Stoning to Death in Iran:
A Crime Against Humanity
Carried Out By the Mullahs' Regime
Note: Stoning to death is a pre-Islamic practice condemned
by the Islamic religeon.
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Stoning in Iran, The Washington Times, February 27
"The condemned are wrapped head to foot in white shrouds
and buried up to their waists.
"Then the stoning begins. The stones are specifically
chosen so they are large enough to cause pain, but not so
large as to kill the condemned immediately. They are
guaranteed a slow, torturous death. Sometimes their
children are forced to watch. Their offense is usually
adultery.
"This is capital punishment Iranian [mullahs'] style, even
under the so-called moderate new president, Mohammed
Khatami."
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The video clip you are about to see, is not easy to watch. It
depicts graphic scenes of people being stoned to death for
"moral" offenses, a barbaric practice all too common in Iran
under the mullahs. The documentary was smuggled out at
great risk by supporters of the major Iranian opposition
movement, the People's Mojahedin. It is atypical only in that
the victims on this particular day were men. Most often,
women are stoned to death, usually for prostitution. If they
are mothers, their children are often required by law to
attend the atrocity, to watch them "repent" for their sins.
The film shows one man being lashed and four other men
being stoned to death. Among those in attendance are the
Chief Religious Judge of the Armed Forces and a number of
Security commanders. Enshrouded in white sheets and tied
to restrain them, the victims are buried up to the waist in
sand. Then they are slowly tortured to death. To prolong
their torment, the medieval law of the mullahs even
stipulates that stones too small to cause sufficient pain, and
those so large as to kill the victims too swiftly, are illegal at a
stoning.
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Some items form the Penal Code of the mullahs' regime:
* The penalty for adultery under Article 83 of the penal code,
called the Law of Hodoud is flogging (100 lashes of the
whip) for unmarried male and female offenders. Married
offenders may be punished by stoning regardless of their
gender, but the method laid down for a man involves his
burial up to his waist, and for a woman up to her neck
(article 102)
* Article 104 of the Law of Hodoud provides that the stones
should not be so large that a person dies after being hit with
two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles, but
must cause severe injury. This makes it clear that the
purpose of stoning is to inflict grievous pain on the victim, in
a process leading to his or her slow death.
The Iranian regime carries out stoning in the name of Islam.
This is done in order to intimidate and terrorize the public.
Since taking office, not once has Mohammad Khatami
uttered a word against stoning. In fact, his government
spokesman and Guidance Minister, Ata'ollah Mohajeri, said
in a recent interview that he approves of stoning, but that it
should be carried out in the presence of a small group of
people whose loyalty to the regime is established so as to
prevent the news or films of the horrific scene from being
made available to the Iranian public and an international
audience.It must be mentioned that, as it was declared by
Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of
Resistance on the occasion of Eid-al Fitr (January 29,
1998): Stoning is not an Islamic punishment and the Quran
makes no mention of it.
Where does Mohammad Khatami (the so called "moderate
president") and his "Cabinet" stand on stoning?
Ever since May 1997, when Mohammad Khatami took office,
he has been telling the world that he is going to make sure
that law and order prevail in Iran.... He has certainly done
that on the issue of stoning people to death:
On October 26, 1997, Associated Press, reported:
"Iran Stones Six to Death,
TEHRAN - Three men and three women have been stoned
to death in public in northern Iran after a court found them
guilty of adultery and prostitution, a newspaper reported
Sunday.
The report said the stoning was carried out by local citizens
in public in town near the Caspian Sea.
Under Iran's Islamic laws, prostitution and adultery are
illegal and punishable by death"
Not only "president" Khatami did not oppose the above
stoning, but the members of his "Cabinet" continue to
support this savage act:
Pro-Government Daily Ressalat, April 9 , 1998
In response to a question raised by the correspondent of
Farda daily on why the Minister had failed to defend the
Islamic punishment of stoning in his Paris interviews,
Ata'ollah Mohajerani [government spokesman and Minister
of Guidance] said: "There is no doubt that we must all
defend the Islamic decrees... As for stoning, there is a
Quranic verse that says a group of faithful must be witness
to it. In this regard there is a debate whether stoning should
take place in full public view or whether it could be carried
out in the presence of a limited number of faithfuls in a
restricted area."
The Minister of Islamic Guidance pointed out: "We should
keep the interests of our country in mind in an open
atmosphere of international public relations. Would it be in
our interest if an act of stoning is filmed and broadcast
abroad? If not, we should consider carrying out
the verdict in front of a small crowd of the believers in order
to forestall public backlash.
