We, the undersigned, are writing to ask that the UN General Assembly condemn stoning as a crime against humanity and issue an emergency resolution calling for an end to the medieval and barbaric punishment as well as the immediate release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and others sentenced to death by stoning.
We also ask that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not be allowed to address the General Assembly and that his government be boycotted.
A government that still stones people to death in the 21st century must have no place in the United Nations or any other international institution or body.
Signed:
Mina Ahadi, Spokesperson, International Committee against Stoning and International Committee against Execution, Germany
Maryam Namazie, Spokesperson, Iran Solidarity, Equal Rights Now and One Law for All, UK
Shahla Abghari, Women’s Rights Activist, USA
Boaz Adhengo, Project Nabuur Capital, Kenya
Ophelia Benson, Editor, Butterflies and Wheels, USA
Helle Merete Brix, Writer and Journalist, Denmark
Roy W Brown, International Humanist and Ethical Union, UN Geneva Main Representative, Switzerland
Ewa Dąbrowska-Szulc, President, Pro Femina Association, Poland
Richard Dawkins, Scientist and Author, UK
Sanal Edamaruku, President, Rationalist International, India
Sonja Eggerickx, President, International Humanist Ethical Union, Belgium
Caroline Fourest, Writer and Columnist, France
A C Grayling, Writer and Philosopher, UK
Maria Hagberg, Chairperson, Network Against Honour Related Violence, Sweden
Leo Igwe, Executive Director, Nigerian Humanist Movement, Nigeria
Hope Knutsson, President, Sidmennt the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association Reykjavik, Iceland
Julia Kristeva, Président, Jury du Prix Simone de Beauvoir pour la Liberté des Femmes, France
Ghulam Mustafa Lakho, Advocate High Court of Sindh, Pakistan
Anne-marie Lizin, Senate Honorary Speaker, Belgium
Huguette Chomski Magnis, President of Mouvement Pour la Paix et Contre le Terrorisme, France
Reine Marcelis, President, Synergie Wallonie pour l’Egalité entre les Femmes et les Hommes, Belguim
Pragna Patel, Chair, Southall Black Sisters, UK
Fariborz Pooya, Director, Iranian Secular Society, UK
Hassan Radwan, Management Committee, Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, UK
Yasmin Rehman, Women’s Rights Campaigner, UK
Terry Sanderson, President, National Secular Society, UK
Michael Schmidt-Salomon, Philosopher, Writer, and Spokesman of The Giordano Bruno Foundation, Germany
Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Philosophy and Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics, Canada
Daniel Salvatore Schiffer, Philosopher and Writer, Belgium
Issam Shukri, Head, Committee for the Defence of Secularism and Civil Rights in Iraq, Canada
Joan Smith, Writer and Human Rights Activist, UK
Annie Sugier, President, Ligue du Droit International des Femmes, France
Viviane Teitelbaum, MP and President of the Council of Women, Belgium
Giti Thadani, Writer and Filmmaker, India
Shishir Thadani, South Asian Voice, India
Richy Thompson, President, The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies, UK
Olga Trostiansky, President, Coordination Française pour le Lobby Européen des Femmes, France
Nira Yuval-Davis, Organising Group, Women Against Fundamentalism, UK
Michèle Vianès, Regards de Femmes, France
Ibn Warraq, Author, USA