Urgent Appeal to save a 13-year-old girl from stoning in Iran

Boston, MA - The fundamentalist regime of Iran is planning to stone a 13-year-old girl, Jila, in the city of Marivan in coming days. Jila was raped and impregnated by her brother and Iran's clerical judge has sentenced her to death by stoning. According to the Iranian regime's penal code, stoning is the punishment for those who commit adultery.

But Jila did not commit adultery; rather she is a victim of rape.

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2004
Public Statement
CONTACT: pre...@wfafi.org

Urgent Appeal to save a 13-year-old girl from stoning in Iran

Boston, MA - The fundamentalist regime of Iran is planning to stone a 13-year-old girl, Jila, in the city of Marivan in coming days. Jila was raped and impregnated by her brother and Iran's clerical judge has sentenced her to death by stoning. According to the Iranian regime's penal code, stoning is the punishment for those who commit adultery. Jila did not commit adultery; rather she is a victim of rape.

The stoning in Iran is carried out as "the condemned are wrapped head to foot in white shrouds and buried up to their waists. " The misogynous regime of Tehran even details the difference between the stoning of men vs. women. "The female condemned are buried up to their neck to prevent their escape." Furthermore, "the stones are specifically chosen so they are large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the condemned immediately. They are guaranteed a slow, torturous death. Sometimes their children are forced to watch." No other government in the world practices stoning like the Iranian regime.

Women's Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI) calls upon the international community and human rights organization to fight for Jila's life and stop Tehran's regime from stoning her. Iran's constitution does not offer women and young girls any protection or due process in the court. There are no legal avenues open to Jila to appeal the judge's decision. For this reason, WFAFI urgently calls upon Mrs. Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner, to intervene on Jila's behalf and save her.

WFAFI also calls upon UNICEF to dispatch a fact-finding mission on this case and save Jila. Gender violence in Iran is sharply rising and increasingly claiming younger lives everyday.

http://www.wfafi.org
WFAFI
P.O.Box 15205, Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617) 590-1665