[Ninong]

Iran has resumed exections by stoning!

I guess hanging wasn't good enough, so now they have resumed the biblical practice of stoning people to death for such crimes as adultery, homosexuality and "insulting religious sanctities."

In the case cited in this article, they fail to mention that both the man and the woman have been in prison for the past 11 years for the crime of adultery. The man was stoned to death last week. The woman has not yet been stoned to death but she's next.

For whatever reason, according to Sharia law, a man to be stoned to death is buried only up to his waist. He is exposed from the waist up and his hands are free. I guess he's allowed to try to bat away the stones with his hands? But a woman must be buried all the way up to her neck. Her hands and arms are buried at her sides. Only her head is exposed as a target for the stones.

I'm not sure the Bible covers this in such detail, they just say we're supposed to gather up the neighbors and stone someone to death if they talk back to their parents and other such capital offenses. There are a number of offenses that warrant death by stoning in the Bible but I'm not sure they explain how much of the body is supposed to be buried before the stoning begins. We'll have to ask Pat Robertson about that.

P.S. -- The woman, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, aged 43, was convicted along with Ja'far Kiani of adultery more than 10 years ago and both had been imprisoned for 11 years in Choubin prison, in Qazvin province, north-west Iran. Their two children, one of whom is aged 11, are believed to live in prison with their mother.

Mokarrameh Ebrahimi and Ja'far Kiani were convicted under article 83 of Iran's penal code, which prescribes execution by stoning as punishment for adultery committed by a married man or a married woman. In this case the judge's "knowledge" that the adultery had taken place was deemed to be proof of the offence.

After several dates were fixed for the public executions in June, delays had led to hopes that the executions would not proceed. However, the campaigning organization 'Stop Stoning Forever' recently reported that Ja'far Kiani has already been stoned to death in Aghche-kand on 5 July, with local government and judiciary officials and members of the public taking part in the killing. On 8 July the newspaper E'temad-e Melli also reported that local people and a source close to a local parliamentary representative had confirmed the execution.

P.P.S. -- A lot of our elected officials are lucky they don't live in Iran. Death by stoning does seem a bit excessive just because your phone number showed up on the DC Madam's list.

[Ninong]

Top Iranian official defends stoning of adulterer

July 15, 2007


TEHRAN -- A top Iranian official Sunday defended the use of execution by stoning after a sentence was carried out on an adulterer, saying the punishment was legal and in line with Iran's rights commitments.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of the Iranian judiciary's human rights committee, said the judiciary supported the principle of stoning after confirmation last week of the stoning sparked international condemnation.

"Stoning is based on Islamic Sharia law and it is not contrary to any of our international obligations," Larijani was quoted as saying by state television's Web site.

P.S. -- Normally I would be against stoning but maybe we should make exceptions for hypocritical Republican politicians who criticized Bill Clinton for "engaging in adultery" when they themselves were doing exactly that, in some cases repeatedly.