Zeitschrift für Kunst- und Sozialwissenschaften

Stoning Women in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Is It Holy Law or Gender Violence

Abstract

Hamid R Kusha and Nawal H Ammar

This paper explores the Islamic Republic of Iran’s use of stoning (rajm) as a penal measure sanctified by the Islamic Penal Code (IPC). Using data from newspapers and human rights reports the paper provides an overview and examples of stoning cases in contemporary Iran. The roots of the controversy about stoning in Islam and its use in Iran are explored. The paper concludes that the IPC’s procedures in contemporary Iran not only revive an age old debate at odds with the Islamic norms of sacred revelation. It also regards stoning women in contemporary Iran to be are flection of a state that supports violence against women and not an Islamic practice.