Global/foreign issue

Essay: Global/foreign issue
By: Chloé Reiss

The barbaric chastisement of women by stoning in Iran


Every day in the world, occur frightening actions that the majority of people ignore or do not really give attention to. It is shocking to realize that such things still happen nowadays in the world that we live in, a world fighting for the human rights and seeking for equality. On the 28th of June 2006, a thirty-four-year old woman named Malak Ghorbany was accused of adultery and condemned to death by the law court of Ourmia located in the Northwest part of Iran. In fact, according to the Iranian penal code, the term ‘adultery’ refers to any intimate or sexual relationship between a woman and a man that are not married. In case of adultery, the death penalty is unavoidable. By hazard, Malak’s fate was world denounced and gave conscious of terrifying procedures, still practiced nowadays in Iran. During a stoning execution, the victim’s hands are tied behind her back and her body covered by a sheet. The person is then buried in the ground up to her chest, surrounded by ‘the murderers’ throwing stones at her. Depending on the accusation, the suffering of the execution is defined. According to the law, the stones have to be big enough to lead to death, but not too big in order to avoid a ‘fast ending’.
The story of Malak Ghorbany went around the world throughout the medias in plenty different forms. Articles, videos and even pictures, deplored the cruelty of such condemnations. A ‘stranger’ who got killed by her husband and brother raped Malak. Thinking about protecting them for their crime, Malak plead guilty of adultery. ‘Adultery’ also refers to any acts incompatible with chastity committed by women, which includes the rape. In the case of Malak Ghorbany, the particular method of execution, stoning, is one of the most inhuman and cruel form of torture and violence.
From this point, Malak’s accusations and treatments appeal to the feminist theory. The Feminist theory based its principles on the women’s rights and seeks ways to obtain and achieve social justice. The feminist theory calls in questions the status of women in societies, consideration and esteem that they should receive. As a claim of her human’s rights, Malak should have been defended and protected for being raped. But instead of being the victim, she was found guilty. The injustice and discrimination was even more emphasized by the ignorance gave to the murderers of her aggressor. The case denounced the mentality that it plays in these communities to make such things acceptable. There is notion that men have any rights to do everything they want when it comes to women, which can perfectly be analyzed by using the conflict theory. Conflict theorists “examine the ongoing conflict between the dominant and subordinate groups in society, such as between men and women” (Parillo, 11).
However, the story of Malak Ghorbany could also be interestingly analyzed in terms of the illustration of a functional theory. The functional theory characterized the actions of institutions and organizations, combined to promote existing social values and norms. In fact, “proponents of functional theory emphasize that the various parts of society have functions, or positive effects, that promote solidarity and maintain the stability of the whole” (Parillo, 10). The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Iran published a call for Malak Ghorbany, in order to save her life. A petition was addressed to members of the United Nations, International Amnesty and many different organizations and organisms in the world, to make opposition to Malak’s accusation. It is necessary that people get together and fight against these injustices that women deal with in these communities, especially when it comes to such horrors. The petition created in order to save Malak, collected over 14,000 signatures, and helped to call in question her case and push back her sentence of death. Nowadays, she still remains in jail.
The case of Malak Ghorbany is not just a women issue, not just a religious issue but a broader human right problem that the daily violence against women happens throughout the world.

Source:
Parrillo, V. (2008). Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations (3ed). Pearsons Education, Inc.
“The story of Malak Ghorbany – and the fight to save her life” January 22nd 2007
http://askew.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/1/22/2673327.html