Stoning is not practiced only among Muslims, nor did it begin with Islam. Human rights groups say a young girl was stoned to death in 2007 in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Yazidi community, which practices an ancient Kurdish religion. The Old Testament includes an episode in which Moses arranges for a man who violated the Sabbath to be stoned, and stoning probably took place among Jewish communities in the ancient Near East. Rabbinic law, which was composed starting in the first century A.D., specifies stoning as the penalty for a variety of crimes, with elaborate instructions for how it should be carried out. But it is not clear to what extent it was used, if ever, said Barry Wimpfheimer, an assistant professor of religion at Northwestern University and an expert on Jewish law.
Some Muslims complain that stoning — along with other traditional penalties like whipping and the amputation of hands — is too often sensationalized in the West to smear the reputation of Islam generally. Most of these severe punishments are carried out by the Taliban and other radicals who, many Islamic scholars say, have little real knowledge of Islamic law. Stoning is a legal punishment in only a handful of Muslim countries — in addition to Iran, they include Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria, but it is very rarely put to use.
Stoning is not prescribed by the Koran. The punishment is rooted in Islamic legal traditions, known as hadiths, that designate it as the penalty for adultery. While the penalty may seem savage to Western eyes, scholars say it is consistent with the values of Arabian society at the time of Muhammad, Islam’s founding prophet.
Adultery “was considered to offend some of the fundamental purposes of Islamic law: to protect lineage, family, honor and property,” said Kristen Stilt, an associate professor at Northwestern University who has written about Islamic law. “It was a tribal society, and knowing who children belonged to was very important.”
That may help explain the link between sexual crimes and stoning, as opposed to another form of execution. A crime that seemed to violate the community’s identity called for a communal response. Certainly the special horror of stoning is rooted in the prospect of being pelted to death by one’s own friends, neighbors and relatives.
In Iran, the empowerment of political Islam after the 1979 revolution brought a new criminal code that included stoning. It prescribes a detailed ritual: men are to be buried in a standing position up to their waists, women to above the breasts. The stones used must not be large enough to kill a person with one or two throws, nor so small as to be considered pebbles. If the adultery was proved by confession, the judge must cast the first stone; if it is proved by witnesses, then one of the witnesses goes first.
Source: Robert F. Worth, The New York Times, August 21, 2010
"At least 7 stoning sentences carried out in Iran over the past 4 years; At least 14 people waiting to be stoned to death in Iranian prisons"
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| "Stoning may be the oldest form of execution in the world, and it is certainly among the most barbaric." |
Iran Human Rights, August 21: As the stoning sentence of Mrs. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has received increasing international attention, Iran Human Rights has published a short report on the sentence of stoning in Iran.
Commenting this report, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of Iran Human Rights, said: "This report is based on information from reliable human rights sources as well as sources within the Iranian judiciary. Our purpose is to shed light on the facts regarding the incidence of stoning in Iran".
He added:" Unlike what the Iranian authorities and some international media claim about the rare incidence of stoning in Iran, this report shows that punishment of stoning has been practiced by the Iranian authorities every year during the past four years. We have also published names of 13 people besides Mrs. Ashtiani, including 10 women and three men, who are currently waiting for death by stoning in the Iranian prisons".
Amiry-Moghaddam ended: "We hope that the international attention that Mrs. Ashtiani’s case has received, will also be directed towards all the others sentenced to death by stoning and will continue until this barbaric punishment is removed from the penal law".
Iran Human Rights must emphasize that the numbers mentioned in this report are most probably lower than the actual numbers, because most of the stoning sentences by the Iranian authorities take place secretly and due to lack of access to information from many of the prisons in Iran. But still, all the stoning episodes in the past four years have either been confirmed officially (five cases) or unofficially (two cases) by the Iranian authorities.
List of those with a stoning sentence in the Iranian prisons is based on the information gathered by the members of the campaign "stop stoning forever" that started in Iran in 2006, or reliable information from the lawyers or other human rights defenders in Iran.
