If one were to count a few issues that, throughout the past years, have always been a part of Iran’s international image, “stoning” would be among the first five. A while ago, during the third World Congress Against Capital Punishment (which was held in Paris on 1-3 February), a picture of stoning in Iran was chosen as the conference’s poster. It was a moving picture that mirrored the condition of human rights in Iran.
A few days later, Irshad Manji, who is a significant figure in the Western media as a critic of fundamentalist Islam, appeared on C.N.N. The program’s host, Glen Beck, who is one of those commentators that screams Al-Qaida or Iraqi insurgents every time Islam or Muslims are mentioned, asked Manji about the condition of women in the Middle East. Irshad Manji went straight to the Iranian women and some clips of stoning in Iran were shown. The clips were shocking, but they were real.
For me, who was with two non-Iranian friends at the time, it was very difficult to watch those clips about Iranian women and a government that imposes stoning on them. Irshad Manji said nothing about the activities and struggles of the Iranian women, about the campaign to end stoning in Iran, or the one million signature campaign to change discriminatory gender laws, or efforts by some officials within the judiciary to reform the legal code, because the most violent form of punishment is still being carried out in Iran and not long has passed since its last instance.
But, as many who have traveled to Iran in the past years would confirm, the condition of human rights in Iran, if we care to compare, is better than many neighboring countries, from the Middle East through Africa. This point reveals itself more boldly when it comes to women. There are cases of legal and institutional violation of women’s rights; but there is also an educated and sensitive civil society that reacts quickly. For instance, in the past few years, and in the last two years in particular, several stoning sentences have been halted as a result of efforts by non-governmental organizations, civil society institutions, expert lawyers (some with connections to the system), and international organizations, which help bring violations to the fore and turn them into social issues.
Given the high price that laws such as stoning impose on the judiciary, the Iranian image, and daily lives of citizens, it is pressing that officials in the judiciary themselves take the initiative and repeal stoning laws. With such a move, the judiciary will at least take credit for reforming a problem, unlike other instances were popular pressure has forced the government to take enact reform hesitantly.
