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Sakineh Mohannadi Ashtiani - Source: ONE News
Global condemnation may have forced Iran to abandon plans to
stone to death a woman 'convicted' of adultery, but don't count on
it. The campaign to fight Sakineh Ashtiani's execution needs more
recruits - now!
The mixed messages now coming out of Iran in terms of the stoning
to death of a 43-year-old Iranian woman are cause for much concern
and need to spark a new round of global condemnation of the Islamic
Republic's so-called human rights practices.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to be stoned to death for
adultery. First of all the 'crime' was not only vehemently denied
but appears to have been decided with little attention to any
facts.
Secondly, to impose the death sentence - let alone one of stoning -
for adultery, even if proven, is barbaric.
Ashtiani has already been lashed 99 times as punishment, but this
was apparently not punishment enough, so she has been sentenced to
death as well.
The global outcry started by Indigo CEO Heather Reisman, and picked
up by Arianna Huffington, other high powered women, politicians,
celebrities and thousands of others who have signed a
petition to halt Ashtiani's
stoning, may, just may, have embarrassed the Iranian government
and/or judiciary to spare her the hideous torture. But don't count
on it.
Reports flicking around the world over the last few days have
indicated that while stoning may be off the agenda, execution by
hanging still awaits.
It would be an execution that is a crime against all women.
While men are sometimes stoned for adultery, the deep, sexist
divisions that drive the contemporary 'interpretation' of the Quran
in Iran are in evidence. Men are buried waist deep and if they
manage to wriggle free from the hole before dying they are free to
go. Women however are buried up to their armpits - ostensibly for
fear their breasts may be exposed during the mutilation that is
inevitable
while the sentence is being meted out. There is no way they can
wriggle free.
The Iranian criminal code - Article 104 to be precise - provides
that "the stones should not be so large that a person dies after
being hit with two of them, not so small as to be defined as
pebbles" but must cause severe injury. In short the point is to
torture the person to death over a prolonged period of time.
And who is so without sin that he/she can cast the first
stone?
Well apparently it is not actually that popular within Iran, so it
is literally carried out by a rent-a-crowd & people paid by the
government or promised all sorts of rewards for carrying out the
rule of God.
Let's not forget Iranians do not have a mortgage on brutal or
righteous thugs who will do the dirtiest of work for financial
gain. In a country that size they obviously have enough killers to
call upon when needed as Ashtiani is not the first to find herself
in this predicament, and she will not be the last. She may however
be the catalyst for the blood and the bruises to be inflicted
politically on the medieval
theocratic tormentors in charge.
While the Iranian government claims stoning is rare, it cannot hide
from the fact that many more imprisoned women face this cruel and
inhumane fate.
A media black-out also raises concerns that Ashtiani may just be
removed from the public glare so her death can be reported as a
fait accompli at some time in the near future.
That's what her children and her lawyer fear.
They brought this case into the global sphere. The letters they
post on line are what you would expect from any children who have
been separated from their mother because she has been in prison for
six years already. They can not even bear to use the term
'stoning', but rather talk of the danger their mother is in.
All power to them for igniting this campaign, which, as with the
Green Revolution following the 2009 election, found oxygen in rapid
fire social media technologies.
Iran, as the world knows through its nuclear 'negotiations' does
not want to be seen as bending to foreign pressure, but as some
incidents in recent past have shown it is not immune from making
grand humanitarian gestures. Incidents such as the release of the
British sailors who strayed into Iranian waters were overtly
political and exploited to the full by Ahmadinejad.
Crossing the judiciary in terms of an Iranian citizen will not be
so easy.
That does not mean the world gives up. Human Rights are universal,
and we are all global citizens who have the freedom to stand up on
this sort of issue.
Stoning or execution for adultery are not verdicts set by God. They
are deliberately fear-mongering, sexist, ruthless dictates handed
down by a bunch of theocratic thugs who believe themselves to be
above accountability.
If Iran expects the world to respect its position on adhering to
international agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty and condemn other nations who do not abide by international
rules, it must act differently.
Iran is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights. Hurling stones at a woman buried up to her
armpits, and ensuring she dies a protracted and extremely painful
death is a violation of human rights and in contravention of such a
covenant.
There's a saying about people who live in glass houses, and it is
highly relevant where Iran is concerned. It is time for the country
to come out of its stone-age, and relentless pressure from the
outside world is a vital component in that emergence.
Read more of Jane Young's blogs at pundit.co.nz
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