Homosexuals To Be Stoned To Death In Brunei

Brunei has just taken a giant step back into the dark ages. The death penalty, by stoning, will now be meted out for the following offenses:

Homosexuality, sodomy, adultery, extramarital relations for Muslims, blasphemy (defaming Mohammed), apostasy, along with rape, murder and robbery.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights is "concerned."

"We are deeply concerned about the revised penal code in Brunei Darussalam, due to come into force later this month, which stipulates the death penalty for numerous offences," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights.

"Application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offences contravenes international law," Colville said.

Although no-one has been executed since 1957, the current sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, wants to institute harsh Islamic Shariah law as the law of the land, which allows for death by stoning. Homosexuality, which is illegal in the country, could get you 10 years in jail, that will change on April 22.

Source: Opposing Views.

It's all very interesting considering some of the Sultan's family members have a not so Islamically stellar reputation. Mansions, jets, harems full of prostitutes, jets and other excesses.

Afghanistan Mulls Reinstating Stoning For Adultery

It's the 21st century, and according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) some officials within the Afghan government are lobbying to get public stoning for adultery back into the penal code. The Taliban enjoyed that public form of punishment/entertainment when they reigned supreme some 12 years ago. So popular, they were held in the Ghazi Stadium in Kabul.

A draft, put together by the Justice Ministry, proposes stoning for married adulterers and flogging for unmarried ones- remember, sex outside of marriage under Shariah law is considered adultery.

“Men and women who commit adultery shall be punished based on the circumstances to one of the following punishments: lashing, stoning [to death],” article 21 states. The draft goes on to specify that the stoning should be public, in article 23.

And we're thinking of staying on past 2014??

Sources: RFE/RL, Gulf News

Pakistani Woman Stoned To Death For Having A Cell Phone

From the Asian Human Rights Commission: Arifa, a young Pakistani mother of two, was stoned to death by an uncle and other relatives because they discovered she had a cell phone.  The death sentence by stoning was issued by the Panchayat or tribal court.  No-one has been arrested, and more than likely never will be.

According to media reports her uncle, cousins and other relatives threw stones and bricks at her until she died. She was buried without informing anyone. Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the Panchayat but no one has been arrested. She was buried in a desert far away from her village and nobody (not even her children) was allowed to participate in the funeral. Her husband is unknown.

The Panchayat is illegal., but no-one is willing to do anything about it, and the local police are complicit.

It's all about controlling the female population in a chauvinistic, patriarchal society where a woman's life means absolutely nothing.

Sickening.

More here.

Sudanese Teen To Be Stoned To Death For Adultery

Intisfar Sharif Abdalla is only a teen, somewhere between 15 and 17, and a mother of a newborn baby. But unlike the slew of young unwed mothers in this country who usually have a support system and family to help raise those children, Intisfar will be stoned to death in Sudan.

On May 13 (without legal counsel) Intisfar was sentenced to death, and she has her brother to blame for that. Apparently, he beat and tortured her into confessing to adultery, and was the one to bring the situation to the court's attention. Both Intisfar and the man who is accused of fathering her child denied being involved, but that's easy to refute when there's a child as proof.

Not surprisingly, while Intisfar sits in jail with her baby waiting to be pummeled to death by stones, the man has not been charged and walks free.

The travesty is that Judge Sami Ibrahim Shabo sentenced her with no representation, and only after one hearing, in spite of the fact the confession was coerced through torture. She eventually was able to speak to her lawyer, but only after the sentencing.

A women's organization Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is pressing for an investigation, and hopefully an overturning of the death sentence.  Many believe the fact that the man is not being punished, is an indication of how unfairly women are treated in that country. And what about the brother's brutal beating of his sister?  I suppose he figured the court system would save him from having to honor kill Intisfar himself, but his torture also goes unpunished.
According to The Observer:

Sharif is understood to be deeply traumatized and is without access to any suitable psychosocial support. Her newly born child is also with her in prison. Ultimately, some observers believe the judgment demonstrates the scale of discrimination against women and girls in Sudan and the biased judgments made against them for acts which involves two sexes – a man and woman. It is incredulous that the man with whom she has been accused is able to walk free showing explicitly the strong anti-women sentiment and harsh management of family disputes that exist within both the Sudanese judicial system and society.

But it's not just Sudan, it's Islam (in general) which discriminates against women, particularly in countries that follow Shariah Law.

