Is Stoning the Best Method for Capital Punishment?

In Afghanistan two adults were stoned to death on August 15, 2010, accused of having an affair. The, "Daily News," reported in an article on August 17, 2010, that Taliban militants stoned a married man and an engaged single woman an hour after being discovered by Taliban operatives. They were stoned in front of one hundred and fifty men. They further report that Amnesty International says it's the first confirmed stoning since 2001, when the United States first invaded Afghanistan. In our society this act's considered to be totally barbaric.

Adultery in our democratic society isn't punishable in the court system in any manner, except if you consider it as an issue in a divorce case/settlement. If adultery cases were punishable would it reduce the number of affairs? If adultery cases were punishable by public stoning, would it strengthen marriages or would it increase the divorce rate?

Can our society be considered to be humane if we were allowed to be judge and jury in cases of adultery? Every day there's new reports of public figures who have fallen off their marriage vow pedestals to indulge in a clandestinely affair. If I took the time to name names of public figures whose personal lives have been exposed due to affairs, this article would be a novelette. And I haven't even mentioned the number of regular citizens who are involved in acts of adultery. Adultery in our country seems to be the norm, accepted and often forgiven. Societies are considered barbaric if they punish by stoning adulterous individuals, particularly women who are accused of immoral behavior. No fair trial by judge and jury, just given automatic guilty convictions with execution.

There is another barbaric capital case of punishment that's pending. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a forty-three year old mother of two remains on death row in Iran after being allegedly convicted of adultery with two men, and also the murder of her husband, which was coerced into a confession after two days of torture. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani received ninety-nine lashes and was due to be stoned. Due to immediate global uproar, Sakineh's fate remains on hold as of July 2010, even though Iran's Supreme Court reports she will still be executed, possibly by hanging. Her lawyer reportedly has fled the country for asylum, reported by Huffington Post. Brazil is offering asylum to Sakineh if she is released.

A global uproar has intervened in Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's execution. Should we be judge and jury when it comes to the barbaric torture and punishment of women and men in other countries other than our own? In this case it has temporarily halted the barbaric practice of stoning in an alleged adultery case.

I believe we should get involved in cases of barbaric treatment and punishment of women and also men. Stoning is barbaric and not humane. Being convicted without a fair trial and jury is barbaric. The question is whether we have the right to impose our ideas and morals on other countries. In Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's case we have given a voice along with other global voices.

Below is a link to a site regarding the issue of capital punishment by stoning. It's a global campaign called, "Violence Is Not Our Culture." It's campaign to alert the world to stop the stoning of women.

http://www.stop-stoning.org/en/home1

Below is a link to Huffington Post's article about the latest updates on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiania.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/12/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtian_0_n_679754.html

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