Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani is a forty-three year old mother of two children, 16 & 20 years old respectively,and has been sentenced to death by stoning for committing adultery. Despite the best efforts of her lawyer and children, her stoning has just been finalized by the Iranian court.
Sakine is now in Tabriz prison awaiting her imminent death at the hands of superstitious throwbacks. On days like these, maybe we should be grateful that the chunterings of our homegrown fundamentalists are too pathetic to get much of an audience (always excepting the idle educationalists and overpaid social services consultants).
International Coalition Against Stoning distributed the following ‘plea to the world’ made on June 26th by Sakine's children.
”Do not allow our nightmare to become a reality, Protest against our mother’s stoning!
Today we stretch out our hands to the people of the whole world. It is now five years that we have lived in fear and in horror, deprived of motherly love. Is the world so cruel that it can watch this catastrophe and do nothing about it?
We are Sakine Mohammadi e Ashtiani’s children, Fasride and Sajjad Mohamamadi e Ashtiani. Since our childhood we have been acquainted with the pain of knowing that our mother is imprisoned and awaiting a catastrophe. To tell the truth, the term "stoning" is so horrific that we try never to use it. We instead say our mother is in danger, she might be killed, and she deserves everyone's help.
Today, when nearly all options have reached dead-ends, and our mother's lawyer says that she is in a dangerous situation, we resort to you. We resort to the people of the world, no matter who you are and where in the world you live. We resort to you, people of Iran, all of you who have experienced the pain and anguish of the horror of losing a loved one.
Please help our mother return home!
We especially stretch our hand out to the Iranians living abroad.
Help to prevent this nightmare from becoming reality. Save our mother. We are unable to explain the anguish of every moment, every second of our lives.
Words are unable to articulate our fear…
Help to save our mother. Write to and ask officials to free her.
Tell them that she doesn’t have a civil complainant and has not done any wrong. Our mother should not be killed. Is there any one hearing this and rushing to our assistance?
Faride and Sajjad Mohammadi e Ashtiani”
(Disseminated by the International Committee Against Stoning)
To join a petition being sent to Iranian officials, plus the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, go to http://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944&lang=en
9 years ago
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