Abolish Stoning and Barbaric Punishment Worldwide!

Stoning is an archaic execution method, where a crowd throws stones at the victim until it is dead. Islamic law and custom foresees that the stone’s size is chosen for a victim to survive as long as possible and to die slowly and in agony. Reports speak of stonings that took several hours.

Stoning is in opposition to articles 3 and 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of articles 6 and 7 of the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantee the right to life and prohibit torture and inhuman treatment. Furthermore stoning because of adultery is against the international principle of commensurability. ISHR aims at abolishing stoning worldwide and to stop its rise in states like Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The death sentences through stoning of the years 2001 and 2002 in northern Nigeria have brought up an international discussion on Sharia’s penalty of stoning. Between 2000 and 2001 twelve northern Nigerian states officially declared the Sharia as their criminal code, even though many regulations conflict with the Nigerian constitution. The introduction of Sharia law directly and indirectly led to many violent riots. Sharia was not only introduced in Nigeria: In Malaysia two province parliaments decided the introduction of Sharia. Indonesia introduced Sharia in the province of Aceh and Pakistan in its north-western province.

The growing tendency of introducing Sharia law into the criminal code comes along with increasing tensions between different political and ethnic fractions in the respective countries. It is of utmost importance to dispute the question of this extremely inhuman punishment and to find ways of introducing concrete measures in order to prevent its further spread and to achieve the abolishment from criminal codes or the non-execution of stoning.

Sentences to stoning or stonings without a sentence were reported within the last years from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi-Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Lashing and amputations are even more widespread. Please help us to abolish these barbaric practices!