The P A S T: Stoning or lapidating has been used throughout history and in many religious and cultural traditions as a kind of community justice or capital punishment. For instance, the practice has been documented among the ancient Greeks to punish people judged to be prostitutes, adulterers or murderers. It is also documented in the Jewish Tradition via the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, and the Talmud, or Jewish Oral Law. In the Old Testament of the Bible, stoning is prescribed a method of execution for crimes such as murder, blasphemy or apostasy. Although there is no mention of stoning in the Quran, the practice has since grown to be associated with Islam and Muslim culture. The P R E S E N T: Stoning or lapidating in the 21st Century has been introduced as a legal form of punishment for the "adultery of married persons" (zina al-mohsena) in Afghanistan, Iran, Nigeria (about one-third of the 36 states), Pakistan, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates. In these states where stoning is codified in law adultery must be proven in court. According to many interpretations of Islamic Law (including the Iranian Penal Code), adultery punishable by stoning must be proven by the eyewitness testimony of either four just men (or three just men and two just women) or through four separate confessions by the defendant before a judge. But in fact, most stoning sentences in Iran are issued not on the basis of testimony or confession but on the judge’s “knowledge” or “intuition.” Article 105 of the Islamic Penal code of Iran allows a single judge to rule according to his personal opinion instead of hard evidence. As a result, stoning is a grave and serious violation of International Human Rights Law. Stoning breeches the International Convention of Civil and Political Rights (1966) to which Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, and the Sudan are party signatories. Article 6 of the ICCPR states that “in countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes”, of
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which adultery is not one. Article 7 of the ICCPR states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." This last injunction is the content of a whole Convention: the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1987), which is widely considered to have reached the level of customary law due to its strong international acceptance by more than fifty nations, including many Muslim nations. Women are far more likely to become victims of stoning. For example, of the ten cases of individuals awaiting punishment by stoning in Iran, nine are women. Similarly, all but one of those sentenced to stoning in Nigeria were women. Even though there is no article in law that mandates punishment by stoning exclusively for women, misogynist and discriminatory practices, interpretations and policies, make women far more likely than men to be found guilty of “adultery." In the Iranian Penal Code, a married woman has no right to divorce, a privilege which is reserved for the husband. Women have no custody rights of their children after age seven; as a result, women who can obtain a divorce by proving their husbands are either abusive or an addict, choose not to do so fearing the loss of their children. A man can marry up to four wives simultaneously, and may establish a sexual relationship with any other single woman through a temporary marriage without the requirements of marriage registration, ceremony, or obligation to any possible child that may result. In addition, a woman is legally obliged to submit to her husband’s sexual demands and do her best to satisfy him sexually. Hence if a man is sexually unsatisfied or in an unhappy relationship, he has many avenues open to him to dissolve the marriage and/or satisfy his sexual needs in a temporary “marriage.” However, these legal options are denied to Iranian women, and a woman seeking alternative intimate relationships is, in the eyes of the law, “committing adultery.” In Nigeria prior to 2003, the assumption that non-marital pregnancy is prima facie evidence of adultery by the women, without requiring any other form of evidence, was also discriminatory against women, since male partners were acquitted by simply taking oath that they were not guilty. Many similar discriminatory laws and regulations exist in other countries and communities where stoning is still practiced. There is no excuse for the killing of women in the name of any ‘religion’, ‘culture’ or ‘tradition’. ‘Religion’ and ‘culture’ cannot and must not be invoked as excuse for the killing of women, because religion and the laws, which derive from it, are always subjective interpretations. Culture is not static, but constantly recreated and re-defined by the various interests of groups in positions of power in a society at any given time. There is no excuse for the killing of women. Murder is a brutal violation of the most basic human right – the right to life – and any practice which harms women or impinges upon their agency and autonomy contradicts fundamental rights, such as the
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right to security; the right to freedom from violence; from inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment; from terror; the right to choose a marriage partner; and the right to not face discrimination under the law. As long as impunity exists, the misappropriation of culture and religion will continue to threaten women’s safety. No ‘culture’ has the right to kill and harm women based on their perceptions of morality or honor. The freedom of belief does not mean freedom to kill (see The Freedom of Speech & Equal Rights) breaching our right to freedom of expression, one of our fundamental human rights and we have the right to take action against them accept the above mentioned Countries which has to be changed!). Stoning is a brutal example of how culture and religion are being misused to perpetuate violence against women. Therefore, it is necessary to stop stoning. Conclusion: The theocratic government should be influenced in terms of giving up control with help of International Human Rights Public Information’s of life long Consequences of sexuality to define the boundaries between self and other – the political opposition as well as preceding regimes. This might only happen, in legitimization for women to have the right to vote in the Constitution and therefore under the constant education and knowledge of global worldwide ongoing strategies of Stop Stoning Campaigns with help of press and International contract affairs to offer options “instead of”. In some cases the influence in terms of giving information in a patience, peaceful and emotional explanation with a bunch of examples of suffering and clear statements of consequences of what they are doing is inhuman, might be a better way. This is still a “religious” matter – therefore it has to be dealt with picturing arguments in a caring sensitive and a given “instead” alternative. [B.M.D.]
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