The stoning of women is one of the more savage, and
revealing aspects of the mullahs' rule in Iran. This vicious
punishment of women is without precedent in Iran's recent
history. Since the inception of the mullahs' rule, hundreds of
women of various ages have been and continue to be
stoned to death throughout Iran.
What makes this hideous crime even more abhorrent is that
it is carried out under the name of Islam. The Quran and the
Prophet of Islam despised such behavior. On the contrary,
in the Quran and the Prophet's traditions, such barbarism is
denounced. The Prophet did his utmost to eradicate
backward traditions, including stoning, which victimized
women.
The authorities of the Islamic Republic have attempted to
explain away stoning in Iran, as noted in the report by the
U.N. Special Representative on Iran, as something that
takes place only in remote and culturally backward areas.
Actually, stoning and other cruel punishments are used by
the regime to extend their reign of terror, while internationally
Tehran tries to deny responsibility. It must be noted that:
1- The responsibility for any inhuman punishment,
regardless of where it takes place, lies with the judiciary and
the state,
2- Stoning and other cruel punishments taking place in the
Islamic Republic of Iran are not a matter of individual
discretion; rather, they are defined by the law of the land,
and such sentences are issued based on these laws.
The penalty for adultery under Article 83 of the penal code,
called the Law of Hodoud is flogging (100 lashes of the
whip) for unmarried male and female offenders. Married
offenders may be punished by stoning regardless of their
gender, but the method laid down for a man involves his
burial up to his waist, and for a woman up to her neck
(article 102). The law provides that if a person who is to be
stoned manages to escape, he or she will be allowed to go
free. Since it is easier for a man to escape, this
discrimination literally becomes a matter of life and death.
Interestingly, Article 6 (2) of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has ratified, states:
"Sentence of death may be imposed only for the most
serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the
time of the commission of the crime." Offenses for which the
Law of Hodoud provides the death penalty do not involve
murder or serious bodily harm, constituting the "most
serious crimes".
Article 104 of the Law of Hodoud provides that the stones
should not be so large that a person dies after being hit with
two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles, but
must cause severe injury. This makes it clear that the
purpose of stoning is to inflict grievous pain on the victim, in
a process leading to his or her slow death.
3- All execution orders and verdicts of stoning must be
upheld by the supreme court in Tehran irrespective of where
they were issued. Therefore, the regime's justification is
absurd.
- The video is a documentary recording of four individuals
being stoned in one of the security centers in Tehran in the
presence of high ranking officials of the regime's judiciary.
The video tape, smuggled out of the country by the
Mojahedin, shows the representative of the prosecutor
reading out the verdicts. He declares that the verdicts were
issued by Ali Razini, the head of Judicial Organization of the
Military Forces. Razini can be seen in the video tape, and
throws the first stone. The prosecutor of military forces,
Niazi, is also present. Razini is currently the head of
Tehran's Justice Department and also heads the "Special
Clerical Court."
Anecdotes of this brutal process reveal ever more of cruelty.
The regime's authorities usually force the victim's family
members, including children, to watch the stoning to death
of their loved one, and in some instances, when the woman
miraculously managed to escape, contrary to the regime's
own law, she was recaptured and either stoned again or
killed on the spot.
On August 10, 1994, in the city of Arak, a woman was
sentenced to death by stoning. According to the ruling of the
religious judge, her husband and two children were forced
to attend the execution. The woman urged her husband to
take the children away, but to no avail. A truck full of stones
was brought in to be used during the stoning. In the middle
of the stoning, although her eyes had been gouged out, the
victim was able to escape from the ditch and started running
away, but the regime's guards recaptured her and shot her
to death.
In October 1989 in the city of Qom, a woman who was being
stoned managed to pull herself out of the hole, only to be
forced back into it and stoned to death. In justifying the
murder, Qom's Chief Religious Judge, Mullah Karimi,
elaborated to Ressalat newspaper on October 30, 1989:
"Generally speaking, legal and religious decrees on
someone condemned to stoning call for her stoning if her
guilt was proven on the basis of witnesses' testimonies.
Even if she were to escape in the middle of the
administration of the sentence, she must be returned and
stoned to death."
On July 13, 1997, Kayhan reported that Changiz Rahimi was
sentenced to death, stoning and payment of fine for
committing murder and adultery.
