Women’s
Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Public Statement
CONTACT:
press@wfafi.org
February 6, 2008
Two Sisters Convicted to Death by Stoning by the Iranian Regime
BOSTON, MA-
Two sisters, 27 year-old Zohreh Kabiri and 28 year-old Azar Kabiri have been
convicted to stoning by the Islamic Fundamentalist regime in Iran. They are
charged with adultery and their verdict was approved by the 23rd branch of the
Iran's Supreme Court. A 49 year-old music teacher, Abdullah Farivar has also
been handed his stoning verdict in northern city of Sari. The sisters had
already been tried before and received 99 lashes. Shockingly, this was their
second trial.
According to the Iranian Penal code, the punishment for adultery for both men
and women is stoning to death. Women are buried up to their neck and men up to
their waist in the ground. The stones should be large enough to cause pain but
not to kill the victim instantly. The public is then asked to throw the stones.
If the victims escape, they are free to go. But the misogynist regime even
applies their discriminatory laws when stoning people to death. What are the
chances of women who are buried up to their neck, escaping this savage
treatment? Absolutely none!
Tehran's regime is relentlessly continuing the policy of suppression, detention,
torture and execution. These days, the scenes of public hangings of teenagers,
women, homosexuals and above all anyone who dares to stand up to them are the
common sights in the streets of Iranian cities. No other country in the world
executes child offenders or stones people to death. The brutalities of the
clerical regime are inhumane, horrific and appalling. The world must stand up to
this cruelty.
The Women's Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI) calls upon the western
governments, human rights organizations and the United Nations to hold Tehran
responsible for gross violations of human rights and to denounce the brutal
practices of stoning and hanging by the Islamic Fundamentalist regime in Iran.
All the leaders of the regime in Iran must be held responsible for severe
violations of human rights, especially the rights of women and children.
WFAFI calls for an end to all the public hangings and stoning in Iran. The world
must pressure the Iranian regime to observe the rights of their citizens. The
history of the past 30 years has proven that the policy of appeasement and the
so-called engagement of the theocrats in Iran would only embolden them. The
mullahs take the approach of western governments as a green light to continue
with the suppression of their people. The policy towards the mullahs must be
based on the human rights practices of the Islamic Fundamentalist regime. The
Iranian regime must be forced to put an end to the persistent suppression of its
own people and not be rewarded by futile engagement.
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