Eight Women, One Man Sentenced To Death By Stoning In Iran
7/20/2008 11:22 AM ET
Click on Links above to see more re: Stonings and Shariah Laws at Work
(RTTNews) – Eight women and one man await sentences of death by stoning, convicted of sex offences including adultery and prostitution. The lawyers for the convicted say the sentences could be carried out any time despite strong criticism from human rights groups and the European Union. Human rights groups say most of those convicted are illiterate and come from a poor background, condemned due to lack of good defense.
A moratorium was imposed on stoning to death by judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohmoud Hashemi Shahroudi back in 2002, however, at least three others have been stoned to death since the moratorium by Shahroudi. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities continue to brush aside such charges of rights abuses on grounds that they are following the Islamic sharia law.
Islamic laws in Iran provide death by stoning to those convicted of adultery. Iranian Islamic law dictates men convicted of adultery be buried up to their waists and women up to their chests for stoning. It also specifies that stones to be pelted should not be large enough to kill the person immediately.
The convicted women belong to ages 27 to 43 years and are currently represented by the Volunteer Lawyers’ Network, and members of the group say that a directive cannot be above law, and as long as the law has not changed, judges can give such rulings.
by RTT Staff Writer
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