Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Petition

Save Sakineh:

An Iranian woman faces death by stoning after being convicted of adultery. Amnesty International yesterday called on the Iranian authorities to halt the imminent execution of mother-of-two Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and the hanging of another woman said to be a political activist.

Ashtiani was convicted of having an 'illicit relationship' with two men in May 2006 and received 99 lashes as her sentence. Despite this, she has also been convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning. The 43-year-old has retracted a 'confession' she said was made under duress.

Appealing for help to the international community, her daughter, Farideh, 16, and son, Sajad, 20, said yesterday: 'Please help end this nightmare and do not let it turn into a reality. Help us save our mother.'

Click here to sign the Save Sakineh petition.

Read the whole story: Save Sakineh

Comments

[vulpecula762mm]

12:31 PM on 07/27/2010

Stop threatening the Persian people with bombs and they will reject their own government. You think they want this? We were so close before. Under the Shah... things were very bad as well but he was our butt***boy.

They used the Shia thing as a rallying point to get us out. Buyers remorse is there but they cant do anything with us talking all this smack.

[tweedledeedumb]

08:01 AM on 07/27/2010

Barbaric behavior...no matter what the appologists want to claim...its back to the stone age in Iran!

[TheNarrowWay]

06:05 PM on 07/26/2010

Is it propaganda if a news source deliberately leaves out a large part of the story so it will fit into their editorial position better?

She is accused of being an accessory to murder. That's kind of a major part of the story and changes things a bit don't you think?

Shame on huffington post and shame on the people who don't fact check what is fed to them by the corporate media

[wereeverywhere]

08:24 PM on 07/26/2010

She was tortured for adultery- given 99 lashes. She was sentenced to be stoned for adultery. She's recanted her 'confession' because it was given under duress. Who are the witnesses here?

[rougebaisers]

08:03 AM on 07/25/2010

BEYOND BARBARIC.

[LAA2499]

07:27 PM on 07/20/2010

Its beyond horrific that this kind of barbaric behavior still exists in the world, I wanna know where are the men that she supposedly had an affair with? Why arent they standing trial.?.Why would she get 90 lashes ? why didnt they?Doesnt matter if your from the East or West somethings are just barbaric in that you wouldnt stone a dog in the streets!! But you would another human? And who knows for sure if she killed her husband? or what the circumstances were!! those dudes could be selling her out to save there own A***! Noboby really knows the truth !! Especially in theses small villages...There could be hate for her by certain individuals who want to see her pay for something she never did! Just alot of speculation, by wanna be crime solvers!! this women should get the hell outta there at all costs!! there's no room for independent women in IRAN!!!

[Hassan shoja]

07:02 PM on 07/21/2010

The men are hanged for the crime.

[G F]

08:29 PM on 07/22/2010

The timing of thes so-called news story last week (which exclusively started in the British press, and there are no other sources to prove its authenticity), is quite interesting.

Either way, what is certain is that this is fake news, like most of the so-called news stories which are motivated by and large by an insignificant Civilian nuclear power plant and medical isotope producing plant which is they are "not supposed to have" in spite of being a 60-year long signatory to the NPT.

[Hassan shoja]

08:47 PM on 07/18/2010

"In the first place, the allegation was murder," the lawyer told Babylon & Beyond. "She was accused of killing her husband, but as her children forgave her ... she was pardoned and there was no more allegation against her. But to complicate the case, the court raised the issue of adultery."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/07/iran-stoning-sakineh-ashtiani.html

We do not understand the story because we do not understand the Islamic laws.

These are three different cases with three different punishment.

1. adultery while not married, punishable by 90 lashes, which she has received.

2. Murder of husband, punishable by death, if "the owner of the blood" in this case her children, do not object. The children have forgiven her and the court could not execute her for conviction.

3. Adultery while married, punishable by death. She was convicted under this law with enough evidence which is at least two male witnesses or four female witnesses. Obviously her two boy friends had witnessed against her in court. The court used this to punish her, otherwise she would get away with murder.

Now the case is Adultery because of Islamic law that allow a private person to forgive a murder. Otherwise in western court system this still would be a murder case.

