No Stoning
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stoning, or lapidation, refers to a form of capital punishment
whereby an organized group throws stones at the convicted individual
until the person dies.
Stoning has been used throughout history in a number of places, both
in the form of community justice and also as a judicial form of
capital punishment. The practice is referred to in Greek history, as
well as Christian, Jewish, and Islamic texts.
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THE CROWD GATHERS
around as tears flow down her cheeks. Her last day will be
her worst. The assorted gang are allowed stones of a
particular size: Not bigger than, nor smaller than one-third
of, a human digit. Hence, the stones should be around
one-half the size of an adult finger. The logic is to
inflict the maximal pain. The objective is to stone the
adulterous woman to death.
The woman is buried
up to her neck as her kids watch the whole scene. The
Iranian state forces the close relatives of the woman to
attend the public execution. A truck pulls up with the
correctly proportioned stones. The verdict is read and then
the official of the regime throws the first stone.
The chanting and the
barrage start. The stones smash into her delicate face.
Soon, the red liquid gushes out of her forehead. The
intensity of the direct hits gouges out her right eye. Her
nose gets completely broken. Her teeth are torn apart. She
inhales a mixture of noxious air and blood. Her face is
forever lost.
She streams in and
out of consciousness. Shards of bone are sent in all
directions as the stones brutally chisel the region where
once her face was. The last thing she hears as the crowd
extinguishes her frail soul is, "Allah Akbar!"
Such is the fate of
women who are found guilty of adultery in Iran. In the
modern world, no other state-sanctioned punishment exceeds
this heinous display of public savagery.
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Groups against the practice
of stoning
Stoning has been condemned by every human rights organization. Some
groups, such as Amnesty International[1] and Human Rights Watch,
oppose all capital punishment, including stoning. Other groups, such
as and RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan),
oppose stoning per se as an especially "cruel" practice.
Specific sentences of stoning, such as the Amina Lawal case, have
often generated international protest. Groups like Human Rights
Watch,[2] while in sympathy with these protests, have raised a
concern that the Western focus on stoning as an especially "exotic"
or "barbaric" act distracts from what they view as the larger
problems of capital punishment. They argue that the "more
fundamental human rights issue in Nigeria is the dysfunctional
justice system."
Secular use
No non-religious court of law recognizes stoning as a form of legal
punishment.[citation needed] There have also been numerous cases
where stoning refers to layers of rocks being placed on a victim to
squeeze them to death, a practice more properly known as crushing.
Religious use
Bible, Judaism and Christianity
The Old Testament of Christianity, which is the Tanakh of the Jews
and as such a common book of religious reference, prescribes death
by stoning for a long series of offences, including:
* Adultery (including an engaged woman having sex with a man other
than her fiance) (Deuteronomy 22:23-24)
* Having sex with animals ("bestiality")
* Engaging in idolatry or seducing others to do so
* Homosexual relations
* Breaking the Sabbath
* Cursing God
* If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be
stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox
shall go unpunished. (Exodus 21-28)
* In addition, Deuteronomy (21,21) specifies that the parents of "a
rebellious son" (?? ???? ?????) may bring him to the market square
and ask the townspeople to stone him to death.
* For touching Mount Sinai Exodus 19:13
* For a woman who is not a virgin on her wedding night Deuteronomy
22:13-21
There are, however, only scarce mentions of such a punishment being
actually inflicted. A detailed recorded case of stoning occurs in
the Book of Joshua (7, 24) when an officer named Achan (???) was
caught looting in Jericho, a conquered Canaanite city. Under the
mores reflected in that book, massacring the Canaanites was an
acceptable and indeed praiseworthy act, but disobedience to God's
command by taking loot to oneself was an act heinous enough that not
only Achan himself but also his entire family were stoned to death
by the gathered Hebrews, as a punishment.
