Stoning

Stoning, or lapidation, refers to a form of capital punishment whereby an organized group throws stones at the convicted individual until the person dies.

Stoning has been used throughout history in a number of places, both in the form of community justice and also as a judicial form of capital punishment. The practice is referred to in Greek history, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Islamic texts. In the Bible it often occurs, or almost occurs, to righteous people or as the result of mob action (see lists below).

Secular use

Non-religious persons and secular governments almost never use lapidation as a form of punishment. The practice tends to be prescribed as a punishment for religious/sexual crimes.

Religious use

Bible and Judaism

Torah

The Torah of the Jews, which is contained in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible and as such serves as a common religious reference, prescribes death by stoning for a long series of offenses, namely:

Touching Mount Sinai while God was giving Moses the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:13)
An ox that gores someone to death should be stoned (Exodus 21:28)
Breaking the Shabbat (Numbers 15:32-36)
Giving one's "seed" (presumably one's offspring) "to Molech" (Leviticus 20:2-5)
Having a "familiar spirit" (or being a necromancer) or being a "wizard" (Lev. 20:27)
Cursing God (Lev. 24:10-16)
Engaging in idolatry (Deuteronomy 17:2-7) or seducing others to do so (Deut. 13:7-12)
"Rebellion" against parents (Deut. 21,21)
Getting married as though a virgin, when not a virgin (Deut. 22:13-21)
Sexual intercourse between a man and a woman engaged to another man (both should be stoned, Deut. 22:23-24)

Mishna

The Mishna gives the following list of persons who should be stoned (Sanhedrin Chapter 7, p. 53a

)

A man who has sexual intercourse with one of the following (see Lev. 20, which however does not specify the form of execution):

his mother

his father's wife

his daughter-in-law

another man

an animal ("bestiality")

A woman who allows an animal to have sexual intercourse with her
A blasphemer
An idolater
One who gives his seed to Molech
A necromancer or wizard
One who desecrates the sabbath
One who curses his father and mother
One who has sexual intercourse with a betrothed maiden
One who incites or instigates (toward idolatry)
A sorcerer
A wayward and rebellious son

In practice

There are, however, only scarce mentions of such a punishment being actually inflicted. A detailed recorded case of stoning occurs in the Book of Joshua (7, 24) when a man named Achan (עכן) was found to have kept loot from Jericho, a conquered Canaanite city, in his tent. Under the mores reflected in that book, massacring the Canaanites was an acceptable and indeed praiseworthy act, but disobedience to God's command by taking loot to oneself was an act heinous enough that not only Achan himself but also his entire family were stoned to death by the gathered Hebrews, as a punishment. As manifest also in Jewish sources contemporary with and prior to early Christianity, particularly the Mishnah, doubts were growing in Jewish society about the morality of capital punishment in general and stoning in particular. For example, according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel in the time when the religious courts had authority over capital punishment, a court that executed more than 1 person in 70 years was a "bloody court". In the following centuries the leading Jewish sages imposed so many restrictions on the actual implementation of capital punishment - especially, many difficult to fulfill conditions for a testimony to be admissible (Sanhedrin) - as to make the imposition of capital punishment virtually impossible in practice.

According to the Talmud stoning should be an instant death with the first stone being so heavy it must be heaved off a cliff to inflict the fatal blow.

In Islam

"Within shari'a law, there is a specific set of offenses known as the Hadd offences. These are crimes punished by specific penalties, such as stoning, lashes or the severing of a hand. The penalties for Hadd offences are not universally adopted as law in Islamic countries."

As with many religions today, not all holy books reference a particular topic. Islamic scholars argue both sides of stoning within Islam, but regardless, many cases of stoning continue to this day. However, unlike Judaism where for capital punishment to take place two reputable witnesses must witness the Hadd offense including stoning Hadd, in Islam stoning (which is the penalty for committing adultery under marriage wedlock only) is the only capital punishment which requires four extremely well reputed (A very strict criteria is also given by Islam to accept the reputation of witness) witnesses "accusers" to admit that they saw the defenders sexually interact. It is also important to note that in Islam a person whom admit adultery can be the witness upon himself only, yet according to shari`a law he must oath on himself four times before he can be punished with the appropriate punishment which is stoning if the person is under wedlock or lashing a 100 lash if the person is not under wedlock. Husbands can also launch a charge against their spouses, and have (in support) no evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence (can be received) if they bear witness four times (with an oath) by Allah that they are solemnly telling the truth; And the fifth (oath) (should be) that they solemnly invoke the curse of Allah on themselves if they tell a lie;But it would avert the punishment from the wife, if she bears witness four times (with an oath) By Allah, that (her husband) is telling a lie; And the fifth (oath) should be that she solemnly invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if (her accuser) is telling the truth; Verse 24.006 - 24.009 The last possible way for stoning as penalty for adultery under wedlock is that a woman concealing under marriage wedlock, considering that DNA is not accepted as an evidence in shar'ia law.