On October 26, 1997, six individuals were stoned in Sari, the
provincial capital of Mazandaran. This was reported by
Salaam daily and international news agencies. The names
of the victims were given as Fatemeh Danesh, Masoumeh
Eini, Marzieh Fallah, Ali Mokhtarpour, Parviz Hasanzadeh
and Kheirollah Javanmard.
AFP, December 7, 1994:
Hamshahri reported that a woman and a man were recently
stoned to death in Ramhormouz on murder and adultery
charges.
AFP, November 16, 1994
Abrar reported on Wednesday that three Iranians including a
woman were stoned in the city of Sari (northern Iran), after
being found guilty of adultery and rape by the Islamic court.
AFP, 11 November 1995, quoting Jomhouri Islami reported
that a man was stoned in the city of Hamedan.
AFP, June 8, 1996
Hamshahri reported on Saturday that a man and a women
were stoned in the city of Oroumieh on murder and adultery
charges. Shahin Soltan-Moradi had murdered her husband
with the help of her lover, Mohammad Ali Hemmati in
November 1994.
On July 14, 1995, Amnesty International reported that two
women by the names of Saba Abdali, 30, and Zeinab
Heidary, 38, were faced with stoning in the city of Ilam
Gharb.
On December 7, 1994, Reuters quoted a state-controlled
newspaper report by Hamshahri, on a married woman who
was stoned to death in the city of Ramhormouz,
southwestern Iran.
Ressalat, March 1, 1994, read: "A woman was stoned to
death in the city of Qom."
Kayhan of February 1, 1994, reported that a woman named
Mina Kolvat was stoned to death in Tehran for having
immoral relations with her cousin.
The U.N. Special Representative on the human rights
situation in Iran reported to the U.N. General Assembly in
1993: "On November 1, 1992, a woman named Fatima Bani
was stoned to death in Isfahan."
Abrar reported on November 5, 1991 that a woman charged
with immoral relations was stoned in the city of Qom.
According to Kayhan, August 21, 1991, a woman charged
with adultery by the name of Kobra was sentenced to 70
lashes and stoning. The verdict was carried out in the
presence of local people and district officials.
Jomhouri Islami wrote on March 11, 1991, that in Rasht
(northern Iran), "Bamani Fekri, child of Mohammad-Issa,
guilty of complicity in first-degree murder, adultery and
incineration of the victim's body; was sentenced to stoning,
retribution, blinding of both eyes and payment of 100 gold
dinars. After the announcement of the verdict, she
committed suicide in prison."
Ressalat reported on January 16, 1990, that a woman was
stoned to death in the city of Bandar Anzali (northern Iran).
Ettela'at reported on January 5, 1990: "Two women were
stoned publicly on Wednesday in the northern city of
Lahijan."
Jomhouri Islami, January 2, 1990: "Two women were
stoned in the city of Langrood (northern Iran)."
Kayhan wrote on July 31, 1989: "Six women were stoned to
death publicly in Kermanshah on charges of adultery and
moral corruption."
Kayhan, April 17, 1989, quoted the Religious judge and
head of the Fars and Bushehr Justice Department as
sentencing 10 women to stoning to death on prostitution
charges which were immediately carried out.
Tehran radio, reported on March 6, 1989 that a women was
stoned in Karaj for committing adultery."
Kayhan, October 4, 1986, reported that a 25-year-old woman
named Nosrat was stoned to death in the city of Qom. She
died after an hour of continuos stoning.
On April 17, 1986 a woman was stoned to death in the city of
Qom. Prior to being stoned, she was whipped in public.
In July 1980, four women were simultaneously stoned to
death in the city of Kerman.
It must be noted that the cases of stoning in small towns
and cities were not included here.
The brutality is not limited to stoning. For example, in late
May 1990, in the city of Neyshabour (northeastern Iran), a
woman charged with adultery was thrown off a 10-story
building. The execution was carried out in public, and the
victim died on impact.
The regime's duplicity when it comes to publicizing the
news of such Byzantine atrocities, is very telling. Inside Iran,
they are trumpeted with great fanfare, but when it comes to
the international arena, officials brazenly deny their
methods. In an interview with Le Figaro on September 10,
1994, Rafsanjani was asked, "Are women accused of
adultery stoned in Iran?" He replied: "No, no such thing
exists in Iran. This has been fabricated to damage us."
