Stoning in Iran

Five More Sentenced to Stoning

Tuesday, July 4, 2006 -- Two women in the Iranian city of Ahavaz, two women in the city of Shiraz, and one woman in Tehran’s Evin prison are awaiting the execution of their sentences of public stoning.

According to reports received by the International Committee Against Stoning yesterday, repeated sentences of stoning in Iran have been issued and the Islamic Republic is intent on carrying out these illegal sentences. There are reports of two sentences of public stoning in Ahavaz jail, two in Shiraz, and one in Evin prison. These reports are in addition to Malak Ghorbany’s sentence of public stoning in Northeast Iran.

In the past two weeks, the Islamic Republic of Iran has executed at least one person by public stoning in a jail in Mashhad. The news of the stoning is carefully guarded from being revealed to anyone outside of the prison.

The International Committee Against Stoning firmly denounces this barbaric practice and declares that it will ensure that this issue becomes internationally recognized, and will, once again, call upon the world community to hold the Islamic Republic accountable for these atrocities. Meanwhile, the Committee will continue its efforts to ensure that the ruling members of the Islamic Republic are charged for their continued violations of human rights and are tried in an international court for their crimes against humanity.

The practice of stoning is an act of savagery. Two years ago, firm international denouncement of this barbarous practice, which included demands to punish various members of the ruling regime for their crimes against humanity, led Iran to outlaw stoning as a form of capital punishment for women. Yet, Iran continues to carry out stoning sentences in secret.

We announce that we will not allow the savage execution of these six women, including Malak Ghorbany, who have been sentenced to stoning. We have initiated a massive international campaign to ensure the rescue of these women from execution, as well as to hold the ruling regime of Iran responsible for violations of human rights and for committing crimes against humanity. We are inviting all persons to join us in our effort to put an end to such atrocity.

Support the International Committee Against Stoning to save the lives of these women. Please express your outrage about such violations of human rights in any way that you deem appropriate and productive.

Statement from the International Committee Against Stoning

International Campaign against Honour Killings, September 28, 2006
http://stophonourkillings.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=658

Quote :

Seven women awaiting death by stoning

Parisa Akbari was arrested in April 2004, while working as a prostitute in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran. She confessed to the charge of adultery during the preliminary investigations, claiming that she had been forced into prostitution by her husband due to the family’s poverty. Her trial took place in June 2004, during which Parisa Akbari retracted her confession. Nevertheless, on 21 June 2004, Branch 5 of Fars province Criminal Court sentenced her to death by stoning for adultery. The sentence was upheld by Branch 32 of the Supreme Court on 15 November 2005. Her case is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court. Parisa Akbari is detained in Adelabad prison in Shiraz.

Iran Eskandari, an Ahwazi Arab from the Bakhtiari clan, was reportedly talking to the son of a neighbour in the courtyard of her house, when her husband attacked her with a knife. She was badly beaten and left bleeding and unconscious on the floor. While she was unconscious, it is alleged that the man killed her husband with his own knife. While police were interrogating her about the killing, Iran Eskandari reportedly confessed to adultery with the son of her neighbour. However she later retracted her confession. A court in the city of Khuzestan sentenced her to five years' imprisonment for being an accomplice in the murder of her husband, and to execution by stoning for adultery. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2006. Her lawyer has appealed against the sentence. She is detained in Sepidar prison, in Ahvaz city.

Khayrieh Valania, an Ahwazi Arab, was reportedly subjected to domestic violence by her husband. She allegedly began an affair with a relative of her husband, who then murdered him. She was sentenced to death by Branch 3 of Behbahan Court, in Khuzestan in southwestern Iran, for being an accomplice in the murder of her husband, and death by stoning for adultery. Khayrieh Valania has denied any involvement in her husband’s murder, but confessed to adultery. The sentence was upheld, and the case has reportedly been sent to the Head of the Judiciary for permission to be implemented. Talking about her fate, Khayrieh Valania said "I am ready to be hanged, but they should not stone me. They could strangle you and you would die, but it is very difficult to have stones hitting you in the head".

Malak Shamameh Ghorbany, arrested in June 2005, was sentenced to execution by stoning for adultery by a court in Orumieh in June 2006. She is reportedly held in Orumieh prison. Her brother and husband reportedly murdered a man that they found in her house, and she too was nearly killed after they stabbed her with a knife. Malak Ghorbany’s case is reportedly being re-examined.

