Yesterday, at The Grand Mosque in Canberra, Australia, a woman was stoned to death for allegedly being caught committing adultery with an unnamed man. The woman, known to us only as Sharia, was allegedly caught in a compromising situation with the man last week by her sister who reported it to the imam of The Grand Mosque. The imam ordered that she be publicly stoned to death.
When police and women's rights protesters attempted to intervene in the stoning they were fought off by the crowd of watchers. The police and protesters were forced out of the grounds of the mosque and the stoning continued.
The imam of The Grand Mosque said that their stoning of adulteresses was no-one's business but their own and that the police and protesters had no right to try to stop it. He added that, as citizens of a multi-cultural country, they were entitled to express their culture in their own way by performing customs and rites that belonged to them. He stressed that stoning adulterous women to death was part of their Islamic culture and inheritance and that it was a punishment that would be carried out as needed.
Asked what would happen to the unnamed man with whom the woman consorted, the imam said "Islamic law and custom does nor prescribe any punishment for a man involved in adultery. He remains unnamed to protect his reputation and allow him to continue his life without impediment."
The stoning was carried out by the women of the neighbourhood where the allegedly guilty women had lived, lead by her sister and mother. They said that she deserved stoning to death for bringing shame and dishonour on her family and husband.
The woman's husband, who declined to be named, watched the stoning with approval and said that it was the right and proper way to deal with an adulteress who brought shame and dishonour on her husband.
The woman was not available for comment.
