The Stoning of Soraya M
“ The Stoning of Soraya M ” is an Iranian movie I watched with my zonemates as part of our ‘Leadership Curriculum’ on Social Injustice. The 2008 movie is directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh , inspired by a French journalist Freidoune Sahebjam’s 1990 book La Femme Lapidée , based on a true event that happened in Iran in 1986. The film portrays the violation of Human Rights in Iran. As a matter of fact, the Iranian legislation does not accord same rights to the women as to its men. It is stated in legislation itself that the value of a woman’s life is half that of a man, that the testimony of a male witness is equivalent to that of two female witnesses, etc. It was the book that garnered the world’s attention to the gender issues and blatant violation of human rights in Iran. The film portrays the true story of the murder of an Iranian mother and homemaker Soraya , who is falsely accused of adultery and thereby stoned to death. The depiction of a patriarchal society is hard hitting...