Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I wish to refer briefly to a report in today's edition of the Irish Independent which states that having received 99 lashes for her alleged adultery she now faces the imminent prospect of execution and will be wrapped from head to toe in white shroud, buried up to her chest and stoned. The stones will be large enough to cause severe injury, but not so big that she will be killed outright. It can take up to 30 minutes before she is dead or unconscious. Not only that, but the hypocrisy of this regime means that it has a different judicial process for men and women and it is weighed against women. People sentenced to death by stoning are spared if they can drag themselves out of the earth, but while men are buried up to their waste, women are buried up to their chest.

I thought we lived in a civilised society. This House has a proud record of protecting, enhancing and speaking out against human rights violations. I had the honour of chairing the Council of Europe committee on human rights. Many colleagues on both sides of the House have taken a strong on this over the years. In a civilised world, this type of barbaric practice should be outlawed, and the Islamic Republic of Iran should be told in no uncertain terms by the Minister for Foreign Affairs that we in Ireland find this totally unacceptable.