Also the method of execution was never stoning as it is very rare to use this method in Iran.

I am all for trying to save her, but do not sacrifice the truth.

[wereeverywhere]

09:07 PM on 07/18/2010

Wrong. She was sentenced to be stoned for the crime(sic) of adultery. The link you post is July 12. On the 15th July Amnesty released its latest statement, meaning they were aware of the various statements. They reiterate:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/077/2010/en/74790acb-477a-4993-bb67-059bd26abd1e/mde130772010en.html
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence. Despite this, she was then also convicted of “adultery while being married", which she has denied, and sentenced to death by stoning.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, is held on death row in Tabriz Prison, north-west Iran, and could still face execution. Around 7 July, following international protests, officials in Tabriz asked the head of Iran’s judiciary to agree that her sentence of stoning to death be converted to execution by hanging.

[wereeverywhere]

09:12 PM on 07/18/2010

Her children have been trying to prevent her being stoned. From their plea (note the link leads to a petition; please sign it):

http://www.care2.com/news/member/901922468/1702641

"Do not allow our nightmare become a reality,
Protest against our mother’s stoning!...

We are Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani’s children, Fasride and Sajjad Mohamamadi e Ashtiani. Since our childhood we have been acquainted with the pain of knowing that our mother is imprisoned and awaiting a catastrophe. To tell the truth, the term “stoning” is so horrific that we try never to use it. We instead say our mother is in danger, she might be killed, and she deserves everyone’s help.

Help to save our mother. Write to and ask officials to free her. Tell them that she doesn’t have a civil complainant and has not done any wrong. Our mother should not be killed. Is there any one hearing this and rushing to our assistance?

Faride and Sajjad Mohammadi e Ashtiani"

[To add insult to injury, Amnesty reports that:]

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/077/2010/en/74790acb-477a-4993-bb67-059bd26abd1e/mde130772010en.html

"On 14 July Sajjad Qaderzadeh, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s son, was summoned to Tabriz’s Central Prison, and is believed to have been questioned by Ministry of Intelligence officials who possibly threatened him not to give further interviews about his mother’s case."

[Nabihah Mohammed]

03:52 PM on 07/17/2010

please check out http://www.islamicsolutions.com/of-human-bondage/

[William Belle]

04:30 PM on 07/14/2010

This woman has been condemned to be executed for adultery; what about the men? It takes two to tango; this woman can't become an adulterer all by herself.

I have consulted at least a half a dozen news sources but no where do I find any mention of the men. The woman is condemned to die for adultery but not the men.

http://wqebelle.blogspot.com/2010/07/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-adulterer.html

[Shomali]

08:31 PM on 07/17/2010

She was convicted for brutally murdering her husband with the help of her lover in addition to adultery and the dude is also convicted.

[wereeverywhere]

09:49 PM on 07/17/2010

She was sentenced to be stoned because of adultery.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/077/2010/en/74790acb-477a-4993-bb67-059bd26abd1e/mde130772010en.html

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence. Despite this, she was then also convicted of “adultery while being married", which she has denied, and sentenced to death by stoning.

[Hassan shoja]

05:51 AM on 07/13/2010

Maybe this stoning was manufactured to hide the real embarrassing news below.

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=134535§ionid=351020101

[wereeverywhere]

09:20 AM on 07/13/2010

IRI was going to stone an adulterer to hide what?

[Hassan shoja]

10:03 AM on 07/13/2010

There was no stoning.

It is all propaganda.

She was tried for planing murder of her husband, which was executed by her boy friends.

[Shomali]

08:20 PM on 07/17/2010

I guess the idea that this woman killed her husband brutally with the help of her boyfriend registers as adultery in some people's mind. She was convicted and sentenced first to 10 years (initially the evidence was she was only knowledgable about the murder then it became clear she was directly involved and the masterminded the murder) then to execution. Stoning is not even mentioned in her sentence. I am against executions anywhere but to turn her execution sentence because she murdered someone brutally into being executed for adultery is absurd and will not get her off. Actually, it will make her case worse because clemency requires admission and asking for forgiveness. This only furthers people like you who have a political agenda, to say IRI is full of violent people who are going to have nukes so lets bomb them to the stone age. That is it.

