Naureen Shameem
It is a scandal that in 2013 women still risk death by stoning in 15 countries. Incredibly, that number is now set to rise as the southeast Asian kingdom of Brunei prepares to introduce this brutal punishment.
Last month, the Sultan of Brunei announced a harsh new penal code based on an interpretation of sharia law. Along with flogging and amputation for certain crimes, the code introduces death by stoning as a punishment for adultery.
Let’s be clear. Stoning is a heinous and protracted form of torture, and one of the cruellest kinds of violence perpetrated against women to control and punish them for the exercise of their basic freedoms and control over their own bodies.