Usage today

Among the world's countries with Muslim majorities, very few (the unofficial shari`a court which runs in parallel with judicial court) exercise this form of punishment; when they do, they often face criticism.

Afghanistan

As most areas of Afghanistan, aside from the capital, Kabul, are controlled locally by warlords or tribal leaders, the Afghan legal system depends highly on an individual community's local culture and the political and/or religious ideology of its leaders. Stoning also occurs in lawless areas, where vigilantes decide to commit the act for religious and/or political purposes.

Iran

The Iranian judiciary officially placed a moratorium on stoning in 2002, although the punishment remained on the books until Iran's judiciary recently decided to fully scrap the punishment from the books in a legislation submitted to parliament for approval.

In Iran, stoning as a punishment did not exist until 1983, when the contemporary Islamic Penal Code was ratified. Many Muslim jurists in Iran are of the opinion that while stoning can be considered Islamic, the conditions under which it can be sentenced are nearly impossible to occur. Because of the large burden of proof needed to reach a guilty sentence of adultery, its penalty is hardly ever applicable. Furthermore, while legally on the books, because of the enormity of both domestic and international controversy and outcry over stoning in the early years of the Islamic republic, the government placed official moratoriums on the punishment and, as a result, it was rarely practiced. Nevertheless, much of the public was outraged that such a backward and tortuous ritual became instituted in the laws of their country. In 2002 Iran's judiciary indicated that stoning will no longer be practiced in Iran. However, it continued. In 2008, Iran's judiciary once again said it planned to stop stoning as a form of punishment; however, it will still be a legal form of punishment.

In August 2008 the Global Campaign to Stop Killing and Stoning Women! announced that there were still at least eight women and one man sentenced to die by stoning for convictions of prostitution, incest and adultery. Two were granted amnesty, two received reduced sentences of imprisonment and/or lashes and five cases are under review. The spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, Alireza Jamshidi, said in a statement, "Don’t forget. One cannot remove the punishment of stoning from the law." The case of Kobra Najjar, a 44 year old woman who was convicted of adultery, but who some say was forced into prostitution by her husband, has received international attention. She has reportedly exhausted all legal recourse for her conviction, with a sentence of death by stoning.

Nigeria

Stoning is available as a punishment under Sharia in Nigeria. The most famous case is that of Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death for having sex out-of-wedlock, as she is not married and found herself pregnant.

The death sentences through stoning of the years 2000 and 2001 in Northern Nigeria sparked international discussion on Shari`a’s imposition of stoning. Between 2000 and 2001 twelve northern Nigerian states officially declared Shari`a to be their criminal code again, even though many of its regulations conflict with the Nigerian constitution. The introduction of Shari`a law directly and indirectly led to many violent riots.

Pakistan

Islamic law in Pakistan still allows stoning as a form of punishment, however, no such executions have taken place in the country in recent times.

Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates

Sentences to stoning or stonings without a sentence were also reported within the last years from Sudan, Saudi-Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In Judaism

In the Torah, stoning is specifically prescribed as the method of execution for crimes such as blasphemy, apostasy and one form of adultery (under very specific conditions).

However, the Talmud limits the use of the death penalty to Jewish criminals who: (a) while about to do the crime were warned not to commit the crime while in the presence of two witnesses (and only individuals who meet a strict list of standards are considered acceptable witnesses); and (b) having been warned, committed the crime in front of the same two witnesses.