[YrthWyndAndFyre]

12:30 PM on 07/11/2010

Sharia is a rather narrow sect of Islam. This is not the first time such 'barbaric' sentences have been perpetrated, and I doubt it will be the last.

That is not my concern. If the sentence is death by stoning, then the crime must have been adultery by a married woman. If that is true, have the rules of evidence been respected (four witnesses are required)? If she is guilty, then there is a man who is likewise guilty and subject to the same punishment. Has he been found and is he facing the same punishment?

The application of their law does not trouble me so much as the flagrant misapplication of it. I was first introduced to this in the case of Bariya Magazu in Nigeria, where she was punished for sex outside marriage, and there were no witnesses (the evidence was that she was pregnant out of wedlock), and there was never any man brought to justice for the crime. So the real barbarity was that she was punished *exclusively* and the male participant(s) set free.

From what I have heard of this case, the situation is the same. This woman is being punished for a crime that requires at least two criminals. Where is the other one? Why is he not being punished? For if he is not, then the woman cannot be justly punished, especially under Sharia law which gives men primacy in intergender affairs.

[Hassan shoja]

08:59 PM on 07/12/2010

There were no stoning to begin with.

The whole stoning news is manufactured by western media.

I am just worried that all of these propagandas without stating the facts have a goal to start a war with Iran in future.

Now some facts. You can find these facts even by reading European papers and Internet as people in Europe are not that gullible as Americans. For example nobody in Europe believed that Saddam was involved with Al-Qaeda and 9/11 while 69% of Americans had believed that propaganda.

The stoning sentence was never issued.

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=134025

She was in th house when her boy friends murdered her husband with her consent.

This is also murder case and not pure adultery case.

Her boy friends are already executed for "MURDER" and not only for adultery.

She still can appeal to higher court.

The leader of Iran still can lower the sentence but Ahmadinejad has no power in any legal case and cannot do anything for her.

I am worried about Americans to find another imaginary evil to fight with (Iran) and forget that the most evil powers in ME are our friends and allies(Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UEA, Israel etc).

I am affraid of power of propaganda and gullible Americans.

[wereeverywhere]

09:04 PM on 07/12/2010

Not that we shouldn't believe someone who religiously follows PressTV, but Amnesty's latest report disagrees:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-must-not-execute-woman-spared-stoning-death-any-means-2010-07-09

Amnesty International today urged the Iranian authorities not to execute by any method a 43-year-old woman convicted of adultery, following an official statement that she will not be executed by stoning.

The Iranian Embassy in London announced on Thursday that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani would not be stoned to death. However, fears remain that the mother-of-two could be hanged, as she has been convicted of “adultery while married”.

"We note the Iranian Embassy's statement on stoning, but a mere change of the method of execution would not address the injustice faced by Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa deputy director...

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence. Despite this, she was then also convicted of “adultery while being married", which she has denied, and sentenced to death by stoning.

Amnesty International is aware of at least 10 other people (seven women and three men) under sentence of stoning and believes there are likely to be others. Last year, at least three people sentenced to death by stoning were in fact executed by hanging.

[Shandroid]

11:53 PM on 07/13/2010

Hello, Hassan, I am one of those "gullible Americans" who believe everything I hear and read! My question for you is why would Ashtiani's children be supporting her profusely, denying that she was guilty of any wrongdoing if she was in fact, according to your non-propaganda spewing truth-telling site, at the house consenting to the brutal murder of their father? If in fact, this website you refer to is correct in saying that the children "forgave" their mother for the murder, then why are the children claiming their mother is completely innocent of any wrongdoing, which in this case is adultery? Wouldn't Ashtiani be innocent of murder, if in fact, she was not sleeping with these two men? Do you really think this woman was really sleeping with these TWO men, who, wanting to continue to sleep with her so they killed her husband for her? How does this sound to you? Do you really think this so-called "evil" woman would be able to manage to keep her children in her life and to support her unrelentingly? Why don't you think a bit for yourself on this matter.