Kobra Najjar, who is detained in Tabriz prison in northwestern Iran, is at imminent risk of execution. She was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of her husband, and execution by stoning for adultery. She was scheduled to be executed after serving her prison sentence, which was finished two years ago. She has reportedly written to the Judicial Commission for Amnesty to ask for her sentence of execution by stoning to be commuted, and is awaiting a reply. Kobra Najjar was allegedly forced into prostitution by her husband, a heroin addict who was violent towards her. In 1995, after a severe beating by her husband, she told one of her regular customers that she wanted to kill her husband. The customer allegedly murdered her husband after Kobra Najjar took him to an arranged meeting place. He was sentenced to death, but he was pardoned by the victim’s family, to whom he paid diyeh (blood money).

Soghra Mola’i was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder in January 2004 of her husband Abdollah, and to execution by stoning for adultery. During interrogation she said "My husband usually tormented me. Nevertheless, I did not intend to kill him. On the night of the incident … after Alireza killed my husband, I ran away with him because I was scared to stay at home, thinking that my brothers-in-law would kill me." Alireza was sentenced to death for the murder of Soghra Mola'i’s husband, and to 100 lashes for "illicit relations". The sentences are pending examination by the Supreme Court. It is believed that Soghra Mola’i is detained in Reja'i Shahr prison, Karaj, near Tehran.

In May 2005, Branch 71 of the Tehran Province Criminal Court sentenced Fatemeh (surname unknown) to retribution (qesas) for being an accomplice to murder, and execution by stoning for having an ‘illicit relationship’ with a man named Mahmoud. Her husband was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of Mahmoud. The case is currently being examined in the Supreme Court. According to a May 2005 report in the newspaper Etemad, an altercation occurred between Mahmoud, and Fatemeh’s husband. Fatemeh confessed to tying a rope around Mahmoud’s throat, which resulted in his strangulation. She has claimed that she intended merely to tie his hands and feet after he was unconscious and hand him over to the police.

The Stoning Sentence of Malak Ghorbany Awaits Today's Decision by the Supreme Court

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Branch 27 of Iran's Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the case of Shamameh Malak Ghorbany, a 34 year old mother of two, who was sentenced to death by stoning for having committed "adultery."

Although Branch 27 of the Supreme Court notified Malak Ghorbany's lawyers that it had reached a final decision in her case, the court did not reveal whether or not it had ruled in their client's favor.

In summer of 2006, a court in the Western District of Azerbaijan found Shamameh Malak Ghorbany guilty of "adultery" and sentenced her to death by stoning. International outcry against this ruling -- initiated by human rights lawyers outside of Iran -- forced Iran's head of Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, to issue a stay of execution and order a review of Malak's case.

Malak is accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a man identified only as "Mordaad," who was attacked and stabbed to death by Malak's husband and her brother. According to court documents and reports, the two men were outraged when they saw Mordaad in Malak's home. They chased him out of the house and, once they caught up with him, they stabbed him some 20-25 times, thereby causing his death. After killing Mordaad, the two men returned to the house and attacked Malak. They stabbed her repeatedly with the same knife and almost took her life. Malak was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of a nearby hospital, where she received life-saving medical treatment as she laid silent in a coma.

Malak's lawyers, who are representing her on a volunteer basis after learning about her case from international human rights lawyers and organizations outside of Iran, have identified a number of serious legal mishaps in her case. According to one member of Malak's legal team, Malak was sentenced to death by stoning despite the fact that, in 3 out of 4 hearings held to prosecute her, she did not have access to legal counsel and had not been informed of her rights under the law. As such, her lawyers argue, she was denied her rights under the law and should not have been sentenced to death.

According to independent sources, after being released from the hospital, Malak attempted to save her husband and brother from execution for murdering Mordaad. She told the authorities that the murder was a response to her "inappropriate relationship" with the victim. She had no understanding of the legal ramifications of such a statement.

In a letter to the court, Malak explains: "I am a woman from a small village; I have had little formal education and I have no understanding of the law or the legal system. I thought that by saying that the murder was a response to some wrong-doing on my part and in an attempt to restore the family's honor, I would be able to save my husband and my brother from execution. So I said things that were not true. I had no idea that those statements could be used to incriminate me for a crime that I did not commit."

