Outside Shirley Jackson fiction, stoning is not something that has a place in our world. The practice involves the condemned—men and women who’ve often done things that wouldn’t even constitute as grounds for imprisonment in other countries—being buried up to his or her waist or neck and then hit repeatedly with stone after stone until death occurs. Archaic and brutal, it is not only cruel and unusual punishment by American standards (which says something, since we do allow for plenty of other cruel forms of punishment, including torture when “merited”), but also by most of the world at large as well.

Though we might hear of an angry mob stoning someone to death on occasion—which is to be condemned, certainly—to hear that stoning is actually sanctified by a government body is simply outrageous. That the Iranian government is largely unsupported by its own people in the practice—usually conducting such stoning in secret, where the victim’s family sometimes does not even receive a body for burial—only adds serious insult to such a grotesque injury.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, was refused asylum last week and now faces a possible stoning sentence by the Iranian government. Though Ashtiani was already given 99 lashes for her “crime”—which is yet another form of brutal and unjust punishment—she still faces death, though President Lula of Brazil attempted to provide her with amnesty.

She did not kill anyone. She did not rape a child, beat a baby in a violent stupor, or perform any act that would even get you a life in prison sentence in America, let alone a death penalty verdict. No; she was simply sleeping with men. And she wasn’t even cheating (not that that would matter in the slightest); her husband passed away years ago. While these details would be nothing more than an everyday occurrence in many Western households, in Iran they are punishable by violent death. In fact, a 14-year-old girl, married to an older man who claims she cheated on him, faces stoning as well—awaiting her 18^th birthday in prison, since teenagers cannot be stoned.

Stoning is a disgusting outrage that has nothing to do with international diplomacy or “cultural” presence and is not expressly allowed in the Koran. Instead it is a brutal human rights violation used to control people that needs to be abolished. Indeed, it should have been long ago.

It is likely that Ashtiani will be hanged for her “crime,” though stoning remains possible. Another 12 women and men also face stoning in the country right now, including the child bride mentioned above. Please sign this petition urging amnesty not just for Ashtiani, but for all people in Iran who face the possibility of such a grisly, primitive death. No person deserves such treatment.