The news of a potential stoning for adultery in Iran is too big to be lost in the comment section. (Thanks Jerry for alerting us to it.)
The good news: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to stoning, but an international outcry as pushed Iran to overturn the sentencing. The bad news: She still faces the death penalty.
As I said sarcastically in my comment: Awesome, Iran, you still want to murder a woman but do it in a way that won't hurt your international reputation as much.
Jerry's protest was that he hadn't heard Muslims protesting like the did after the pope's comments on Islam a few years ago. I agree that it would be great to hear Muslims cry as loud and clear now as they did then.
But this is also a story about where you look. As with the protests over the Iranian election, you'll see plenty of talk, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, about the potential stoning if you're on Twitter. Many are using the hashtag #iranelection for this situation too. Many of the human rights activists speaking out on this have Arabic names and are likely Muslim.
Unfortunately, we have the AP writing this article about the various celebrities who have jumped on the cause. I would have asked Muslim leaders about it, rather than writing about Lindsay Lohan sending out a Tweet about it. (The reporter also neglected to point out that Lohan then compared herself to the woman, earning her much shame.)
There are numerous online petitions going about, including one on Facebook. Here's one that you can sign: http://freesakineh.org.
I do hope that in the coming days we'll hear from some high-powered imams about the need to interpret Sharia law in a more modern democratic way so that we won't hear of such cases again. In the mean time, we can join with the large number of ordinary Muslims online to say that this is a tragedy.
Also check out: The Stoning of Soraya M.
