Afghanistan: Mother and daughter stoned to death for adultery

Afghanistan: Mother and daughter stoned to death for adultery

Big News

AsiaNews has reported the stoning of two women, a mother and daughter, both accused of adultery.

According to the organisation, the two were killed Thursday in Ghazni, 138 kikometres southeast of Kabul, only a few hundreds metres from government offices.

Sources told AsiaNews that a group of armed men entered the house where the young widow lived with her daughter.

After accusing them of adultery, they were taken out of the house and stoned before being shot dead.

Despite the sound of screams and gunshots, it appears authorities were not immediately contacted by friends or neighbours.

Officials have said a number of religious leaders in the city have been issuing fatwas, a part of sharia law, asking people to report any one who has allegedly been "involved in adultery". 

Digital Journal

Ghazni - Taliban gunmen stoned and then shot to death an Afghan mother and daughter they accused of "moral deviation and adultery." The killing happened in the Khawaja Hakim area of Ghazni city on Thursday.

Afghan authorities have arrested two men in connection with the incident.

BBC reports that Afghan officials say Taliban gunmen broke into the house in which the woman and her daughter lived and took them out to the yard where they stoned and shot them to death. Afghan authorities, however, blamed neighbors for not informing the authorities as soon as the incident happened. People in the neighborhood who heard shots said they were too afraid to go out.

A neighbor of the women identified as Rahimullah, said:

"When the women in the neighborhood washed the bodies of the killed women, they saw signs of stoning, and the doctors at the local hospital also confirmed to us."

BBC reports that the attack was carried out only 300 meters from the governor's office in Ghazni city. BBC correspondent in Kabul Bilal Sarwary, confirmed that the incident happened in a part of the city close to the governor's office, the police chief's office and the office of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. According to BBC, there are 18 districts in Ghazni, out of which only seven are in government control.

Ghazni provincial police chief Zilawar Zahid, however, denied the story that the women were stoned to death. He told reporters that the gunmen entered the house and killed the women inside.

Daily Mail says local religious clerics are issuing fatwas and asking people to report cases of "adultery." BBC reports that the Taliban impose their strict version of Sharia law over the areas under their control. They ban girls from attending school, they have banned joint weddings, banned mobile phones, video cameras and music. Only the Taliban radio is allowed to operate. Drivers are regularly beaten in the streets. Afghan government officials are arrested and imprisoned, with some having been executed by beheading.

Daily Mail reports a gruesome incident of stoning to death caught on video which happened in the Dashte Archi district of Kunduz early in the year. The video showed Taliban fighters stoning a couple to death in northern Afghanistan on the allegation that the couple committed adultery.

The Taliban have no apologies for perpetuating, in the Twenty First century, medieval notions of law and justice. A Taliban spokesman, according to Daily Mail, defended the custom of stoning "adulterers" to death:

"Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Koran, and that it is Islamic law.There are people who call it inhuman - but in doing so they insult the Prophet. They want to bring foreign thinking to this country."

Homosexuality: Caning then Councelling

Islamic laws to punish Muslims who engage in homosexuality

Kuala Lumpur, November 12:

The Siasat Daily

 Two Malaysian states are set to change their Islamic laws to punish Muslims who engage in homosexuality, raising the prospect of gay Muslims being punished twice and stoking concerns about rising intolerance towards same-gender relationships.

Homosexuality is punishable by law in Malaysia by caning and up to 20 years in jail, but the legal amendments planned by Pahang and Malacca religious authorities would give the state governments additional ammunition.

If the proposed changes came into force, a Muslim homosexual could be punished under both federal and state religious charges, meaning that jail terms could run consecutively and result in longer time.

Analysts said the proposed amendments hinted at an increasing intolerance towards homosexuality and could erode support for the government among the majority ethnic Malays, who are Muslims by birth.

"The irony of the situation is that the overwhelming majority of gay people in this country are Malays," said James Chin, a political analyst at Monash University in Malaysia. "When they have these laws to target non-mainstream sexual minorities, they are actually targeting their own people."

Malacca's chief minister, Mohd Ali Rustam, said the state would review its Islamic law provisions to allow Muslim gays and lesbians to be tried in court and punished by a jail term or a fine to deter homosexuality.

"So many people like to promote human rights, even up to the point they want to allow lesbian activities and homosexuality," Ali told Reuters.

"In Islam, we cannot do all this. It is against Islamic law," he said, adding that Muslim homosexuals would also be required to attend counselling. More Here

University of Richmond: About Sharia Law

The Collegian: University of Richmond

As a 2011 Westhampton College graduate now working as a religion reporter and news editor, I would like to take this opportunity to respond to Qasim Rashid’s Nov. 2 article, “Five Shariah insights for students at UR.”

In America, we have separation of church and state. Islamic law, or Shariah, fuses church and state. Shariah is not culture, as some Muslims claim, but the religion of Islam itself. Shariah encompasses the words of Allah in the Qur’an and the words of Mohammed in the Hadith. Because Muslims believe the Qur’an is divine, its law is divine, immutable and infallible.

Allah says the goal of Islam is to take over the world (Sura 8:39), and Muslims believe human nature must be subject to Shariah. The teachings of Shariah are disturbing, and just a quick glimpse into the Qur’an is enough to discredit the practice of Shariah in America.

For example, the Qur’an says repeatedly that women are not equal to men: Women receive half the inheritance of men in the court of law (4:11); a woman’s role in court is diminished (2:282); men can divorce women but women can’t divorce men (2:229-30); and men can beat their wives if they merely suspect rebellion (4:34). Islamic law also dictates that women must wear burqas to cover their whole bodies except their left eye (33:59) — it is not culture, it is law. Where is the justice, as Mr. Rashid says, in this? The U.S. Constitution says all people are created equal, but Shariah enforces patriarchy and misogyny.

Women are not the only ones oppressed under Shariah. According to Islamic law, the punishment for homosexuality is execution, as stated in the Hadith (Abu Dawud 38:4447). Need I say more?

Islamic law also teaches honor killings. Sura 6:151 says, “Do not kill the soul, which Allah forbids, except for a just cause.” What is the “just cause”? Mohammed says women who commit adultery or any Muslims who kill other Muslims or leave Islam must have their blood shed. Additionally, Muslims are commanded to decapitate Jews and Christians (47:4). They are also commanded to cut off the hands of thieves no matter if one dollar or one million dollars was stolen (5:38) — again, where is the justice in a punishment that does not match the crime? More Here