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the Eighth of October
At least seven women are scheduled to be stoned to death in Iran on charges of adultery sometime after Thursday, October 12. This is not a pleasant way to die. Iranian law mandates that the stones be not large enough to kill them with a few blows, but not small enough to be painless. It can last up to an hour.
Two were forced into prostitution by their husbands, one to feed his heroin habit, one to feed their family. Two were apparently accused on no greater grounds than those of being seen talking with a man. Some of the women confessed-- under interrogation-- and later retracted their confessions. At least five of the women were victims of domestic abuse. Two of them were stabbed by their husbands for being adulterers, and one nearly died.
I'm not very eloquent, so you can read more here and here. You can sign petitions for four of the women here, here, here, and here. You can email the Ministry of Justice in Iran here; the first box is for your name, the second for your email address, the third for your subject, and the fourth for your message. You can email Ayatollah Khameini at info@leader.ir or istiftaa@wilayah.org. You can find many more addresses here.
Electric Venom has a horrifying collection of links on the subject. (Warning: that link contains a graphic photo and links to other disturbing material!) By "horrifying", I mean "educational but appalling, because the whole subject is appalling". There are videos circulating on the Internet of women being stoned, but because I have not yet been able to bring myself to watch them, I will not link to them from here. You can find them if you look. More information can also be found here.
I've written a letter to the local paper as well and am composing one for another paper. I've posted this information on Internet forums and included it in most of my signatures-- I have no objections at all to anyone posting links to this site, and I can't imagine any of the bloggers or petitioners would either. There's lots you can do, from signing the petitions to emailing the Iranians to spreading the word. But please, do something. They may only have four days.
EDIT (10/8): Iran Hajieh Esmailvand is possibly also at risk. It is not clear from this report whether the sentence was ever carried out, or whether she is still in prison awaiting stoning.
bravenet.com
