Publish Date: Oct 04, 2013
Arifa Bibi was sentenced to death by stoning by a Pakistani tribal
court, and was executed on July 11 at the hands of her family. Her
uncle, cousins and other family members threw stones at the woman until
she died all because she had a mobile phone.
She was buried in the desert far away from her home village, and
according to reports, her family was not permitted to be involved in her
funeral.
Stoning has been a common sentence in countries like Pakistan for a
long time and is used against women and other vulnerable groups. Since
the stoning of Arifa Bibi this summer, women’s rights groups have
launched an even stronger campaign to put a ban on stoning.
Naureen Shameem, representative for women’s rights group Women
Living under Muslim Laws, says that stoning is used against women in
particular as a way to control them.
“Stoning is a cruel and hideous punishment,” said Shameem. “It is a
form of torturing someone to death. It is one of the most brutal forms
of violence perpetrated against women in order to control and punish
their sexuality and basic freedoms.”
The Asian Human Rights Commission explained the act of stoning against women in a recent press release.
“Stoning to death is a barbaric act from a primitive society,” reads the press release.
“Society is sent the message that violence is the way to deal with
women and other vulnerable groups. Women’s rights are negated through
the use of these forms of punishment. Pakistani society has degenerated
to the point that, for a woman, keeping a cell phone has become serious
crime.
"It is treated as a worse crime than gang rape, murder and bomb blasts, through which many people are killed on a daily basis.”
Groups are currently petitioning the United Nations to enact a
worldwide ban on stoning. It is not known what progress has been made on
that front.
Source: opposingviews.com