Afghan Widow and Daughter Stoned To Death For Adultery

Nothing has changed much in Afghanistan. Women are still severely oppressed, and as long as the Taliban remain there, life will continue to be hell for them. 

The latest atrocity:  According to Bilal Sarwary of the BBC, a young widow and her daughter were stoned and then shot to death after the mother was accused of "moral deviation and adultery"  in Ghazni province. And this all happened within earshot of

..  the governor's office, the police chief's office and a Western-backed Provincial Reconstruction Team.

According to an official, the woman and her daughter were dragged into the yard, but no-one bothered to help or call the police in time to save them. That's probably because the neighbours were either too afraid to intervene, or the ones who reported the woman to the Taliban in the first place; since there have been fatwas issued by the Taliban asking people to tattle on adulterers. But was she even guilty of adultery? With Shariah law, all it takes is a jealous neighbour to falsely claim someone has done something wrong and they can end up dead. That's justice Shariah-style. And how could she be guilty of adultery if she was a widow?

And what about the daughter- what did that young girl do to deserve to die?

Even though the Taliban is not in control of the Afghan government, they still hold sway over much of the country.  Sarwary says of Ghazni:

There are 18 districts in Ghazni. Seven are in government control. In 11 the government only exists inside the district headquarters.


In much of the region, the Taliban are taxing people and banning girls from schools. Joint weddings have been banned - the bride and groom are not allowed to be together as it is thought the woman makes too much noise walking to the wedding hall, disturbing the men.


The Taliban are killing and imprisoning people who work for the government. They control all of the major roads. Drivers are regularly beaten. There are instances where district officials have been beheaded. The Taliban have banned mobile phones, video cameras and music apart from Taliban radio stations playing hypnotic chants.

I don't hold much hope for that country, especially when we pull out.

Iran Refuses Brazil's Offer Of Asylum For Woman Sentenced To Death By Stoning

 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian widow and mother of two, was scheduled to be stoned to death for allegedly committing adultery, an unproven allegation that she vehemently denies. After a global campaign to stop her execution, Iranian officials begrudgingly did, but who knows for how long. There are those who think she might eventually be hanged, given the Iranian government's penchant for blood. But whether she's stoned or hanged is irrelevant. Yes, adultery is considered morally wrong by most religions, but  does it warrant a death sentence? Only in the barbaric realm of Shariah law, where even a widow or a single person is considered to have committed adultery if they have sexual relations outside of marriage.  Even if she was guilty of committing adultery, that is an issue between Sakineh and her God, not for any 'man' to judge.  Apparently, she was coerced into confessing after being brutally flogged, but she swears she is not guilty.

The whole world has rallied to save this woman, but I'm sure it's only made the rogue leaders of Iran  dig  their heels in even harder. Brazil very kindly stepped up to the plate and has offered asylum to Sakineh, a great opportunity for the Iranians to show their mercy, but they refused the offer, just proving how cruel and inhumane they are.

Despite international pressure, Iran said Tuesday that it rejects Brazil's offer of asylum for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proposed Saturday to give sanctuary to Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose case has garnered global attention.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Lula lacked sufficient information about the case, the state news agency Agencia Brasil said.

Iranian human rights activists, along with other human rights organizations across the globe, have been tirelessly campaigning for her release, but nothing seems to have helped other than postponing the inevitable death of an innocent woman.

Meanwhile, a human rights activist who has taken up Ashtiani's case penned a letter to Lula, saying that his offer was an "important step" in saving Ashtiani from undue punishment.

Mina Ahadi of the International Committee against Stoning said the campaign to save Ashtiani's life will continue. She said she hopes Brazil and other governments will keep up pressure on the Islamic regime in Tehran, which she said rules through fear and punishment and should not be recognized by the international community.

"Allow me, as a representative of the oppressed people in Iran, to say that I not only want to save Sakineh and abolish stoning, but that I also ask all heads of state not to recognise the Islamic regime as the representative of the Iranian people but to see it as the murderer of people in Iran," Ahadi wrote in her letter to Lula.

And even though Brazil and Iran have one of the few existing semi-cordial relationships in the global sphere, refusing Lula's offer is a slap in the face of those improved relations.

What harm could there have been in shipping Sakineh and her children off to Brazil? It might have made the Iranian government look a tad better, but they don't really care what others think. So they'll continue to persecute and execute innocent people, because they can.