The below article is a tad confusing, the first paragraph says stoning and amputation of a hand will be stricken from the Islamic penal code but then following paragraphs say it still has to be voted on and that it would be for a trial period, but this is a welcome development if it comes to pass.
One thing I had not known is that if a person who has been sentenced to stoning can free themselves, they are spared, however note below that a man is only buried up to his waist and a woman to her shoulders–seems quite an uneven burden to say the least on top of a practice that is beyond barbaric in the first place.
Obviously the timing of the story is a bit strange in the middle of all the unrest in Iran and iit remains to see how this will play out, but given the role women have clearly had in the current situation, the timing may be deliberate.
Iran’s parliament plans to scrap stoning and amputation of a hand as punishments in a
revised version of the Islamic penal code, the official IRNA news agency reported Monday.
“Parliaments judicial commission decided not to put some Islamic punishments including stoning in the (revised) law in line with the interests of the country,” commission head Ali Shahrokhi told the agency.
He said the commission is also proposing the abolition of amputation and has considered the idea of a “special court for minors under 18.”
Once the commission has finalised the new version of the penal code, parliament will vote on whether to implement the revised law for a trial period.
Afterwards it will be discussed for final approval by the vetting legislative body, the Guardians Council.
Under Iran’s existing law, adultery is still punishable by stoning, which involves the hurling of stones in public at a partially buried convict. A man is buried up to his waist and a woman up to her shoulders.
Convicts are spared if they can free themselves.
A man found guilty of adultery was stoned to death in the northern city of Rasht earlier this year, a top official told reporters in May, despite a moratorium announced by the judiciary on such executions.
He said the woman involved in the case “repented and so has not been stoned.”
Iran: People Have The Power
As the people of Iran have taken to the streets to reclaim their country from tyranny, the story of Iran has also been about the right of people everywhere to free and uncensored news. Using all manner of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) Iranians and their supporters have been getting the story out of Iran even when the Iranian government cut off traditional means of communication.
The extraordinary nature of this story is that within days, the U.S. government was begging Twitter to postpone previously scheduled maintenance and stay in operation and top mainstream media stories were beginning with, ‘we got nothing but here’s what we found on Twitter.’ As Patti Smith put it in the lyrics to People Have The Power, “People have the power to redeem the work of fools.” And it would appear this week that is exactly what just happened.
Throughout the week, Feminist Peace Network has been posting both the wise voices of women speaking out about the crisis as well as looking at the impact the current situation has on the lives of Iranian women. In a commentary on the Huffington Post, Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi points out that this crisis is about far more than just the election (also noted by WFAFI earlier this week) and offers the following suggestions for what is necessary to resolve the current situation:
The FPN blog will continue to post on this topic as events unfold because as feminist technologist Deanna Zandt, who has been commenting on this story throughout the week noted yesterday on Twitter, “I’d rather try to address the problems that come with “mob rule” than continue with a milennia’s worth of patriarchal gatekeeping.” One truly has to wonder what the world would be like if the American people had taken to the streets and insisted on the truth in these kinds of numbers after the 2000 election.
As a final note, this morning my local newspaper had banished the Iran story to the inner bowels of the first section, as I suspect a number of other newspapers have done as well. Not a huge loss since their coverage was woefully lacking in the first place. Here are several excellent sources of up-to-date coverage of Iran (as well as a few awesome graphics), in addition, I highly recommend #iranelection on Twitter. Look at these, go back and look at your local newspaper and the evening news, draw your own conclusions.
Via The Cagle Post:
Nico Pitney live-blogging on the Huffington Post.
The Guardian (UK)‘s constantly updated Iran news.
Amnesty International on the Iranian Soccer Team’s green wristbands:
Coverage specifically discussing the role of and implications for women:
And finally, this footage from Iran goes well beyond what even cable ‘news’ will show: