Man stoned to death in Iran
A man was stoned to death in Iran for adultery but the woman involved in the case repented, the judiciary said today, suggesting her life was spared.
The Islamic Republic has been heavily criticised by the European Union, rights groups and the United Nations for stoning criminals and there are official Iranian recommendations the practice should not occur.
Asked whether he could confirm that a man charged with adultery was stoned to death in the northern city of Rasht during the Iranian month that ended on March 20, judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told a news conference:
"What you said about stoning is correct. But the woman repented ... Among the instances in which the sentence is not performed is when there is a repentance by the individual involved."
Iranian media said the executed man was 30 years old.
According to Iran's Islamic penal code, men convicted of adultery should be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests for stoning. Stones used should not be large enough to kill the person immediately.
In January, Jamshidi said two men convicted of adultery were stoned to death the previous month in the northeastern city of Mashhad, but a third convicted man escaped while the punishment was being carried out.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a non- governmental group based outside Iran, said that someone who was convicted on the basis of another's testimony and who escaped the stoning pit may have their life spared.
Iran's judiciary, which ordered a moratorium on stoning in 2002, last year said the lives of four people sentenced to stoning had been spared and the implementation of other sentences had been halted pending a review of their cases.
Iran has implemented sharia law since Iran's 1979 revolution.
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Joe Xuereb
May 7th 2009, 00:20
This victim's public execution, for a misdemeanour that many in Malta would regard as worthy of punishment just short of the death penalty, pales in comparison to the case not so long ago when, again in Iran, two teenage boys were charged and convicted of a trumped-up charge of homosexual behaviour. As a deterrent to other kids who had fanciful ideas in their heads, the two boys were hanged. Again, fertile ground for a Maltese take on the matter.
Interestingly, the Maltese apologists, so vocal in their defence of the prayers plus mats and shoes on the Sliema promenade seem here to have fallen strangely silent. And I do not mean apologising for the executions but condemning them. As any self-respecting person would.
Guze Xerri
May 7th 2009, 00:00
And they want to convert the whole world to this barbarism of a religion slash legal system !
Enough of this crude and nasty 7th century nonsense !!
Charles Grixti
May 6th 2009, 13:54
The vilest things are permissible, just as long as they are committed in the name of "Religion".
I wonder, for example would the Mexicans be allowed to hold human sacrifices too, as did their ancestors the Aztecs, citing 'religious freedom and tolerance' especially since this was the culture and faith of their people in the past, or would they be faced with international censure and sanctions? But then again, the Mexicans do not have a repository of 'black gold'.
Phil Humphries
May 6th 2009, 11:17
Islam is now the largest 'practised' religion in the UK and some Muslim groups are campaining for Sharia law to be introduced there. At the moment Muslims are a growing minority in Malta, just as they once were in the UK.
History offers lessons for those wishing to learn !
Charles Sammut
May 6th 2009, 08:44
Since according to our learned bishops Christians and Muslims worship the same god, how do their excellencies explain the fact that this same god exacts such widely different penalties for the same sin?
Where does respect of others' religions stop? Is there a red line which will not be crossed? Can anyone in their right mind honestly expect a multi cultural/religious/ethnic society to really exist peacefully in full respect of each other? Yeah, sure.
Emma Xerri
May 6th 2009, 01:38
Speaks volumes about Cultural Relativism and the lie that all religions are all equally good, equally holy and deserving of our respect.
It is an affront to nature and all decency, and the much vaunted intelligence of the human species, that in the 21st Century, humanity is still not evolved enough to take this monkey of its back. What I find even more abhorrent is that the supposedly civilized western nations do not let out a beep in protest, for the sake of so-called “Political Correctness”.
The West has lost its moral compass, while Islamic Republics go ahead applying a barbaric ideology on their citizenry with the tacit approval of the civilized world. For shame!
And they used to teach us in church that man was created in the image of God. That would only be true if Satan was God.
Joe Xuereb
May 5th 2009, 17:16
This is Sharia Law at it's best and most bizarre.
Not using stones big enough to cause instant death has a two-pronged reason. One, it would make the 'felon' , (in this case a 30-year old man who had the temerity to commit adultery and who was foolish enough to get caught) die too quickly and not suffer enough before his transtion to the underworld/overworld. This would also deprive the onlookers (including children no doubt) of a spectacle cut short.
I cannot understand the thinking behind the burying at the waist for men and the chest for women. I cannot comment . Is it to punish the woman more because up to the chest is more uncomfortable (as if it matters anyway).? Is it to do with respecting the woman's dignity in spite of earning herself the ultimate punishment for whatever it was she was supposed to have done? Bizarre! Sharia Law - not recommended.