That is very liberal of you, but you ought to stop spreading a lie that anyone is apologizing for stoning. I merely questioned the notion that the Iranian government has continued to practice stoning, given reports like these:
<blockquote><http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2609597.stm> Friday, 27 December, 2002, 15:16 GMT Iran stops stoning of women adulterers By Jim Muir
BBC correspondent in Tehran Iran has halted stoning as a form of capital punishment for women, a senior judiciary official in Iran has been quoted as saying.
The head of the judiciary is reported to have instructed judges not to implement the sentence, which is in line with a strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Human rights organisations have strongly condemned the custom.
In practice, although the stoning of adulteresses remains on the statute books, it has become extremely rare.
There were two cases in the first half of 2001, but they were the first for many years and there have not been any reported since.
Reformists, in particular, are against the practice in principle.
They are also keenly aware of the impact it has on Iran's image abroad.
Last year's stonings were practically the only news about Iran carried by some Western newspapers.
Women members of the Iranian parliament have been actively campaigning to have the practice removed from the law books, arguing that it is not a clear-cut Koranic prescription.</blockquote>
<blockquote><http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4166137.stm> Tuesday, 11 January, 2005, 18:19 GMT Iran denies execution by stoning
Iran has fiercely denied that it executes juvenile criminals or stones people to death, as some human rights groups have alleged.
"In the Islamic republic, we do not see such things being carried out," said judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimirad.
He described reports that such punishments were continuing as foreign propaganda against the Iranian state.</blockquote>
The story that the Iranian government continues to stone women belongs in the same category of the story that the Iranian government executes gay men for being gay or having same-sex sex. Allegations have been made, but evidence is lacking, though stoning can't be all that hard to document even photographically if it is still in practice. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>