11.10.2010

One woman

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is still alive as of this posting.

In 2006, in her hometown of Tabriz, Iran, the now 43-year-old mother of two received 99 lashes after being sentenced as an “adulteress.”

Sakineh received international attention early this year when she was sentenced to death by stoning.

According to AVAAZ, Iran “accused her of adultery and sentenced her to stoning despite the fact that the alleged adultery took place after her husband’s death. They sentenced her to death for the murder of her husband even though she had already been acquitted, and another man convicted and sentenced for the murder. They even arrested her son and lawyer and forced the rest of the legal team into exile.”

Sakineh’s stoning sentence was a “subjective judicial ruling allowed where no conclusive evidence is present.”

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and AVAAZ collected more than a million signatures, which forced Iran to change the stoning sentence to death by hanging.

Sakineh still sits in jail awaiting hanging. Human rights groups are claiming that Iran now wants a way out of this case, a way to save face, and are raising funds to assemble “an elite legal team” toward this end.

Should the fate of one woman matter? When that woman has become the symbol of injustices around the world, yes, it does.

8 comments:

Ahab said...

I hope she escapes such a barbaric fate. What a horrible situation.

B.J. said...

Ahab: Even is Sakineh is killed today, imagine what a feeling to know that millions of people around the world care about you! I pray justice will prevail. BJ

Infidel753 said...

Thank you for bringing attention to this. It illustrates well the theocracy's flagrant abandonment of any pretense of legal norms.

Sakineh may well be saved, since hers has become a high-profile case and an embarrassment to the ayatollahs. Unfortunately they have murdered countless other victims, and will continue to do so as long as their regime remains in power.

Leslie Parsley said...

Thanks for posting this. I do hope that all the publicity results in her freedom. But I fear for those to come. Infidel is right.

B.J. said...

Infidel and tnlib: AVAAZ repots:

“And now, for the first time, there is dissent within Iran from conservative forces about the treatment of Sakineh and the way her case has been handled by the Iranian government. Some are calling for her acquittal of all charges.”

Tiny said...

Not only should and do we care about the fate of this woman, we need to be cognizant that we have radicals in this country who are capable of the same kind of thinking. Unfortunately, it seems several of them just got elected to offices in our own government.

Don't think that's a stretch of the imagination anymore than those who think it is okay to load your weapons and gun down those who are not in agreement with your hate, fears, religion, prejudices, racism etc.

We cannot become complacent while the pimping corporation owners pay their hookers to prostitute our laws back into the dark age in order for the fat cats to get fatter.

Bill Sumrall said...

Doesn't this sounds like something personal? Wonder which ayatollah she ticked off? The reasons cited for her sentence don't make sense. What is missing? Sounds like someone is determined to kill her one way or the other.

B.J. said...

Tiny: The far-right will never, ever get “separation of church and state.”

BS: Sakineh’s stoning sentence was a “subjective judicial ruling allowed where no conclusive evidence is present.”