West Reacts Strongly To Stoning Sentences Under Islamic Law

In its Behind the News section, today's New York Times carries an article exploring the particularly strong reaction in Western countries to two recent cases of execution by stoning under Islamic law. In Afghanistan last week, the Taliban stoned a young couple to death for trying to elope.  Last month international protest arose over the stoning sentence imposed in Iran on a woman accused of adultery. Brazil offered the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, asylum. Iranian authorities then redefined Ashtiani's crime as murder. Stoning is a legal punishment in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan and Nigeria. However it is rarely imposed. Islamic law allows stoning only when four male eyewitnesses testify to the same conduct. Some non-Muslim societies, such as the Kurdish Yazidi, have also imposed the punishment.