While Islamic apologists in the West continue to claim that Islam forbids stoning, the records from countries that implement Islamic law in this particular show otherwise. “Activists: 9 Iranians Convicted of Adultery Set to Be Stoned to Death,” from AP, July 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):
TEHRAN, Iran “” Eight women and one man convicted of adultery are set to be stoned to death in Iran, activists said Sunday.
Lawyer and women’s rights activist, Shadi Sadr, said the nine were convicted of adultery in separate cases in different Iranian cities.
“Their verdicts are approved, and they may be executed at any time,” she told reporters.
Sadr, who has been leading a campaign in Iran against stoning deaths since 2006, said trial protocol was not applied properly in the cases. Six of the nine were convicted based solely on judges’ decisions with no witnesses or the presence of their lawyers during their confessions, she said. […]
Under Iran’s Islamic laws, adultery in the only capital offense punishable by stoning. Other capital offenses in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, drug trafficking, prostitution, treason and espionage.
The punishment is also applied in some other countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Nigeria.
A man is usually buried up to his waist, while a woman is buried up to her neck. Those carrying out the verdict then throw stones until the condemned dies.
Stoning was widely imposed in the early years after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought hard-line clerics to power. But in recent years, it has seldom been applied, though the government rarely confirms when it carries out stoning sentences. The last stoning death confirmed by the government was in July 2007.
In the recent years, reformist legislators demanded an end to death by stoning as a punishment for adultery, but opposition from hard-line clerics sidelined their efforts.
Along with adultery, other capital offenses in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, drug trafficking, prostitution, treason and espionage.