Iran – New Penal Code Retains Punishment of Stoning
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: May 13, 2013
WUNRN
Iran – New Penal Code Retains the Punishment of Stoning
Justice for
2013 – Just days prior to the approval of
revised penal code, the Guardian Council has once again included the sentence
of death by stoning as part of the Islamic Republic’s penal code. During the
process of revising the said document, the Islamic Republic Parliament had
replaced stoning with execution or lashing. However, adultery remains
punishable by stoning in the final draft of the penal code, which the president
is expected to give his assent to within the next few days.
The only difference between the revised code and
the one it replaces is that in accordance with the suggestion of the presiding
judge and approval of the head of the judiciary, if adultery is proven in
accordance with the testimony of four witnesses or four accounts of admission,
then execution can replace death by stoning. In those cases where adultery is
proven based on the knowledge of the judge, stoning can be reduced to lashing.
According to the revised code which Justice For Iran obtained a full copy of
that, any sexual act outside of marriage or between members of the same sex is
considered a crime. In addition, all other discriminatory measures including
those against women, such as the value of a woman’s testimony being half of
that of a man, remain unchanged. The revised code also enables judges to
sentence juvenile offenders, civil or political activists or critics of the
government to execution.
Justice for
Iranian authorities for including those articles in the Islamic Republic penal
code that violate basic human rights and
commitments to international conventions and treaties. Furthermore, it regrets
the fact that despite all efforts by women’s rights activists throughout the
world, inhumane sentences such as stoning that are recognised by the UN Special
Rapporteur as torture, remain as part of
penal code. The judges who have issued and implemented stoning sentences enjoy
absolute impunity.
We express our deep concern for those women and men who face the sentence of
death by stoning and are held indefinitely in Islamic Republic prisons,
including Ashraf Kolhari, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Maryam Bagherzadeh,
Valania
Khomami and Naghi Ahmadi.
Based on statistics released by Amnesty International, since the inception
of the Islamic Republic 77 cases of stoning have been registered. Although
Amnesty adds that this number may in fact be higher as Islamic Republic
authorities refuse to release official statistics and reports on cases
involving stoning.
The Stop Stoning Forever Campaign which activities covered the three-year
period between 2006 and 2009 has also confirmed that six men and one woman were
stoned to death. In collaboration with lawyers the Campaign was able to stop
the same sentence for at least six women and one man.
The first case of death by stoning after the establishment of the Islamic
Republic in
and one man and took place in
in June 1980.
Categories: Releases