Although Malak's lawyers do not know how the Supreme Court has ruled, they remain hopeful that such a ruling would be favorable to their client. They will learn of the Supreme Court's decision within the next 10 days.

http://savemalak.googlepages.com/home

Stop Stoning Forever Campaign
Help Put an End to Stoning in Iran

Dear friends,

As you are already aware, stoning is a particularly brutal form of execution. It is imposed as a punishment for "adultery" in Iran. Currently, up to nine women and two men in Iran are under sentence of execution by stoning, including one woman who was convicted of adultery and who claimed she was forced into prostitution. Various human rights organizations, human rights lawyers, activists, and concerned individuals have called on the Iranian government to abolish the barbaric and violent practice of stoning.

We hope that you, too, will join us in this important effort by urging the Iranian government to commute all sentences of death by stoning and ask Iranian officials to abolish the practice of stoning for ever.

Please remember that YOUR SIGNATURE DOES COUNT. Recent petitions, such as the one provided here, have effectively saved the lives of at least two women who were originally sentenced to death by stoning. Please do not turn your back to the innocent prisoners of Iran who are denied even the most basic rights of every human.

Should you have any questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With kind regards,

Lily Mazahery, Esq. Nazanin Boniadi
President Actress and Human Rights Activist
Legal Rights Institute Artists for Human Rights
Washington, DC Los Angeles, California


http://www.petitiononline.com/nostones/petition.html

Petition:

To: His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Cc: Mr. Golam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the leader of the Iranian Parliament


The act of punishing people by stoning them to death in today's world is such an unacceptable and inhuman act of brutality that even the members of the government are ashamed of admitting to doing it, and have publicly denied that this merciless practice takes place in Iran. Despite the government's denial, this penalty is a sanctioned part of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran and it is being carried out without any legal obstacles.

We, the undersigned are extremely alarmed that the punishment of stoning to death has been adopted by the country's legal system as a reasonable and acceptable form of retribution. Although, in December of 2002, your Excellency placed a ban on carrying out this type of sentence, in reality stonings have continued to take place in different parts of the country. In May 2006, in the city of Mashhad, a woman Mahboubeh M. and a man Abbas H. were both stoned to death.

Prior to carrying out the stoning, prior to their death, these two people were treated as if they were dead. In accordance with the Islamic tradition, their bodies were washed as if they were lifeless corpses, and wrapped in the kafan or white shroud. Then their wrapped bodies were buried in the ground, Mahboubeh's body was buried up to her shoulders, and Abbas was buried up to his waist. The crowd, who had gathered to stone the two to death slowly as specified by law, then targeted them with their stones. All this took place without any mention of it in the public media of the country.

Apart from the above mentioned two cases, at least eleven people, nine women and two men as listed below have been condemned to be stoned to death. Their situation is grave. It is also possible that there are other people who have been condemned to death by stoning and we are not aware of it.

1 Ms. Parisa A. (Adel Abad Prison, Shiraz)
2 Ms. Kobra N. (Tabriz Prison, Tabriz)
3 Ms. Kheireyeh V. (Sepidar Prison, Ahwaz)
4 Ms. Iran A. (Sepidar Prison, Ahwaz)
5 Ms.Malak (Shamameh) Ghorbany (Orumieh Prison, Orumieh)
6 Ms.Hajieh Esmailvand (Jolfa Prison, Jolfa)
7 Ms.Soghra Molawyi (Varamin Prison, Varamin)
8 Ms.Ashraf Kalhori (Evin Prison, Tehran)
9 Ms. Fatemeh (Tehran)
10 Mr.Abdollah Farivar (Sari Prison, Sari)-Male
11 Mr. Najaf A. (Abdel-Abad Prison, Shiraz)-Male

According to Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, signed and ratified by Iran in 1975, "in countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes". Article 7 of the same covenant states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment." Despite ratifying the above covenant, the Islamic penal code gives the judges the right to sentence the accused to death by stoning even when the crime of adultery has not been proved according to the same penal code's standards and requirements. Article #105 of the Islamic penal code gives the judges the absolute right to condemn the accused to death by stoning solely based on the judge's subjective interpretation of the case.

We the undersigned demand and stress the need to change all laws contrary to human rights. We believe there are no crimes that deserve the punishment of stoning to death and we insist that this inhumane practice should be abolished forever.

Lily Mazahery, Esq.
President
Legal Rights Institute
Washington, DC