Canada pleads with Iran not to stone woman to death
OTTAWA – Canada is urging Iran to spare the life of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtani – a mother of two who faces being stoned to death allegedly because she committed adultery.
Canada’s minister of foreign affairs, Lawrence Cannon, made the plea in a statement issued by his office.
Amnesty International says Ashtani, who has spent five years in prison and faced 99 lashes already, could be executed at any time.
Cannon has also asked the Iranians to halt the planned execution of Mohammad Reza Haddadi which is thought to be scheduled for Wednesday at the Adelabad prison in the province of Fars.
“Canada is deeply concerned by reports that the Iranian regime has scheduled the execution of Mohammad Reza Haddadi for Wednesday, July 7, 2010, in Adelabad prison in the province of Fars. We strongly urge Iran to respect its international obligations and not to proceed with this execution.
“Canada is also gravely concerned by reports that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a mother of two children, was convicted of adultery in a judicial process that lacked transparency and was sentenced to death by stoning. She could face execution at any time. Canada calls upon Iran to end this inhumane practice.
“These pending executions are part of an overall deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. Canada remains gravely concerned by the human rights situation in Iran and calls on the Iranian regime to live up to its commitments and obligations under domestic and international law,” said Cannon.
Meanwhile, Amnesty said: “On 13 June, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, published an article entitled Sakineh on the threshold of stoningand pointed out that there is no legal obstacle to her execution being carried out at any time. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, has been held since 2005. In May 2006 she was convicted of having had an “illicit relationship” with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence. Despite this, she was subsequently convicted of “adultery while being married”, which she has denied, and was sentenced to death by stoning.”
“She has retracted a “confession” made during interrogation, stating that it was made under duress. However, she was convicted by a majority of three out of five trial judges on the basis of the “knowledge of the judge”, a provision in Iranian law that allows judges to make their own subjective and possibly arbitrary determination regarding guilt even in the absence of clear or conclusive evidence,” Amnesty said on its website.
Amnesty also said her death sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court on 27 May 2007. Her case has been sent to the Amnesty and Clemency Commission twice, but her request for clemency was rejected on both occasions. Sakineh Mohammadi has two children
“Consensual sexual acts such as those criminalized by Iranian law under the provisions for “adultery” do not amount to the “most serious crimes” under which in international law the death penalty may be imposed only as an “exceptional measure” where “there was an intention to kill which resulted in the loss of life”.
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on Jul 6 2010. Filed under Canada, EDITOR'S CHOICE.
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[...] Canada pleads with Iran not to stone woman to death [...]
We should not try to dictate law to any other country. If this woman has committed adultery, which by the last statement about consensual sexual acts leaves me to believe she has, and it is punishable by death then that is what should happen. Just because we do not understand or accept another countries law does not give us the right to be big brother and force our laws and our lack of moral guidence on another country.
Poor Wallace! He needs to do a bit of research on what constitutes adultery in Islamic countries. For a woman to just look at a man, it is considered adultery.
A woman who is raped by a man will be charged with adultery.
If male neighbours find her face attractive and she pushes away their advances, all they have to do to ‘save face’ is invent a charge of adultery against her. Don’t forget, Wallace, a woman’s testimony is worth half of that of a man in Islamic countries.
This poor Iranian woman, all wrapped up in the black tent with four children, knows the penalty for adultery. This woman was set up, this is very clear.
Do some more research.
They Need to Leave her alone!
The crime she has commited isnt Even that bad, they need to let her Free!
and like what was said WE ARE NOT IN THE MEDIEVIL DAYS ANYMORE!
Only Barbarians are capable of doing something like this. The bastard government officials, the criminal judges and back warded clergymen are all responsible for these criminal acts. I can’t wait to see the day when these bastards pay for all their crimes against humanity.
Appropriate description for the Iranian regime. It is illegitimate anyway.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by United 4 Iran, rachelbrook. rachelbrook said: Absolutely ludricous in this day and age – Iran to stone woman to death | VANCOUVERITE: http://bit.ly/9YmaU5 [...]
Just when it seems like this country looks like its on the verge of progressing (in sciences, technology, etc), it ends up implementing very cruel ‘backwards’ laws. Where did they get this stoning idea from anyways?
[...] from Hindus and Arabs (who were not necessarily Muslim). On the other hand, these same scholars are currently about to stone a woman to death for allegedly doing something that Americans routinely go online to do on a daily basis (see under: [...]