Iran halts woman's stoning

Iran's judiciary chief has temporarily halted the execution by stoning of a woman accused of adultery, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday, quoting a judiciary official.

"Although the verdict is definitive and applicable, the verdict has been halted due to humanitarian reservations and upon the order of the honourable judiciary chief and it will not be carried out for the moment," Malek Ajdar Sharifi, head of the judiciary in East Azerbaijan province, told IRNA.

The woman, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, had been sentenced to death by stoning after she was found guilty of adultery by an Iranian court, a ruling that has sparked outcry in Western countries.

But Sharifi said the move was temporary and her death sentence could be carried out as decided by the judiciary chief, Sadeq Larijani.

"Whenever the judiciary chief deems it expedient, the verdict will be carried out regardless of Western media propaganda," Sharifi said.

Mohammadi-Ashtiani was convicted on May 15, 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men, according to her lawyer and London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International.

Amnesty said she received 99 lashes as per her sentence but was subsequently accused of "adultery while being married" in September 2006 during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband.

afp 12 July 2010