The Stoning of Soraya M.

Soraya M.'s husband, Ghorban-Ali, couldn't afford to marryanotherwoman. Rather than returning Soraya's dowry, as custom required beforetaking asecond wife, he plotted with four friends and a counterfeit mullah todispose ofher. Together, they accused Soraya of adultery. Her only crime was cookingfor afriend's widowed husband. Exhausted by a lifetime of abuse and hardship,Sorayasaid nothing, and the makeshift tribunal took her silence as a confessionofguilt. They sentenced her to death by stoning: a punishment prohibited byIslambut widely practiced. Day by day+sometimes minute by minute+Sahebjamdeftlyrecounts these horrendous events, tracing Soraya's life with searingimmediacy,from her arranged marriage and the births of her nine children to herhusband'sincreasing cruelty and her horrifying execution, where, by tradition, herfather, husband, and sons hurled the first stones. This is one woman's story, but it stands for the stories of thousandsofwomen who suffered+and continue to suffer+the same fate. It is a storythat mustbe told.