Written answers

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Department of Foreign Affairs

Human Rights Issues

9:00 am

Photo of Alan ShatterAlan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 381: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will take an international initiative to have stoning condemned as a crime against humanity and to call on all states, including Iran, to end this medieval and barbaric punishment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36363/10]

Photo of Micheál MartinMicheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland is completely opposed to the use of stoning, a practice which has no place in the twenty-first century. Stoning is a particularly cruel method of execution which amounts to torture. I have made clear Ireland's concerns about human rights in Iran and our abhorrence of the practice of stoning in contacts with members of the Iranian Government, most recently at a meeting which I had with Foreign Minister Mottaki in Dublin on 9 June. I have written to Foreign Minister Mottaki on a number of occasions to express my concerns about, and to raise specific aspects of, the human rights situation in Iran.

In my remarks to the United Nations General Assembly on 27 September, I drew attention to the human rights situation in Iran including profoundly disturbing recent human rights abuses. These include the appalling sentencing of Ms Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to death by stoning for adultery in Iran which has been the subject of an international outcry in recent months. The case of Ms Ashtiani has been raised with the Iranian Ambassador to Ireland by officials in my Department.

Ireland has also been active in raising issues relating to human rights in Iran within the specific UN bodies which deal with human rights. Along with our European Union partners, we have consistently supported the annual Resolution on the human rights situation in Iran which is adopted by the UN General Assembly. In our national intervention at the fifteenth session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on 17 September, we raised concerns relating to the death penalty in Iran. I urge the Iranian authorities to introduce a moratorium on executions pending the abolition of the death penalty in accordance with UN General Assembly resolutions 62/149 and 63/168.

In my view, stoning, even where it is not fatal, amounts to torture. The prohibition against torture is a fundamental norm of international law. We would continue to urge Iran and any other country which so provides in its laws to abolish the practice of stoning in line with international law. Iran is party to the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which contains an absolute prohibition on torture. I would also strongly urge Iran to become a party to the International Convention Against Torture.

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