Michael Hammersley
September 8th, 2010
8:23 P.M.
After a conviction for murder and adultery, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani this week the Iranian woman was sentenced to death by stoning. This is the practice where a victim is tied to a pole or hung from a bar and then a group of people throw stones at the victim until they are dead. Iran claims that this is not a matter for foreign powers to decide and that it will not become a human rights case. Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, called Iran's decided punishment, "barbaric beyond words". Iran's foreign ministry however dismissed Western concerns about their form of justice. Iran claims that if they are not allowed to prosecute convicted murderers and adulterers than they will have no choice but to let them go free. According to Iran, if they cannot prosecute the way they see fit, that all the convicted murderers in Europe should be let go without prosecution as well. Sakinch Mohammadi Ashtiani, is 43 and a mother of two children, and although the decision to stone her to death, she faces life imprisonment. Due to the international attention of this case however, the trial has been taken to the Iranian Supreme Court and will ultimately be decided by the judiciary. Ashtiani, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes after her picture appeared in Times magazine and she was not wearing her headscarf. After finding out about this incident, Time magazine quickly claimed that it was not Ashtiani but a different Iranian woman.
While the Western world undoubtedly views the practice of stoning with contempt, we in the United States still have 35 states that allow the death penalty to take place. I believe that any form of death penalty is wrong and that it is inhumane to end the life of any living person. I whole-heartedly believe that life in prison is much more of a punishment, while allowing nature to take its course in the convict and not putting the role of God into the hands of humans. I do agree with the practice of stoning or the punishments that Iran seem to be fit for criminals. I also believe that Iran's argument against Europe involving the release of their convicted murderers is beside the point of the argument at hand. Europe's Barroso was arguing against the way in which Iran was going to kill Ashtiani, not that they had sentenced her to death. Whether the argument was a ploy of ignorance, or not, sentencing someone to death in any way, shape, or form is a violation of basic human rights, in my opinion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11212289?print=true
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