UN: Call for general assembly condemnation of stoning as crime against humanity

We are writing to ask that the UN general assembly condemn stoning as a crime against humanity and issue an emergency resolution calling for an end to the medieval and barbaric punishment as well as the immediate release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and others sentenced to death by stoning.

We also ask that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not be allowed to address the general assembly and that his government be boycotted.

A government that still stones people to death in the 21st century must have no place in the United Nations or any other international institution or body.

Mina Ahadi, Spokesperson, International Committee against Stoning and International Committee against Execution, Germany

Maryam Namazie, Spokesperson, Iran Solidarity, Equal Rights Now and One Law for All, UK

Shahla Abghari, Women's Rights Activist, USA

Boaz Adhengo, Project Nabuur Capital, Kenya

Ophelia Benson, Editor, Butterflies and Wheels, USA

Helle Merete Brix, Writer and Journalist, Denmark

Roy W Brown, International Humanist and Ethical Union, UN Geneva Main Representative, Switzerland

Ewa Dabrowska-Szulc, President, Pro Femina Association, Poland

Richard Dawkins, Scientist and Author, UK

Sanal Edamaruku, President, Rationalist International, India

Sonja Eggerickx, President, International Humanist Ethical Union, Belgium

Caroline Fourest, Writer and Columnist, France

A C Grayling, Writer and Philosopher, UK

Maria Hagberg, Chairperson, Network Against Honour Related Violence, Sweden

Leo Igwe, Executive Director, Nigerian Humanist Movement, Nigeria

Hope Knutsson, President, Sidmennt the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association Reykjavik, Iceland

Julia Kristeva, Président, Jury du Prix Simone de Beauvoir pour la Liberté des Femmes, France

Ghulam Mustafa Lakho, Advocate High Court of Sindh, Pakistan

Anne-marie Lizin, Senate Honorary Speaker, Belgium

Huguette Chomski Magnis, President of Mouvement Pour la Paix et Contre le Terrorisme, France

Reine Marcelis, President, Synergie Wallonie pour l'Egalité entre les Femmes et les Hommes, Belguim

Pragna Patel, Chair, Southall Black Sisters, UK

Fariborz Pooya, Director, Iranian Secular Society, UK

Hassan Radwan, Management Committee, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, UK

Yasmin Rehman, Women's Rights Campaigner, UK

Terry Sanderson, President, National Secular Society, UK

Michael Schmidt-Salomon, Philosopher, Writer, and Spokesman of The Giordano Bruno Foundation, Germany

Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Philosophy and Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics, Canada

Daniel Salvatore Schiffer, Philosopher and Writer, Belgium

Issam Shukri, Head, Committee for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq, Canada

Joan Smith, Writer and Human Rights Activist, UK

Annie Sugier, President, Ligue du Droit International des Femmes, France

Viviane Teitelbaum, MP and President of the Council of Women, Belgium

Giti Thadani, Writer and Filmmaker, India

Shishir Thadani, South Asian Voice, India

Richy Thompson, President, The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, UK

Olga Trostiansky, President, Coordination Française pour le Lobby Européen des Femmes, France

Nira Yuval-Davis, Organising Group, Women Against Fundamentalism, UK

Michèle Vianès, Regards de Femmes, France

Ibn Warraq, Author, USA