WUNRN
Stoning in
The Global Campaign to
Stop Stoning: Why Stoning Is Violence Against Women
Elahe Amani,
Chair, Women’s Intercultural Network –Global Circles & Board Member, Global
Advisory Stop Stoning Forever
Today, March 8th 2013, we
celebrate International Women's Day amid the various forms of violence against
women—attacks of regressive forces on
women by state and non-state actors from India to Iran, from South Africa to
Egypt. But in spite of this
injustice, more than 6000 women from all
over the world have gathered in NY to demand action from the global community
at the United Nations Commission on the status of women. It is inspiring to see massive
demonstrations all over the world, and to see these demonstrations reach an
ever-expanding audience through traditional media and social media. It is inspiring that more than ever men and women—particularly younger people all over the world—are demanding an end to all forms of violence
against women. The actions of these individuals
prove that the voice of women can never
again be denied in any country at any time. No turning back!
It is clear that the world still continues on
a path of patriarchal domination. Yet this year marks 102 years since the first
organized Women's Day demonstrations were held and marks the 36th anniversary
since the United Nations declared March 8 as International Women's Day in 1977.
It
is in this spirit and intention that we have gathered to draw the attention of
the global community to one of the most barbaric forms of the death
penalty. While the death penalty itself
is being eradicated in many countries around the world, the most brutal form of
the death penalty—stoning—is still being practiced. Death by stoning has been practiced since
the establishment of the IRI in my birth country of Iran.
While
90 percent of the countries of the world are not executing and 100 countries
have completely abolished it, Iran leads the world in number of executions per
capita among nations that continue to apply the death penalty in their domestic
jurisdictions. Many of these executions
are conducted in secret and go unreported by official sources. According to reports from human rights groups
that document executions in Iran from both official and unofficial
sources, Iran is second only to China in
annual death penalty sentences. Since
1979, Amnesty International has documented at least 77 cases of stoning in the
Islamic Republic of Iran, and this figure is likely low due to the lack of
proper documentation through 1979-1984.
The first reported case of
stoning was shortly after the revolution in July 1980. Four
women were sentenced to death by stoning based on the suspicion of adultery. I
recall, when I shared the news with my great aunt (may she rest in Peace), a
devoted Muslim and a woman of faith in Kerman, she immediately responded “this
is not Islam”. The fact is that stoning
was only used as a form of death penalty by the IRI. While there are records of various forms of
human rights abuse and discrimination of women in the 20th century
history of Iran, there are no records of stoning in Iran prior to the July 1980
stoning. Prior to this event, adultery,
nor any other crime for that matter, ever warranted stoning. This is why we call here and now that stoning
should not in our name or in our culture.
Perhaps most harrowing is that the Penal Code
of Iran specifies the manner of execution and types of stones that should be
used. Article 102 states that men will 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." This makes it clear that the purpose of
stoning is to inflict as much pain as possible in a process leading to a slow
death.
As mentioned, the cruel practice of stoning started with the four women in Kerman, and since then the majority of those sentenced to death by stoning have been 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 2002, the IRI announced a moratorium on execution by stoning, and
since then officials have routinely denied that stoning sentences continued to
be implemented in Iran. For example, In 2005, judiciary spokesman Jamal
Karimirad stated, "in the Islamic Republic, we do not see
such punishments being carried out", further adding that if stoning
sentences were passed by lower courts, they were overruled by higher courts and
that "no such verdicts have been carried out.”
In spite of this, deaths by stoning continued
to be reported.Ja'far Kiani was stoned to death on July 5th, 2007 in
a village 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. It
was the first officially confirmed stoning since the moratorium in 2002,
although a woman and a man are known to have been stoned to death in Mashhad in
May 2006. The stoning was carried out despite a stay of execution ordered in
his case and in defiance of the 2002 moratorium.
In
2008, for the second time, Iran's judiciary announced that the punishment of
stoning convicts to death has been removed in the draft legislation submitted
to parliament for approval.
Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi
announced that “In the latest version of the Islamic penal codes bill, which
has undergone several modifications, such punishments are not
mentioned."
While it is not known definitely when the last stoning was
executed in Iran, but there are reports that the last case of
stoning of a women was Mahboubeh M on May 7th 2006, even after the
second announcement in 2008 of banning
the practice of stoning multiple cases of stoning have been documented. Dueche velue reported the stoning of a man
in Rasht in 2009 and another case of stoning was reported in May 2009.
On
March 6th, 2012, the Special Rapporteur on Situation of Human Rights
in IRI to the general assembly of United Nation reported:
“A number of individuals
have been sentenced to death in recent years by stoning despite announcements
of a moratorium on stoning as a form of capital punishment by the judiciary. In
its report on the subject, Amnesty International stated that at least 15 men
and women are currently facing death by stoning sentences for “adultery while
married.” The Special Rapporteur joins the Human Rights Committee in expressing
its concern about the use of stoning as a method of execution maintains that
adultery does not constitute a serious crime by international standards; and
strongly urges the Government to enforce its moratorium on stoning. The Special
Rapporteur welcomes the fact that stoning has now been omitted from the new
Penal Code and hopes all existing cases will be reviewed to ensure that such
penalties are not carried out. “
According to a report by Human Rights Watch released in August 2012 , the
new revised penal code still “allows judges to rely on religious
sources, including Sharia law and fatwas issued by high-ranking Shia clerics,
to convict a person of apostasy or sentence defendant convicted of adultery to
stoning.”
There are several concerns regarding the claim of omission of stoning from the penal code. As the Special Rapporteur of Human Rights and Human Rights Watch report expressed, stoning can still be issued at a judge's discretion in accordance with sharia law or fatwas.
It is also correct that in comparison to the previous penal code, stoning has been removed from the section of the code dealing with penalties for adultery. Furthermore, the word 'stoning' appears twice in articles 172 and 198 of the new penal code, although details about its implementation, such as the appropriate size of stones to be used, wrapping the convicted person in a white shroud (kafan) and burying the male adulterer in the soil up his waist and a female up to her shoulders, are all gone. But the omission of the implementation process is a serious area of concern and, moreover, the fact remains that that sexual relations outside of marriage is still a crime.
The high-profile case of
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and other victims of stoning have brought shame on
the status of human rights in Iran.
In light of the political
fog created by Islamic Conservatives, the current political climate, and the
government’ s past history of false moratoriums on stoning, the global
community should not be too quick to cheer the changes in Iran’s penal code. Whether or not the penal code is truly
implemented and the practice of stoning eliminated is yet to be seen.
As I shared in the briefing
statement at the 20th Session of the Human Rights Council on July 6,
2012 in Geneva, “Honor crimes, FGM and stoning are often described as
“tradition” and an unchanging facet of “culture.” While all these inhuman and cruel practices
that violate the rights of women to life, integrity and dignity, have a
cultural dimension, they are also shaped by social factors, UN resolutions,
government policies, and institutional discourse can provide an encouraging
environment for eradicating such inhuman and cruel practices.
A resolution of the
Commission on the Status of Women which bans stoning—one of the cruelest forms
of the death penalty and a clear form of torture—will be a pivotal moment in the fight to bring an
end to this practice.
The time to act is now, and
action is demanded.