Mission for Establishment of Human Rights in Iran 
(MEHR IRAN)

Fight for the Abolishment of Stoning

"Have you seen the video which was taped in the courtyard of a prison in Tehran?
The crime of the man is extramarital affair. The punishment?  To be lashed 100 times, then stoned to death. The beating begins. The arm goes up and comes down savagely breaking through the fiber, cutting the skin. After the lashing is complete, they cover him in a white sheet and place him in a hole already dug. Men in overcoats shovel the earth back into the hole such that he is buried in the ground up to their waists. And the stoning begins. As the sharp jagged rocks find their entrapped victims, the white sheet becomes spotted with red. Soon they are soaked with blood. Shortly after, the shroud is ripped away and a body half covered in blood is exposed. Their faces are not recognizable. There is nothing left but ripped skin, crushed bones and blood, everywhere."

The blood thirsty Islamic Regime is doing it again. According to “Doran-Emrouz” daily in January 3, 2001 edition published in Iran, a thirty eight years old woman has been charged and convicted of murdering of her husband. A Judge called Ganji has ordered her to be stoned to death. Her accomplice has been also sentenced to death. 

These barbaric acts are not arbitrary violation of human rights by a certain hard liner within the Islamic Republic of Iran. Stoning is part of the Penal Code of the Constitution of the IRI. Examining this code and just one of the Articles of the Constitution would tell  the sad story that how these barbaric acts have become lawful in Islamic Regime.

Islamic Penal Code:

Pursuant to the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Penal Code was passed in 1991. Under the Penal Code, any form of association or friendship between the sexes outside marriage is punishable by flogging, imprisonment, forced marriage and stoning to death. For adultery, the penal code accords stoning or flogging depending on whether the accused is married or unmarried. The law stipulates the size of the stone which must be used in stoning to ensure maximum suffering of the accused. In the pun-ishment of stoning to death, the stones should not be too large so that the person dies on being hit by one or two of them; they should not be so small either that they could not be defined as stones."

Article 4:

All civil, penal financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria. This principle applies absolutely and gen-erally to all articles of the Constitution as well as to all other laws and regulations, and the fuqaha' of Guardian Council are judges in this matter.

The punishment of stoning to death, regardless of the charges or circumstances, is con-trary to all human rights principles. We should condemn this cruel practice in the strong-est possible terms. 

If you see someone shouting at, let alone beating, his or her dog here on the street, chances are that you will raise your voice in protest. Let us hope that we will extend the same courtesy on behalf of our fellow men and women in Iran. 

Please write to any or all of the authorities and institutions provided in the link below and urge them to pressure Islamic Regime to abolish these barbaric laws. 

MEHR IRAN 
P.O. Box 2037, PVP, CA 90274
Tel:  (310) 377-4590 
Fax: (310) 377-3103
E-mail: mehr@mehr.org
Web Site: http://mehr.org 

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