Stoning in Iran

If a morbid sense of curiosity ever leads you to wondering about possible ways of dying, you could probably imagine many gruesome, painful and horrific ways to die. Without a doubt there are not many worse ways to die than to be stoned to death. Shockingly, stoning is still an acceptable form of capital punishment that is still used in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Iraq and Iran. Below is a video of a woman being stoned to death by the Taliban. 

But perhaps the most well known case concerning stoning is happening in Iran today. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning for being convicted of adultery. If it were not for the intervention of her sons and the subsequent media coverage that her case received internationally she would have already have been executed. Having had her execution postponed on more than one occasion her lawyer has now been sentenced to death by hanging for mainly fabricated charges. If you watched the video above you can only imagine how horrifically painful it must be to be bombarded by rocks and stones. Some crimes deserve dramatic punishment and we cannot judge what crime deserves what punishment because different cultures do abide by different belief systems. Nevertheless, punishment in the form of stoning should be abolished for any crime, the method lacks any ounce of humanity and the 'rock throwers' can only be perceived as indulging in a twisted pleasure and obtaining some form of malevolent satisfaction, military or government orders aside.

Please send copies of any protest letters, actions and emails, and acts of solidarity to iransolidaritynow@gmail.com

First Pirate Trial since 1861

The pirate in question was a Somalian man (although the defence team claimed he was under eighteen, the court did not buy this). The judge who sentenced the pirate called Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse to 33 years and 9 months in prison explained that she meted out such a harsh sentence for he "appeared to relish...most depraved acts." She gave an example of one such depraved act as holding mock executions. Also allegedly he shouted "bury him in a shallow area of the ocean” at the captain of the hijacked Maersk Alabama ship off the coast of Somali where it is not unlike scenes from the movie Waterworld:

The trial was also used as a showboat to curb the steady ship of 19th-century maritime laws been applied to 21^st century piracy. The argument defending such pirates as young Abdiwaii is one of common sense; they have nothing to turn to in such dire economic conditions and such a harsh sentence is been meted out by a hypocritical government who are attempting to police oceans thousands of miles away to protected their own evil multi-corporate businesses from going about their lucrative trade. Somali fishermen who have little means to defend themselves in their small-scale infrastructures have complained about being shot at by foreign fishermen with water-cannons and firearms.

Peter Lehr, a lecturer in terrorism studies says “The first pirate gangs emerged in the '90s to protect against foreign trawlers". These initial motives have conflated into a thirst by these exponentially mycobacteriatic pirates for more treasures. The sanctioning of Abdiwaii’s trial has thrust America and their dealings with foreign affairs into the limelight. Can we expect them to look beyond the acts of violence in the case of Abdiwaii as more than just an isolated case into how they manifested and are in fact a phenomenon directly linked with their own actions and perhaps help these countries rather than throw the old, wrinkled canon against the wall and then turn away?