In his April 1998 trip to France and Sweden, Ata ollah
Mohajerani, the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
and Khatami's government spokesman, who is regarded to
be a moderate figure, discussed several matters. His
positions openly contradicted what he says in Iran and the
actions of the government. When asked about his views
about stoning, Mohajerani refrained from making an
unequivocal statement of support for this inhuman practice.
Upon returning to Iran, however, he said explicitly that he
does not oppose stoning but believes that efforts should be
made to stop the dissemination of the news of stoning and
filming the scenes.
It is therefore clear that the question is not whether stoning
should be carried out or not, but it about where and how
stoning should be implemented.
In her first interview with a foreign publication, Massoumeh
Ebtekar, who was appointed as vice-president by Khatami,
tried to avoid stating her views on stoning. Only later in the
interview did she admit to its occurrence in general terms,
but qualified her remark by saying it occurs only in remote
places.
Indeed, stoning is indispensable to the clerics efforts to
intimidate and terrorize the Iranian public. During Friday
prayers, in May of 1998, in the provincial capital of
Kermanshah (the largest city in western Iran), Mullah
Zarandi had the following to say about the need to carry out
stoning: The security forces have to show more presence
in the society. In order to set an example for others, the
judiciary should also bring some of those eligible to one of
the city squares and amputate their hands. They should
also have a series of stoning. I promise that the society will
be rectified.
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SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE ISLAMIC
REPUBLIC OF IRAN
PREPARED BY MR. MAURICE DANBY COPITHORNE
SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE COMMISSION ON
HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
IN IRAN
OCTOBER 1997
B. Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment
or punishment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------
Paragraph 21 - In his last interim report to the General
Assembly (A/52/742, paras. 31-34), the Special
Representative focused on the use of stoning in the Islamic
Republic. Since then, it has been brought to his attention
that, based on press account, the figures used by the
Special Representative in that earlier report understates the
real number of deaths and secondly, that many of the
stonings have in fact taken place in larger cities including
Tehran, Hamedan, Isfahan and Kermanshah. It is also
asserted that all such punishments have to be endorsed by
the Supreme Court and that accordingly, the incidents
concerned are not random acts of excess. The Special
Representative declares his condemnation of such
punishment.
31- The Special Representative is deeply concerned at the
continuing reports of the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
conduct banned by the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (article 5), the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights ( article 7), and the Convention against
torture ands other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment ( article 16). This is an area that requires
urgent reform in terms of both law and practice in order to
meet international human rights norms. In the present
report, the Special Representative will address perhaps the
most abhorrent of such practices, that of stoning.
32- The Special Representative notes that article 82 (b) of
the Islamic Criminal Code provides that adultery by a
married woman shall be punished by stoning to death.
Information reaching the Special Representative suggests
that stoning has been occurring from time to time since
1979. Four cases of such punishment in the past 18
months have come to the attention of the Special
Representative:
- An Iranian Magazine reported in its July 1996 edition that
Shasin Soltan-Moradi, and Mohammad-Ali Hemmati were
stoned to death in June 1996 in Orumiyeh;
- An Iranian daily reported on 13 July 1997 that Changiz
Rahimi, son of Jaafar, was sentenced to stoning for several
offenses, including adultery;
- An external media source reported on 20 April 1997 that a
young woman in Sanandaj, Shahgol Zamani, had been
stoned to death that week,
- An external wire service story from Tehran of 12 August
1997 recounted a story appearing in a Tehran newspaper
about a 20-year-old woman in Boukan who had been
sentenced to stoning for adultery. The sentence had been
carried out, but the woman had apparently survived the
ordeal.
33- It may be replied that stoning happens very rarely in the
Islamic Republic of Iran and not certainly in the major cities.
The Special Representative believes that for it to happen at
all is unsustainable both legally and morally. The fact that it
is provided for in the Islamic Criminal Code does not make
it a "lawful sanction" but, in the view of the Special
Representative, serves only to encourage recourse to such
punishment. The Special Representative would note the
most recent condemnation of cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment of the Commission on Human Rights, which is
resolution 1997/ 38, adopted on 11 April 1997.
34- In the view of the Special Representative, there is no
doubt that stoning is a cruel., inhuman or degrading
punishment, as discussed in the international instruments
mentioned above. The Special Representative urges the
Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to remove article
82 (b) from the Islamic Criminal Code and to undertake a
policy of actively suppressing recourse to such conduct
throughout the country.
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Further
Reading:http://www.iran-e-azad.org/stoning/amnesty.html
