T
hey say there’s no limit to human endurance; there’s no limit, either, to human cruelty. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old Iranian widow with two children, having received 99 lashes that helped extract from her a confession of adultery, and having spent five years in jail on that charge, was sentenced by a religious court to be stoned to death. Ashtiani’s son appealed to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s Supreme Leader, but he refused to intervene, not wanting to do anything that would imply disrespect for the judiciary’s independence. This is hilarious—if only you can forget that a woman’s life is involved. A few governments from across the globe—as far as I know, India wasn’t among them and South Block possibly does not want to intrude on Iran’s sovereignity—expressed outrage and the Iranian government has finally relented and said Ashtiani will not be stoned to death. It isn’t clear if this means she is reprieved or if she will undergo some other punishment. But this much should be clear to all: the punishment imposed on Ashtiani bordered on the insane and—as fellow beings if not as Indians—we should have protested. Recently, a cabbie in Cambridge identified me as an Indian from my being ‘polite and dignified’. (Neither did he ask for a tip nor did I give him one for the five-minute drive from the bus station to Clare College.) This civility is a virtue that must be earned—across domains. Else, we are no different from other nations.