In the first century AD, such laws were formally still in force for
the Jewish society of which Jesus was a member - but as recounted in
a famous New Testament story, Jesus intervened to save an adulteress
from stoning, drawing possible conclusions that the sin of adultery
was no longer worthy of capital punishment, or that capital
punishment itself is possibly no longer necessary.
As manifest also in Jewish sources contemporary with early
Christianity, particularly the Talmud[citation needed], doubts were
growing in Jewish society about the morality of capital punishment
in general and stoning in particular. In the following centuries the
leading Jewish sages[citation needed] imposed so many restrictions
on the actual implementation of capital punishment - especially,
many difficult to fulfill conditions for a testimony to be
admissible - as to make the imposition of capital punishment
virtually impossible in practice. In any case, Jews in the latter
part of their history were not often in a position to impose capital
punishments.
In Islam
"Within sharia law, there is a specific set of offences known as the
Hadd offences. These are crimes punished by specific penalties, such
as stoning, lashes or the severing of a hand. The penalties for Hadd
offences are not universally adopted as law in Islamic countries."
As with many religions today, not all holy books reference a
particular topic. Islamic scholars argue both sides of stoning
within Islam, but regardless, many cases of stoning continue to this
day. However, unlike Judaism where for capital punishment to take
place two reputable witnesses must witness the Hadd offense
including stoning Hadd, in Islam stoning (which is the penalty for
committing adultery under marriage wedlock only) is the only capital
punishment which requires four witnesses "accusers" to admit that
they saw the defenders sexually interacts. It is also important to
note that in Islam a person whom admit adultery can be the witness
upon himself only, yet according to sharia law he must oath on
himself four times [citation needed] before he can be punished with
the appropriate punishment which is stoning if the person is under
wedlock or lashing a 100 lash if the person is not under wedlock.
Husbands can also launch a charge against their spouses, and have
(in support) no evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence
(can be received) if they bear witness four times (with an oath) by
Allah that they are solemnly telling the truth; And the fifth (oath)
(should be) that they solemnly invoke the curse of Allah on
themselves if they tell a lie;But it would avert the punishment from
the wife, if she bears witness four times (with an oath) By Allah,
that (her husband) is telling a lie;And the fifth (oath) should be
that she solemnly invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if (her
accuser) is telling the truth; Verse 24.006 - 24.009. The last
possible way for stoning as penalty for adultery under wedlock is
that a woman concealing under marriage wedlock, considering that DNA
is not accepted as an evidence in shar'aa law.
Usage today
There are currently some 49 states with Muslim majorities, and very
few of them (the unofficial sharia court which runs in parallel with
judicial court) exercise this form of punishment; when they do, they
often face criticism.
Afghanistan
As most areas of Afghanistan, aside from the capital, Kabul, are
controlled locally by warlords or tribal leaders, the Afghan legal
system depends highly on an individual communities' local culture
and the political and/or religious ideology of its leaders. Stoning
also occurs in lawless areas, where vigilantes decide to commit the
act for religious and/or political purposes.
Iran
The Iranian judiciary has officially placed a moratorium on stoning,
although the punishment remains on the books. Stoning had occurred
in Iran, for crimes including but not limited to adultery. "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. Exact figures cannot be found on
numbers.
Nigeria
Stoning is available as a punishment under Sharia in Nigeria. The
most famous case is that of Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death
for having sex-out-of-wedlock, as she is not married and found
herself pregnant.
The death sentences through stoning of the years 2001 and 2002 in
northern Nigeria sparked international discussion on Sharia?s
imposition of stoning. Between 2000 and 2001 twelve northern
Nigerian states officially declared Sharia to be their criminal
code, even though many of its regulations conflict with the Nigerian
constitution. The introduction of Sharia law directly and indirectly
led to many violent riots.
Pakistan
Islamic law in Pakistan still allows stoning as a form of
punishment, however, no such executions have taken place in the
country.
[edit] Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates
Sentences to stoning or stonings without a sentence were also
reported within the last years from Sudan, Saudi-Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates. |
