July 24, 2010
Mina Ahadi (clasped hands), International Committee Against Execution spoke in Venice, Italy for International Day for Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani. Since the video is not in English, I do not know if Ms Ahadi read the following resolutions. I listened to it, and although I didn’t understand her words, her emotion was clear. She had to flee her own death sentence in Iran in the early 80′s.
Resolutions follow.
Didn’t expect #3.
Save Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Campaign
Resolutions of the Protest against Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani’s Stoning Verdict
We are gathered here today in response to the plight of Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani’s children. They have called upon the world for help to save their mother’s life. We in [name of the place where the protest is being held]… tell them that we feel their pain and enormous grief. We want them to know that they are not alone in their sorrow and anguish.
Dear ones! Your letter has raised a wave of sympathy and compassion, demonstrating that humanity is alive. Today we loudly declare that:
1- The stoning verdict against Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani should be discarded.
2- Execution is murder by the state, and stoning is the most savage and merciless form of execution and should be abolished in Iran and worldwide.
3- Sexual relationships between adults are private matters and no individual, no institution, and especially no government has the right to interfere in these matters
4- We strongly condemn the Islamic Republic for its barbaric implementation of stoning, execution and torture and its enforcement of Qesas laws. We call upon all international institutions as well as the United Nation and the European Union to strongly condemn the Islamic Republic and demand that Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani’s stoning verdict be overturned, as well as the verdicts of all others condemned to stoning and execution.
5- We use this opportunity to demand immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.
6- The Islamic Republic of Iran’s leaders should be prosecuted and punished in an international court on charges of stoning and execution of tens of thousands of people.
No to execution.
No to stoning.
*No to murderous Islamic Qesas laws.
International Committee Against Executions
International Committee Against Stoning
Iran Solidarity
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QESAS LAW from Wiki:
Qanon-e Qesas (Retribution Law) This law codified other aspects of the sharia. It subdivided crimes into hadd – those against God – and those against fellow beings, especially other families. Some punishments are mandatory; others, discretionary. “Based on the notion of lex talionis, the Qesas Law calls for `an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life` – but with the understanding that a Muslim is more valuable than a non-Muslim, and a Muslim man more valuable than a Muslim woman.” [17]
They don’t even try to hide the fact that women are less than.
AND:
One secular critic has described the Qesas (Qisas) Law of the Islamic Republic as discriminating against women, non-Muslims, and the poor; as reviving horrific corporal punishments; and assuming parts of the human body can be converted into money. Qesas punishments “threatens to create an army of handicapped victims. And it `paves the way for judicial torture` by permitting the use of confessions.”[19]
