Dear
friends: June in Iran is the anniversary month of hundreds of executed
political prisoners. In 1981 in trials that lasted only few minutes, hundreds
of prisoners even without given farewell chance to their loved ones, in groups
were daily put in front of firing squads. Many friends of mine including my
husband were among the executed. Even after that, Islamic republic always used death
penalty and hanging in public as a weapon to terrify people, to strengthen its
regime’s fascistic laws. The horrendous phenomenon of execution, unfortunately
for us whom have come from countries with Islamic and despotic governments is a
known phenomenon. The decision of knowingly killing a number of people for
whatever motives and reasons, is a barbaric anachronistic phenomenon that
belongs to the dark ages. Ruling governments use this weapon basically to
pacify people and create an atmosphere of fear and terror.
Dear
friends: stoning is a form of killing of people in Iran. Stoning is the most
atrocious way of killing and execution of people that is carried out against
women and sometimes men for having sexual relation out of marriage, in
Islamic-stricken countries.
In
countries that have Islamic laws in their constitution, stoning is part of
official laws, and the governments shamelessly by ordering to dig women and men
up to their chest into ground and throwing stones at them, to kill them by
gradual torture. These are unfortunately being done in the twenty first century
in front of everyone’s eyes. Just last Monday, May the 21st in the
hills behind Evin prison in Tehran a 38 year old women on allegations of acting
in a pornographic movie, was stoned to death. As I am writing this letter to
you, several other women are waiting to be stoned to death. Women have also
been stoned to death in Afghanistan and other Islam-stricken countries.
Stoning
is violent, it is inhumane and human beings today are not allowed and should
not be silent to the slaughter of men and women in those countries. This inhume
law must be condemned by people’s conscience worldwide. The International
Committee against Stoning is a network of organizations, individuals, and human
and women’s right activists that tries to prevent the stoning to be carried
out, and at the same time struggles to abolish inhume Islamic laws, such as
Stoning and Qesas (killing by retaliation).
As
the coordinator of the International Committee against Stoning, I ask you,
organizations and activists of abolishing the death penalty, to join us to
abolish the stoning precepts in Islam-stricken countries.
Our
power and energy will increase by hundred folds if you join this campaign. Death penalty and lapidation date back prior
to the modern human history and must stop immediately in all over the world.
We
believe that active struggle of progressive organizations and all that disagree
with inhumane laws of capital punishment can help that today civilized humanity
to put an end to this barbaric behavior once and forever.
Mina Ahadi, coordinator of
International Committee against Stoning
29th of May 2001