If you were looking for a story to satisfy your morbid curiosity, this is it:  the good people over at Slate have researched how, exactly, stoning works in Iran.  We’re not talking about any kind of marijuana euphemism here.  We’re talking about the legal method of execution, stoning someone to death, that’s used in the middle east.

First off, this is seriously gruesome.  There is a methodology, a protocol, to be followed, and it’s all extremely nasty business.  Want some highlights?

• Stoning can take place for “crimes” like adultery.
• Either the witnesses that testified against you, or the judge, throw the first stones at you.
• The stones are “medium sized”.  No pebbles, no rocks big enough to kill you outright.  Apparently, they want to drag this out a bit.
• To keep them from dodging or getting away, victim’s hands are tied, and then they are wrapped head-to-toe in white cloth.
• Men are buried in a hole up to their waist; women are buried up to their chests.
• If you do manage to untie yourself and dig yourself out of your hole before you are killed, you are free.  Best of luck.
• It’s not a quick death.  The  event takes “less than an hour.”
• Stonings are often open to the public.  Not only do the judges and witnesses participate, but also the locals, your neighbors, and other members of the community are welcome to drop by and throw a few rocks at you.

So, there you have it.  There is a video of a couple of people being stoned, if you’re interested in seeing it.  For those who aren’t so brave (it’s seriously disturbing), allow me to describe a few tidbits for you.  There is a large crowd, and they appear to be either gleeful or entirely detached in their stone-throwing.  People are allowed to run right up, and throw their stones at extremely close range.  The white sheets that the victim’s are wrapped up in may help the stoners to remain unemotional, in that you cannot see anyone’s face, but it soon becomes a moot point.  The sheets are soon soaked in blood.

In case you were wondering, stoning is still practiced today throughout the Islamic world.  The recent case of Sakineh Ashtiani, who is sentenced to be stoned for adultery, has been in the news often lately.  There have been a few suggested moratoriums on the practice in Iran, but no official ban has ever been passed by the legislature,  nor has the practice been forbidden by the judiciary, so it still goes on.