Urgent Action needed!

As a former intern of the great organization Equality Now, I try to keep up with their advocacy work.

They just posted an urgent action looking for people (you!) to write to the Iranian judiciary demanding the release (or at least commutation of the sentence) of Kobra Najjar. Ms. Najjar was in an abusive relationship with a husband who forced her into prostitution to support his drug addiction. She has been sentenced to death by stoning for "adultery" -- her forced prostitution. She has exhausted all of her domestic legal remedies and is now eligible for immediate execution. Please take action today; visit the Equality Now website and the site for this specific action.

You can make a difference today; why not take the opportunity?


This is the contact information for the Iranian judiciary:

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Head of the Judiciary
c/o Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Teheran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: iripr@iranjudiciary.org, irjpr@iranjudiciary.com and info@dadgostary-tehran.ir

This is the email I sent, if you would like to simply copy and paste:

Please effect Kobra Najjar’s immediate release. Even if she is guilty of adultery, it was forced upon her by an abusive husband, and therefore her liability and her punishment should be mitigated by that outstanding factor. Kobra Najjar is already the victim of gender-based violence, intimidation and degradation at the hands of her husband; do not allow your judiciary to continue this pattern of discrimination against her. It is, frankly, unconstitutional under Iran's own constitutional provision for equality under the law.

I also encourage you to commute all sentences of death by stoning in accordance with your own international legal obligations. Stoning violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Iran is a state party. The ICCPR clearly prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment. It also limits the imposition of the death penalty “only for the most serious crimes.” No criminal or other act warrants violent and inhumane punishments such as flogging and stoning. Moreover, adultery is a private act and should not incur criminal punishment.

Additionally, I urge you to initiate a comprehensive review of the Civil and Penal Codes of Iran to remove all provisions that discriminate and perpetuate discrimination against women, including those regarding adultery and fornication, in accordance with Iran’s own constitutional provision for equality before the law.

Sincerely,

Chitikuko, folks

"Chitikuko" (misspelled) means development. That is my goal.

For this page, for myself, and for the people who are passionate about international women's human rights. Here I want to learn and to educate, to write and to read, to share and to add to my community.

Let's start with the American media, seeing as how I am an American and am currently residing in America. The news is incredibly biased, of course, toward an "American" point of view, often leaving out important stories of inspiring work being done in developing countries. Democracy Now is absolutely the best news source in the United States for those interested in the workings of humanity and I hope you'll check it out. And, of course, for all the latest and greatest on women's issues, check out Women's E News if you have not already done so.