The Talmudic restriction on how stoning is to be carried out differs from the type of stoning commonly assumed, such as the type implied by the Gospel of John chapter 8 in the New Testament. According to the Jewish Oral Law, after the Jewish criminal has been determined as guilty before the Great Sanhedrin, the two valid witnesses and the sentenced criminal go to the edge of a high place. From there the two witnesses are to push the criminal off. After the criminal has fallen, the two witnesses are to drop a large boulder onto the criminal - requiring both of the witnesses to lift the boulder together. If the criminal did not die from the fall or from the crushing of the large boulder, then any people in the surrounding area are to quickly cause him to die by stoning with whatever rocks they can find. It must be noted though that the practice has for many hundreds of years been considered inhumane by all religious and secular scholars and would never be used.

Stoning has never been a legal form of punishment in the State of Israel.

Well known examples

Palamedes (Greek mythology), stoned to death as a traitor.
The son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man, for cursing God (Leviticus 24:10-23)
A man who gathered wood on Shabbat (Numbers 15:32-36)
Achan (Joshua 7)
Adoniram, King Rehoboam's tax man (I Kings 12:18)
Naboth (I Kings 21)
Zechariah son of Berechiah, who denounced the people's disobedience to the commandments (II Chronicles 24:20-21, perhaps also Matt. 23:35)
Yeshu, a person mentioned in the Talmud as a sorcerer and an inciter to idolatry
Saint Stephen, sentenced for blasphemy ().
The Acts of the Apostles chapter 14:19 describes Apostle Paul stoned at Lystra.
Du’a Khalil Aswad stoned to death in Iraqi Kurdistan (2007)

People who were almost stoned

Moses (Exodus 17:4)
Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:6-10)
David (I Samuel 30:6)
The Gospel of John chapter 8 gives the story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery, in which people wanted to stone the woman.
Jesus (John 10)
The captain of the Temple and his officers (Acts 5:26)
Amina Lawal, sentenced to death by stoning in Nigeria, but freed on appeal

Groups against the practice of stoning

Stoning has been condemned by several human rights organizations. Some groups, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, oppose all capital punishment, including stoning. Other groups, such as and RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan), oppose stoning per se as an especially "cruel" practice.

Specific sentences of stoning, such as the Amina Lawal case, have often generated international protest. Groups like Human Rights Watch, while in sympathy with these protests, have raised a concern that the Western focus on stoning as an especially "exotic" or "barbaric" act distracts from what they view as the larger problems of capital punishment. They argue that the "more fundamental human rights issue in Nigeria is the dysfunctional justice system."

In Iran, the Stop Stoning Forever Campaign was formed by various women’s rights activists after two individuals were stoned to death in Mashhad Iran in May of 2006. Their main goal is to legally abolish stoning as a form of punishment for adultery in Iran.

Stoning in literature

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" depicts a lottery in which one member of a small, isolated American community is stoned to death ritually each year as a sacrifice. It explores themes of scapegoating, man's inherent evil and the destructive nature of observing ancient, outdated rituals.
Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land reaches its climax with a stoning execution.
Friedoune Sahebjam's The Stoning of Soraya M. Is a true story of woman who was stoned to death in Iran in 1986.

Stoning in film and television

Seven Sleepers (English translation), 2005 - A series running on Iranian TV, in which medieval (300-400 AD) Jews stone Christians.
A Stoning in Fulham County, 1988 - A made-for-TV movie surrounding the vigilante stoning in an American Amish community.
Sleeper Cell, 2005 - A Showtime original series. Members of the cell execute (by stoning) one of their members for talking openly with his uncle about planned terrorist attacks.
Monty Python's Life of Brian presents a Jesus of Nazareth-era stoning in a humorous context, ending with a massive boulder being dropped on the Jewish official, not the victim.
In the Doctor Who story "The Mysterious Planet", the Sixth Doctor is stoned.
On the HBO prison show Oz, inmate William Giles was sentenced to death. Giles requested that he be stoned to death. This request caused capital punishment to be briefly overturned, only to be brought back with stricter rules.
Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" made into a short (20 minute) film by Larry Yust in 1969 as part of an educational release for Encyclopaedia Britannica's "Short Story Showcase".
In the cartoon American Dad! the family was sentenced to be stoned after many sins done by various members of the family.
The film The Kite Runner depicts the stoning of an adulteress in a public stadium during a football match, by the Taliban.
The film Mission Istanbul depicts the stoning of an adulteress in Kabul, by the fictional terrorist group Abu Nazir until it is interrupted by the protagonist Vikas Sagar. After Vikas leaves, the adulteress is shot dead.