“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

I was told there is a woman in Iran that is sentenced to be stoned to death. I did some research and the official statement from the Iranian government in response to these allegations is that it is not true that she will NOT be stoned to death¹. However, I am also well aware that official statements are not always true and thus, I am moved to do something.

Being stoned to death means she will be buried up to her head and then people will throw rocks at her face and head…and continue to do so until it kills her. This is an extremely cruel and unfathomable means of torture and death. We must stop this OR any state-sanctioned death from happening. It is not a question of whether she is guilty of a crime or not…but for the record, she is not…it is not a matter of cultural sensitivity or cultural imperialism or relativity, it is a matter of human injustice, cruelty…it is a matter of fundamental human rights. We all have a right to live and be free from gender domination or state-sanctioned governmental death.

We must help stop this death (and all unnecessary deaths) immediately as humans. Please, please, please help save this woman from this horrific torturous death OR ANY DEATH. She is charged with adultery which is a gender bias crime, the premise being that women are property, property of their fathers then their husbands and thus have no fundamental rights. I disagree!

I digress, this is such a complicated case but before we get lost in all the minutiea, please…let’s prevent this senseless death in whatever way we can. I will come back to the breakdown of the issues within this case for afterthought but now more than my opinion or thoughts or yours on everything else, we must try to save this woman’s life.

This video will help explain the case:

This is what you can do to help save this woman, Sakineh’s, life:

• Sign this petition online http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-sakine-mohammadi-e-ashtiani-live
• Sign the petition from Amnesty International http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/end-execution-stoning-iran
• Educate YOURSELF on this case and on other cases, on the general topic and the laws etc.²³⁴⁵
• Educate yourself on the use of death penalty by ANY government
• Donate to Amnesty International and join them in their attempt to respect and protect fundamental human rights
• Go to this page which gives you SPECIFIC instructions on how to help this woman http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/082/2009/en/7fdb4e30-712a-4fca-b807-1365834fcd17/mde130822009en.html
• Visit this site and sign the petition and follow further directions to help http://freesakineh.org/
• Coordinate / hold your own demonstration against stoning/state sanctioned death in this case or any — read more here.
• Investigate the laws involved in state sanctioned death in your own country or state and research the validity and use

1. http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134025&sectionid=351020101 [↩]
2. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38140909/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/ [↩]
3. http://www.amnesty.org/ [↩]
4. http://missionfreeiran.wordpress.com/2010/06/26/sakine-children-2/ [↩]
5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/08/iran-death-stoning-adultery [↩]