07 October 2016

Iranian woman is sentenced to six years in prison for an unpublished story she wrote about women being stoned to death

An Iranian woman has been sentenced to six years in prison after authorities found an unpublished story she wrote about women being stoned to death.

Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, a writer and human rights activist, has been convicted of 'insulting Islamic sanctities' because of her fictional story.

Under Shari'a law in Iran stoning is the punishment outlined for adultery.

The story describes a woman who watches the film 'The Stoning of Soraya M' - which tells the true story of a young woman stoned to death for adultery - and becomes so enraged that she burns a copy of the Qur'an.

'She is effectively being punished for using her imagination,' Philip Luther, Amnesty's Director of Research and Advocacy for the Middle East and North Africa, said. [Daily Mail] Read more