Amputations and Floggings on the Rise

(13 October 2010) The Iranian Parliament and Judiciary should immediately abolish cruel and inhumane punishments, such as limb amputation, stoning, and flogging, consistent with Iran’s international obligations, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

In recent days Iranian officials have acknowledged that amputations have been carried out and an increasing number of flogging sentences have been issued for post-election protestors.

“These inhumane and barbaric acts are nothing but torture under international law and should be abolished,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.

The head of the Iranian delegation to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in February and June 2010, Mohammad Javad Larijani, told the Council that Iran does not consider such punishments as torture and that they are culturally justified.

Stand Up to Ahmadinejad’s Falsehoods

(20 September 2010) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lied outright about the stoning sentence of Sakineh Ashtiani during an interview with ABC’s Christiane Amanpour on 19 September, by denying a stoning sentence was ever issued, despite well-documented evidence to the contrary the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said.

The international community, world leaders, and members of the media present in New York for the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, should strongly register their protests against Ahmadinejad’s lies about the critical situation of human rights in Iran, the group said.

The Systematic Repression of the Women’s Rights Movement — May 2008

An International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran report on the various dimensions of the repression of women’s rights activists in Iran.

Two Executed by Stoning, as a Third Escapes

(3 January 2009) Three men were subjected to stoning sentences on 25 December 2008, in the Behesht Zahra Cemetery in the City of Mashad, according to local sources, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. Two were stoned to death, while a third, an Afghani national, apparently managed to escape from the hole in which he was partially buried. His fate is unknown.

The stonings contradict an official claim that Iranian authorities had put an end to the practice, a form of capital punishment considered barbaric by the international community.

Emad Baghi’s “The Bloodied Stone”

Emad Baghi’s piece “The Bloodied Stone” on the lawfulness within Islamic jurisprudence of stoning executions.