[Shomali]

08:22 PM on 07/17/2010

"Sharia is a rather narrow sect of Islam. "

Sharia is not a sect. You need to educate yourself a bit before posting something you are not clear about. She is sentenced to execution (not stoning) for murdering her husband with the help of her lover. That is not even being mentioned by people who have a political agenda to start a war with Iran.

[wereeverywhere]

09:56 PM on 07/17/2010

As regards Ashtiani, she was sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

[billw8017]

10:33 PM on 07/10/2010

Now, it is just another example of the Obama administration keeping consistent with the previous administration, a hypocritical policy deceiving the American public then, a pointless and futile policy now. We are actually funding the Indian nuclear program and destabilizing nuclear Pakistan. Cutting Iran off leaves us a helpless witness to a nuclear arms race in south Asia.

[billw8017]

10:32 PM on 07/10/2010

While we may seem apologists for a savage kind of justice, what disturbs us is the broad brush condemnation of Iran, a nation acting in what must seem its national interests and threatened with war or what is technically acts of war. We were able to support the Shah despite the abuses of his internal police and the un democratic nature of his government. That the founders of its "Islamic Republic" labeled the United States "the Great Satan" in no wise captures our sympathy. It remains a "republic," a nation that is, at least, embarrassed by an appearance of electoral fraud.

We do seem to have sympathizers in Iran who are discredited there by our belligerent yet largely futile policies.

It is time to forgive Iran for the assault on our embassy and holding our people hostage. The fact of the matter is that the students were very concerned about the health and well being of their hostages and negotiated through Iranian students within the United States between the Republicans and the Democrats in 1980, finally releasing the hostages on Reagan's inauguration day in January 1981.

While publicly keeping a distance toward them, the Reagan administration dealt with Iran to ransom hostages and sold NATO weaponry to them to finance its Contra war in defiance of the Boland Amendment. Keeping our relationship sub rosa worked for the administration then.

[Behnaz Tavakoli]

03:35 AM on 07/10/2010

If you are interested in Iran's news, then give also their version of the news a chance.

There is more truth about Iran there than in western media.

http://www.presstv.com/llnw/

[wereeverywhere]

03:49 AM on 07/10/2010

Any word from the good people at PressTV on this Amnesty International report?

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iran-one-year-crackdown-dissent-widens-hundreds-unjustly-imprisoned-2010-06

"The Iranian government is determined to silence all dissenting voices, while at the same time trying to avoid all scrutiny by the international community into the violations connected to the post-election unrest," said Claudio Cordone, Amnesty International’s interim Secretary General.

"The government has taken the absurd stand that virtually no violations have occurred in Iran when it presented its national report to the Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council, who will adopt its final report this week. We ask them to accept recommendations relating to the treatment of prisoners and to let UN human rights experts visit the country.”

Hundreds of people remain detained for their part in the protests of June 2009 or for otherwise expressing dissenting views and the imprisonment of ordinary citizens has become an every day phenomenon in an expanding ‘revolving door system’ of arbitrary arrest and detention. Those with only tentative links to banned groups as well as family members of former prisoners have been subjected to arbitrary arrest in the past year.

[Behnaz Tavakoli]

07:15 AM on 07/10/2010

Yes they have the latest honest news about Iran, not like propaganda you get from Fox News.

Enjoy: http://www.presstv.com/llnw/

[wereeverywhere]

03:53 AM on 07/10/2010

It's important to listen to state TV and get their take on why they did what they did to their victim. Any idea where I can Manson's side of the story on the Tate-LaBianca murders, or a good report on that defends the Hutus' genocide, or a sympathetic bio on Stalin?

[Newsradiohead]

02:35 AM on 07/10/2010

I wish I could fly to Iran and break this woman out of jail with my bare hands like Superman.

But I can't, so consequently all I can do is sign the petition.

[Gumer Liston]

02:21 AM on 07/10/2010

The sad fact is that some people remain as cavemen despite the fact that we are now in the 21st century. I am fortunate to be born in a country that is not run by cavemen.