As an Iranian lawyer and a human
rights defender, I am writing to you to ask you to help me save the life of a
woman sentenced to death by stoning! Asharf Kalhori, who is currently in Evin
prison in Tehran, is scheduled to be stoned to death by the end of July 2006 for
the crime of having "sex".
I am voluntarily representing
Ashraf, the mother of four children of ages 9 to 19 to save her from stoning.
She had an extramarital affair because she never loved her husband, but her
request for divorce had been rejected by the court based on the fact that she
had children and, therefore, had to resume living with her husband. Therefore,
some women whose divorce requests are denied opt for extramarital affairs.
If you believe that stoning is not
an appropriate punishment for a woman having sex with a man other than her
husband, if you believe that having sex is not a crime and does not turn a
person into a criminal, and if you believe that Ahsraf Kalhori does not deserve
to die for having had sex, then please express your opposition to stoning.
Your voice counts! I am asking you
to please raise your voice against stoning Ashraf Kalhori by signing the
petition addressed to the Iranian Head of the Judiciary and the Iranian
Parliament representatives. We can save Ashraf's life and, furthermore, together
demand a ban on stoning for ever!
Please sign this petition and let the Iranian Head of
Judiciary and the Iranian Parliament know that there exists grand opposition to
stoning women for having sex, and that we all appose stoning as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading
punishment.
Please
forward this letter to others who may be interested.
Warm
Regards,
Attorney at Law
Tehran, Iran
