Iran has imposed a media blackout over the case of a 43-year-old mother of two who was sentenced to be stoned to death and whose fate is still unclear despite an apparent "reprieve". Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is still facing execution by hanging after being convicted of adultery, her son told the Guardian today.
Newspapers, agencies and TV channels in Iran have been banned from reporting Mohammadi Ashtiani's death sentence, despite an international campaign launched by her children, which has been joined by politicians and celebrities from all over the world. [guardian.co.uk] Read more
Stoning in Iran: Brutality pure and simple Stoning takes place in the darker recesses of life in Iran, in rural provinces where the population is more conservative and where there are no media. It is rarely practised in public and often the victim of this savage form of capital punishment is disowned by their children on the grounds that the offence – adultery or homosexuality – stains the family honour.
This newspaper revealed a week ago that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old Iranian woman convicted of conducting an "illicit relationship outside marriage", faced imminent death by stoning in Tabriz. Today we name 15 others facing the same fate. What made Sakineh's case unusual is that her son Sajad and daughter Farideh were courageous enough to speak up publicly against it. [Guardian Cif] Read more
Stoning is not just an Iranian thing Of course The Times is against stoning. Most of the civilised world is against stoning. Hell, even Amnesty International is against stoning, when on recent form you might expect it to support the "human rights" of the stoners. But The Times sees stoning as "political" and "Iranian" and, while acknowledging that it is carried out in Afghanistan, Iran, Northern Nigeria and Somalia, steadfastly refuses to call it Islamic:
An act of state-sponsored barbarism is about to be committed that should leave the world shaken and incredulous. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old Iranian woman who has already served five years in prison for adultery and survived 99 lashes, has been sentenced to death by stoning. This savage form of death is a political weapon in the hands of the Iranian theocracy. [The Iconoclast] Read more
