Death By Any Other Means
There are on-line petitions that people flock to sign, eager to add their names to the growing lists of concerned people world-wide, hoping to make a difference to the rescue of an Iranian woman whom the Sharia courts accuse of the capital offence of adultery. This is a woman with two children, a woman whose husband was abusive, and whom societal strictures and legal and religious dictates refused to allow her to leave the marriage.She was first accused of murdering her husband, and when that charge didn't stick, then was accused of having illicit sexual affairs with two men. There are a number of women in the country facing similar charges. They remain incarcerated, their death sentences waiting to be carried out. The sentence for adultery, enforced since the Iranian Revolution that ended the rule of Shah Reza Pahlevi and brought in Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is death by stoning.
Such intolerable acts are an insult to Islam and will not be tolerated. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's case has been taken up by the international community, with petitions signed by tens of thousands of people. This mass international protest has not escaped the attention of the ruling theocracy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They have, in effect, called a time out. For the time being the stoning sentence will not be carried out.
"The verdict is definitive and applicable. But it has been halted due to humanitarian reservations and based on the judiciary chief's order", according to the senior judiciary official in Eastern Azerbaijan province where this Iranian woman was sentenced. "The sentence will not be carried out for the time being." Ms. Ashtiani will remain in prison, however, awaiting further disposal of her sentence.
"Despite protests from the West, her sentence will be carried out if the judiciary decides to carry it out." Adultery, murder, armed robbery, apostasy, drug trafficking and rape are all classified as capital offences; all (any of) these charges, proven in an Iranian Shariah court result in death sentences. As for rape, a woman, whatever her age, who is raped, can be proven in that court to have invited the rape. Stone her.
The international community should not be overjoyed to learn that Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary-general of the Iranian high council for human rights, attempted to calm the international uproar over this matter, claiming that Mohammadi Ashtiani's case was under review by the judiciary. Since the religious authorities in Iran give short shrift to international interference in Iran's internal politics.
Justice is served by strictly adhering to Shariah.
Labels: Human Rights, Middle East, Sexism, Societal Failures
posted by Pieface @ Monday, July 12, 2010
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