stoning

Interview with Soheila Vahdati Bana: Elevating the issues of Iran’s women to the world’s stage

Soheila Vahdati Bana, a scholar, writer and human rights activist focusing on Iranian women's and children's issues, has written numerous articles against the death penalty and state violence against women, children and ethnic and religious minorities. Her areas of research include the effects of mandatory hijab on the image of Iranian women and their role in society, the recent history of state oppression of followers of the Bahai Faith and child soldiers in Iran. She has also written extensively on the current Islamic Penal Code’s encroachment on women’s rights, the treatment of women as second class citizens and the deprivation of their sexual rights.

Iran: Through Human Rights, Global Advocacy & Action Stoning Can Be Stopped!

The U.N. Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1984 through resolution 39/46. The Convention entered into force on June 26, 1987.

This United Nations Convention against Torture defines torture as “… any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”

SUDAN: Free Layla Ibrahim Issa! Stop Stoning in Sudan!

Dear friends,

Layla’s life is still in danger. We need you to take action to save her.Layla Ibrahim Issa is a 23-year old mother who was sentenced to death by stoning by the Mayo court in Khartoum, Sudan. We put out an action alert to support Layla earlier this month, and we extend our thanks to those of you who raised their voices; but Layla is still in prison with her 6-month old child.

Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

This thematic report addresses the topic of gender-related killings of women. Rather than a new form of violence, gender-related killings are the extreme manifestation of existing forms of violence against women. Such killings are not isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but represent the ultimate act of violence which is experienced in a continuum of violence. Women subjected to continuous violence and living under conditions of gender-based discrimination and threat are always on ―death row, always in fear of execution‖. Globally, the prevalence of different manifestations of gender-related killings is reaching alarming proportions. Culturally and socially embedded, these manifestations continue to be accepted, tolerated or justified—with impunity as the norm. States‘ responsibility to act with due diligence in the promotion and protection of women‘s rights is largely lacking as regards the killing of women.

Mali unwed couple 'stoned to death'

Local officials say unmarried pair killed in public in Aguelhok, in the first reported sharia killing since occupation.Islamists occupying the northern Mali town of Aguelhok have stoned an unmarried couple to death in front of about 200 people, two local government officials said.

Update:Iran: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s fate unclear while lawyer Javid Houtan Kiyan languishes in jail

Two years after an international outcry erupted over her sentence of stoning to death, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani remains imprisoned in north-west Iran apparently still facing a stoning sentence. Her lawyer, Javid Houtan Kiyan, arrested on account of his advocacy for her, remains held as a prisoner of conscience, and is reported to have been sentenced to a lengthy prison term. He is believed to have been tortured during his detention.

SUDAN: Layla Ibrahim Issa - Another woman sentenced to death by stoning. Take action now!

The international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) and the Violence is Not our Culture (VNC) campaign are dismayed to receive another confirmed report of a woman – Layla Ibrahim Issa – who is about to be stoned in Sudan. This news comes shortly after the release of Intisar Sharif Abdallah, who was the first known case of a woman sentenced to stoning in Sudan last June.

Mapping Stoning in Muslim Contexts

Women Living Under Muslim Laws, the Violence is not our Culture Campaign, and Justice for Iran are pleased to announce the release of a new publication: Mapping Stoning in Muslim Contexts. This report locates where the punishment of stoning is still in practice, either through judicial (codified as law) or extrajudicial (outside the law) methods.

Update: Iran: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani could be Hanged in Iran'

An Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning for adultery provoked an international outcry could be executed by hanging instead, the country's judicial authorities have indicated.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 44-year-old mother of two, was convicted of conducting an "illicit relationship outside marriage" in 2006 and has since been kept in Tabriz prison in the west of Iran.

Afghanistan: 'Afghanistan Mother and Daughter Stoned and Shot Dead'

A group of armed men have stoned and shot dead a woman and her daughter in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, security officials have told the BBC. The officials blamed the Taliban, who they said had accused the women of "moral deviation and adultery". The police said two men had been arrested in connection with the murder.

The attack was only 300m from the governor's office in Ghazni city, which is on a list of places to be transferred to Afghan security control.

Taliban grip