The Stoning of Soraya M by Freidoune Sahebjam.
Title: The Stoning of Soraya M.
Author: Freidoune Sahebjam.
Genre: Non-fiction, journalism, social justice, politics, religion.
Country: France.
Language: French.
Publication Date: 1994.
Summary: 1980s, Iran. Soraya M.’s husband, Ghorban-Ali, couldn’t afford to marry another woman. Rather than returning Soraya’s dowry, as custom required before taking a second wife, he plotted with four friends and a counterfeit mullah to dispose of her. Together, they accused Soraya of adultery. Her only crime was cooking for a friend’s widowed husband. Exhausted by a lifetime of abuse and hardship, Soraya said nothing, and the makeshift tribunal took her silence as a confession of guilt. They sentenced her to death by stoning: a punishment prohibited by Islam but widely practiced. A stark look at the intersection between culture and justice, this is one woman’s story, but it stands for the stories of thousands of women who suffered - and continue to suffer - the same fate.
My rating: 8/10