price. Campaigners in Iran continue to face
harassment and intimidation from the authorities. Asieh Amini, Shadi Sadr and
Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, another leading member of "Stop Stoning
Forever", were among 33 women arrested while protesting in March 2007
about the trial of five women's rights activists in Tehran. Thirty-one of the
detainees were released by 9 March. Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Shadi Sadr
were released on bail of 200 million toumans (over US$215,000) on 19 March.
They are likely to face trial, possibly on charges including "disturbing
public order" and "acting against state security".
Human rights
defenders in Iran believe that international publicity and pressure, in support
of local efforts, can help bring about change in the country.
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