What Is Stoning?

Reality With Bite

What Is Stoning And How It Is Carried Out?

Stoning is legislated in the Islamic penal code in Iran. Stoning is the most inhumane and horrifying form of execution, which can only be compared with witch burning in the middle ages. According to Islamic teachings, the punishment for adultery is death by stoning. In recent history, stoning has been associated with Islamist societies and according to the Hadith (sayings and actions of the prophet Mohammad), he himself ordered the stoning of many people in his own time.

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 Woman being prepared for stoning

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.

8. Article 104 defines the size of stones and stipulates: In stoning to death, the stones should not be so large that the person dies upon being hit by one or two of them, neither should they be so small that they cannot be called a stone.

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
Minaahadi@aol.com

ALSO SEE: KILLING BY BEHEADING IS ISLAMIC