What
is stoning and how it is carried out?
In Iran where an Islamic state is governing the country and law is
based on Islam, stoning has been officially introduced in the country’s penal
codes. In practice, hundreds of women
and men have been stoned to death, since the establishment of the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
The Islamic Penal Code comes
in five books; the book in which stoning is legislated is called ‘Hodoud’
meaning divine will punishment.
According to Islamic law, sexual acts outside marriage are crimes, which
are punishable by law. In the Hudoud,
the so-called crimes are divided into different categories and penalties,
including:
1. Article 82 of penal code
states that the punishment for unlawful sexual acts in the following cases is
execution, regardless of age, and marital status:
a) Incest (unlawful
sex with mother, sister or any other close relative)
b) Unlawful sex with
one’s stepmother
c) Sexual
intercourse of a non-Muslim man with a Muslim woman (Helmut
Hofer, the German businessman was sentenced based on this)
d) Forced intercourse
(rape) which results in the death of the victim
2. Article 83 states that
the punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse in the following cases is
stoning to death:
a) When a married
man, who has a permanent wife and can have sex with her whenever he wishes so,
commits adultery.
b) When a married
woman, who is permanently married and her husband have had sex when she had
been in a healthy state of mind, commits adultery with an adult man.
3. Appendix 1 states that in
the case of a sexual relationship between a married woman and an underage man,
the punishment is flogging.
4. Appendix 2 states that a
sexual relationship between an unmarried male and an unmarried female is
punishable by 100 strikes of lashes each.
5. Article 90 states that if
a man or women who is being stoned manages to pull himself/ herself out of the
ditch and run away, they must be pardoned. However, if a man or a woman manage
to escape stoning and commit adultery again, they will be stoned again. After the fourth “offence” in such cases,
the offender will be executed immediately.
7. Article 102 states that a man who is sentenced to death by
stoning is to be buried to his waist, while a woman who is to be stoned must be
buried up to her chest.
Stoning is usually carried
out in public and in many instances families of the victims have been forced to
watch the execution. Although it is
codified that a person will be pardoned if s/he manages to escape, the victim
is re-captured by the authorities and killed in a number of cases.
In October 1989, the daily
newspaper ‘Resalat’ published a story of a woman who had been stoned to death
in the city of Qom. She had managed to
pull herself up and run away, but had been re-captured and forced back into the
ditch. After an hour of stoning, she was eventually killed.
Due to people’s resistance in the country against stoning and the condemnation it has brought for the Islamic Republic worldwide, the government-controlled media rarely publishes instances of stoning. Nonetheless, some have been reported, including:
·
On January 25, 1998, the Islamic Republic of Iran
arrested 3 women and 3 men in Marivan Karim Mazuji and Ahmad Samin are among
the 6 and charged them with death by stoning.
·
In August 1997, Zoleykhah Kadkhoda was stoned in Bukan
but managed to escape when residents protested the stoning. She was subsequently pardoned due to
international pressure.
·
In October 1997, Masomeh Aynee, Fataneh Danesh,
Marziyeh Fallah, Parviz Hasanzadeh, Kheyrollah Javanmard, and Ali Mokhtarpoor
in Khazar Abad, Northern Iran were stoned.
·
In February 1994, Mina Kolvat was stoned to death in Tehran.
·
In March 1994, another woman was stoned in Qom.
·
In August 1994, a woman was stoned in Arak. The papers stated that she escaped the stoning but was shot to
death on the spot.
·
On November 1, 1992, Fatima Bani was stoned to death in Isfahan.
·
In 1991, 3 women were reportedly stoned in Qom and Rasht.
·
In 1990, 5 women were stoned to death in Lahijan, Langerood and Bandar
Anzali.
·
In 1989, 8 women were stoned in Kermanshah and Karaj.
·
In 1989, a group of 10 prostitutes were stoned to death in Bushehr.
The International Campaign
in Defence of Women’s Rights in Iran has actively fought against stoning and
attracted international attention to the status of women in Iran. Last year, Masoumeh Sadeqian was sentenced
to stoning. Our successful
international campaign reached out to hundreds of women’s and human rights’
organisations worldwide. Thousands of
protest letters were sent to Iranian embassies and the government. As a result, she escaped a horrible death.
Three months ago, Iranian
newspapers announced the stoning sentences of three people, none of which have
been stoned yet. Maryam Ayoobi’s case
is the most urgent since her sentence has been finalised by the courts; she is
now awaiting an agonising death.
We have to put a stop to
these vile acts of inhumanity. No
government or religious sect should be allowed to bury a human being alive and
torture her/him to death. We look to
you to join this campaign to save lives and end this practice.
Mina Ahadi
International Committee
against Stoning