SEVEN CASES OF STONING BY THE IRANIAN AUTHORITIES SINCE MAY 2006:
Two cases in May 2006:
- Mahboubeh Mohammadi, allegedly confessed under pressure to adultery, stoned to death together with Abbas Hajizadeh in May 2006 in Mashad
- Abbas Hajizadeh, stoned to death in May 2006 in Mashad (see above)
One case in July 2007:
- Jafar Kiani, stoned to death in July 2007, in the village of Aghche Qand near Qazvin. His stoning sentence was halted due to international pressure. Stoning confirmed by the Iranian authorities
Three cases in December 2008:
- Houshang Khodadadeh, stoned to death in December 2008 in the cemetery of Mashad, together with two other men (see below)
- Mahmood Gh., an afghan citizen, was stoned together with Hoshang Khodadadeh and another man, in December 2008. Mahmood managed to pull himself out of the hole and his stoning was halted based on the Iranian penal law
- A yet unidentified man was stoned to death together with Houshang Khodadadeh and Mahmood Gh (cases 4 and 5). The Iranian judiciary confirmed stoning of these men a few weeks later.
One case in March 2009:
- Vali Azad, stoned to death in March 2009 in Rasht. He was sentenced to death by stoning convicted of adultery. His stoning was later confirmed by the spokesperson of the Iranian judiciary.
LIST OF SOME OF THE PEOPLE WITH A STONING SENTENCE IN THE IRANIAN PRISONS:
WOMEN ON DEATH ROW WITH A STONING SENTENCE:
- Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (43): Currently in the prison of Tabriz. Already sentenced to 99 lashes for immoral relationship and 10 years in prison for assistance in her husband’s murder. A court sentenced her to death by stoning for adultery. Due to massive international attention her stoning sentence has been halted, but she is in danger of death by hanging.
- Kobra Babaei: Currently in the prison of Tabriz. Mother of a 13 years old girl. Her husband Rahim Mohammadi who also was sentenced to death by stoning was hanged in 2009.
- Azar Bagheri (19): Currently in the prison of Tabriz. Sentenced to death by stoning convicted of adultery when she was 15 years old.
- Iran Eskandari (31): Currently in the prison of Ahvaz. Mother of a 13 years old boy. Sentenced to five years of prison convicted of complicity in the murder of he husband and stoning to death for adultery in 2005. The Sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2006.
- Fatemeh: Currently in one of Tehran’s prisons (probably Evin). Sentenced to retribution for involvement in her husband’s murder and death by stoning for adultery in 2005.
- Maryam Ghorbanzadeh (25): Currently in the prison of Tabriz
- Hashemi-Nasab: Currently in Vakilabad prison of Mashad
- Ashraf Kalhori (41): currently in Tehran’s Evin prison. Implementation of her stoning sentence was halted in 2006 after order from head of the judiciary.
- A woman identified as M. Kh.: Currently in Vakilabad prison of Mashad
- Sarimeh Sajjadi (31): Currently in the prison of Oroumieh. Mother of two children. Sentenced to death by stoning in the same adultery case as Boali Janfashani (see above). the sentence is upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2009.
- Kheyrieh Valania (42): Currently in the prison of Ahvaz. Sentenced to death by stoning in 2002. She has also been sentenced to prison for complicity in her husband’s murder, a claim that she has denied.
MEN ON DEATH ROW WITH A STONING SENTENCE:
- Seyed Naghi Ahmadi: Currently in the prison of Sari. Sentenced to death by stoning for adultery in 2008.
- Boali Janfashani (33): Currently in the prison of Oroumieh. Father of one child. Sentenced to death by stoning in the same case as Sarimeh Sajjadi. Sentence upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2009.
- Mohammad Ali Navid Khamami: Currently in the prison of Rasht. Sentenced to death by stoning in 2008
(Sources: Iran Human Rights, Campaign stop stoning forever, Jahan-e-zan, Amnesty International)
Source: Iran Human Rights, August 21, 2010
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