Today is the International Day Against Stoning. It may seem barbaric that this method of corporal punishment still exists, says Ben Cohen, but it does. Here’s why Christians should care
In 2024, the Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada issued a chilling message to the West: “You may call it a violation of women’s rights that we publicly stone or flog [women] for committing adultery because it contradicts your democratic principles. Just as you claim to strive for the liberation of all humanity, so do I. I represent God and you represent Satan.”
For many Christians, the thought of stoning will immediately conjure the story of the woman found in adultery in the Gospels. And alas, nearly two millennia later, there are still places where Jesus’ challenge that “him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7) goes unheeded. It is almost too grim to acknowledge that something as barbaric is still an issue in 2025, but it is.
Stoning can be seen as a kind of ‘virtue signalling’ to ultra-strict Shia Muslims
The International Day Against Stoning was founded 20-odd years ago, by a coalition of humanist groups in response to the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old woman from Iran’s Azerbaijani minority.
Sakineh was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and adultery. Her case became famous after she was sentenced to be stoned to death for her crimes in 2006. After nearly nine years on death row, she was finally released from prison in 2014.
Background
The nations where stoning still has a foothold are generally Islamic. It is part of some interpretations of Islamic or ‘Sharia’ law. However, there is no actual mention of stoning in the Quran itself, but can be found in the sayings, actions and approvals of Mohammed known as the Hadiths. Even then, a sentence of stoning for adultery required a confession from the adulterers themselves or at least four male witnesses to the actual act.
The instructions for conducting a stoning are chilling in their precision. According to a report by NBC, the size of the stones is specified under Sharia, “to ensure the execution does not take too long or occur too quickly”, with the victims buried in soil.
In Iran, where Sakineh is from, stoning remains a potential legal penalty. Prisoners in Qarchak’s women facility were sentenced to death by stoning for alleged “illicit relationships” as recently as January 2025.
A rare punishment
Such stoning sentences are exceedingly rare and are usually kept out of official reporting, but the Qarchak case confirms that Iranian judges do still hand down this penalty. In fact, Iranian state media acknowledged a similar case in November 2023. The government-run IRAN newspaper reported that a female gym trainer in Tehran received this sentence after her husband caught her committing adultery.
There is, however, a marked difference between someone - generally the woman, in the case of adultery – being sentenced and this sentence being carried out.
The nations where stoning still has a foothold are generally Islamic
Numbers for both are hard to come by and estimates vary greatly. One report cited by America’s Library of Congress estimated that between the Islamic revolution in 1979 and 2009 there were an estimated 150 cases of death by stoning. However, this number is generally considered an over-estimate. Indeed, the last known execution by stoning in Iran was in 2008.
“It remains an option under the law in Iran, and it is talked about,” says Michael Bosch, persecution analyst for World Watch Research, who compile Open Doors’ annual World Watch List of countries where Christians face persecution. “However it can be seen as a kind of virtue signalling to ultra-strict Shia Muslims, showing that they are willing to enact Sharia, even if such stonings rarely occur – showing that in the Islamic Penal Code is enough.”
Around the world
Adultery is a common reason for the sentence worldwide including in countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Mali and Yemen. However, there are other ‘crimes’ that are considered suitable for punishment by stoning according to these extreme interpretations of Islamic Sharia.
In regions of northern and middle-belt Nigeria where Sharia is in operation, adultery and homosexuality are both possible causes for the punishment. Another, in theory, is blasphemy.
The death sentence has previously been issued for blasphemy in Nigeria, although the punishment in this case was by hanging. Meanwhile three men were sentenced to death by stoning in 2022 for engaging in homosexual acts.
In addition, there is also the risk of communities taking the law into their own hands, as a recent case in Nigeria showed when a mob stoned a man to death after an accusation of blasphemy in 2023.
No Christian has yet been reported as facing stoning sentences in Iran, but persecution of Christians there has escalated over recent years, with a six-fold rise in overall jail time for Christians in the last two years.
“It may not be a commonplace penalty, but all you need is the threat to hang over a community to have a chilling effect,” says Michael. “For Christians, it is the sense that if they step out of line, there will be consequences.”
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