Initial text of this page is under the heading "October 29, 2008" below.

Nov. 5, 2008 updates:

I received an e-mail about this page, the tone of it, how could I be so insensitive, etc. My answer is that the point of all of the questions is to show how horrific and incomprehensible something like this is. Asking question after inane detail question is a clear path to not ever understanding the horror.

It is more importantly a commentary on those who would actually try to approach understanding something like this by asking these kinds of questions. The commentary is not positive.

Follow-up Q&A, after reading this follow-up article, is in green below.

Also, it turns out that she wasn't a 23-year-old woman who committed adultery, but a 13-year-old girl who was raped. The men with guns were pushing the "23-year-old adulteress" angle.

Q: How many men do the stoning?
A: 50

Q: Where does the stoning take place?
A: At the football stadium.

Q: What if they throw stones and she is still alive? Who checks, etc.?
A: "...nurses were sent to check during the stoning whether the victim was still alive. They removed her from the ground and declared that she was, before she was replaced so the stoning could continue."

After I read "Somali woman executed by stoning," I just kept having questions. Here are some. I have many more, but felt I had to stop writing this at some point.

"A group of men performed the execution in one of the city's main squares in front of thousands of people..."

How many men in the group? Why that many? Who asked, "How many men will we need to get the job done?" And for whatever the answer is, why that many?

Do they have sign-up sheets for things like this? Or do you have to try out?

Are their minor leagues? Farm teams? If so, have their been any great stories of unexpected comebacks, as seen in "The Rookie" with Dennis Quaid?

Do you have to pass a stone-throwing speed test? Do they have the testing stations available, like the throw-the-baseball-and-guess-your-speed ones at fairs?

Do the guys get together at a bar, BBQ (pork) joint, or a synagogue afterward to drink to a job well done?

Do guys aspire to do this? Is it an honor, or a rite of passage? Is it class-based--do the wealthy and powerful get to do this? Or is it part of a religious rite of passage?

Do relatives of the woman or her lover have to/get to participate? Do they get to throw the first or last stone?

Do the relatives of the woman have any responsibilities for the activity, such as scheduling, contacting stakeholders, or arranging for equipment purchase/rental or catering?

Where do they get their stones? Do they make the convicted woman gather the stones? Do they have her get them from a farmer's field, helping to improve it and thus killing two birds with one stone (three if you count her too, later)?

Is there a preferred size and shape for the stone? Are there judges for this, e.g. "too heavy, it will be over too quickly", "too small, that's just mean", "no sharp edges", etc.?

Is a certain kind of stone, such as limestone vs. granite, desirable? Why?

Who digs the pit she gets buried in? Do they make her dig it?

Who brings the shovel, her? What if she doesn't have one, or has a crappy one? What if she is missing a limb or handicapped in some way, who digs it?

Who picks the location? Is there a dedicated area for civic activities such as this? Is it at the mosque, at the courthouse, at the ball field, etc.?

Was the location picked because it is out of the way? Did the people who have to haul the stones there have a say in this? Or was it picked for the ground, to make the digging easier?

What if a hole is started and then an obstruction such as a stone or a root is encountered? Are there tools there to chop through a root? If the root is large and heavy enough, can they throw that at her head too?

If the encountered stone is a good size for stoning someone to death, does she get to keep it since she found it? Can she sell it? Does she have to sell it to one of the guys who is going to stone her to death, or can she sell it to someone else? If the latter, is there a 'waiting period' of some kind, so that person couldn't just sell or give it to one of the stoning guys and use it on her? If the former, is this seen as a sign, or do they all just get a good belly laugh out of it?

Do they just leave the stones there when they're done? Do they get washed? Are the ones with blood on them kept as souvenirs? Are they just left scattered around, or are they piled neatly for the next execution?

What if a stone breaks on her head? Does that mean anything? Do they make jokes, about her or about the guy who picked the crappy stone? Is he kicked off the team?

Do they guys have nicknames for each other, like "the closer", "first blood", "the dentist", etc.?

Do guys get to bring more than one stone? What if they miss? Are there 'mulligans' or three strikes or anything like that? If there are enough misses, or if say some special thor like the first throw misses, is that a sign and does it cancel or change the event?

Do guys take turns, or is it a free for all?

How many stones for each guy? What if they throw them all and she's still alive? Do they all go gather their stones from around her head and start over?

Or if she makes it through a round, does she get to live? Is there honor/dishonor in killing her in one go, or in drawing it out?

What if I only have one stone, but others have many? Can I get a yellow flag raised or yell 'time' and go in and get my stone so I can throw it again? How many of these do I get? What if someone hits me when I'm getting my stone?

How far away are they? Enough to make it a challenge? Is there handicapping?

Do they throw the stones at her from all directions, or at the face, or just from the back, etc.? Is it desirable (ie is there a pecking order) to get the 'best' throwing position for a certain part of her head?

Is the woman blindfolded? Is there an option to do so?

Does she still wear a veil when she is buried & being stoned, or is it OK or desirable for her not to wear one for this activity?

If she doesn't wear a veil for stoning, who decided that it was OK for a woman to not wear a veil during this activity, and when was it decided?

Are there last rites of any kind, or a last meal or a cigarette, BLT, etc.?

Is there a doctor on site? How do they decide she is dead, or does stoning just go on until it would be obvious to anyone?

Does the body get dug up, or is that the woman's grave? If the latter, is the head just left there, or does it get removed and put somewhere else?

If the body is dug up to be buried, where is it buried and who is responsible for it?

What if it rains?