Iran

Kar, who has worked extensively as an anti-stoning activist, details the history of women’s struggles to remove stoning from the law. She explains that even though laws cannot be incongruent with religious doctrine, shortly after the revolution many religious scholars began to write opinions on the basis of “Ijtihad” (a practice of religious jurisprudence referring to independent reasoning) to attempt to convince the anti-reform power centers, that it is possible to reform Islamic law without inflicting any harm to religious doctrine.

Notable in this article is the mention of President Mohhamad Khatami pushing for a change in the execution law banning stoning in 2003. Also, the eleven women members of parliament submitted a bill in early December 2002 to the 290-seat majlis to abolish the practice of death by stoning to punish adultery. This was widely interpreted as a result of pressure by the European Union.

The Fact Finding Commission on Stoning in Iran is a non-governmental commission formed in 2006 to investigate reported stoning cases. After its investigation, the Commission issues a statement addressed to Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Head of the Judiciary, on 20 June 2007, putting forth some fundamental questions about the role of the Iranian judiciary with regards to stoning. The Commissions demanded an official abolishment of stoning.

Family Violence: Battered Womenfocuses on the specific occurrence of violence in the family sphere. Chapter one provides an overview of the changing/evolving definition of family violence, as well as methods of researching instances of violence in the home and the various challenges inherent in conducting such research. Chapter two discusses the varying perspectives that have emerged in academia in regards to the origin of violence, emphasising what each perspective deems as most influential in creating and perpetuating violence.