Iran’s judiciary said on Sunday the stoning of a woman convicted of adultery has been suspended for the time being, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The sentence imposed on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani had caused an international outcry, but judiciary official Malekajdar Sharifi said that had not influenced the decision and it might still carry out the sentence later.
“The verdict is definitive and applicable. But it has been halted due to humanitarian reservations and based on the judiciary chief’s order,” said Sharifi, the senior judiciary official in Eastern Azerbaijan province, where she was sentenced.
“The sentence will not be carried out for the time being,” he said.
However, Mohammadi Ashtiani, who will remain in prison, could still face execution, IRNA quoted the official as saying.
“Despite protests from the West, her sentence will be carried out if the judiciary decides to carry it out,” Sharifi said.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran’s Shariah law, enforced since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Human rights group Amnesty International said last week it feared that Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has two children, could be executed by stoning at any time for adultery. The US, the EU, Britain and international human rights groups all appealed for a stay of execution.
Amnesty said she was convicted in 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence.
The rights group said that, despite this, Mohammadi Ashtiani was subsequently convicted of “adultery while being married,” which it said she denied, and was sentenced to death by stoning.
Amnesty said it was aware of at least 10 other people, including seven women, under sentence of stoning in the Islamic state.
Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary-general of the Iranian high council for human rights, said on Friday that Mohammadi Ashtiani’s case was being reviewed by the judiciary.
IRNA quoted the judiciary official as saying: “Mohammadi Ashtiani has committed various and very serious crimes, and not only adultery.”
Amnesty International lists Iran as the world’s second-most prolific executioner in 2008 after China, and says it put to death at least 346 people in 2008.
The Iranian authorities routinely dismiss charges of rights abuses, saying they are following Shariah law.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese