Iranian Woman: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and Being Stoned to Death

Iranian woman: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and Being Stoned to Death

I’m not a naive person.  I’m well aware that this world has some cruel goings on, yet I tend to shy away from reading or watching anything that may put me in touch with the real world. Not out of ignorance, but because the smallest of things bother me, things I can do very little about. Yet every now and I decide to read a disturbing news article further, possibly because the picture shown portrays the story in itself and that the image has already been embedded in my mind.

That happened to me today.

I was casually flicking through the paper as I do every day, a paper more full of celebrity goings on than the things that really matter.  (There is a political reason behind the paper I read, and of course the Internet keeps me up to date with the real news).  Anyway back to the picture that caught my eye.  It was an old black and white photo.  A woman buried up to her chest.  A woman that had a look on her face that pulled at my heart strings.  Behind her was a man with a spade, patting down the soil around her.  The caption of the photo: ‘Horrific. Death squad prepares one woman for death in 80s.’  The title of the article: ‘Saved from Stoning’.

So I read the article. Then sat and tried to imagine what I had just read.  Woman saved from being stoned to death – Not the article I read I must point out, but it covers the story all the same.

Three things bothered me particularly about the article I read, other than the obvious horrific act of the punishment,

1.       The family of the accused are made to watch their loved one being stoned to death.

2.       Women are buried up to their chests. Men to their waists. This is relevant as the article pointed out that if they could free themselves from the ground they are pardoned. Not at all shocking, I know, that women are treated differently to men.

3.       That the stones that are thrown at the poor soul have requirements. They are not too be so small that they cause no damage to the person. They are not allowed to be big enough to kill them with only few hits to the persons head. Basically torture is the aim.

What is worse still is that this woman is being sentenced to death for something a lot of people do every day. She allegedly cheated on her partner.  It’s not a nice thing to do, but it happens. However I find it unbelievable that in some countries the law gets involved and subsequently sentences a person to death, even if no proof is found.  

This case has been publicised enough that a campaign has made people notice and a decision has been made that will prevent this happening.  However it doesn’t mean that the woman in question; Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, will be prevented from being put to death.  Which with my upbringing, is completely wrong, considering what she has allegedly done, would, in my society be something partners would sort out behind closed doors and without the law interfering. 

That concludes this article for now. I hope it gives you something to think about and how lucky a lot of us really are.