Iran: Sakineh Ashtiani will not be stoned

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Following extensive international protests, Iranian Embassy in London announced that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned to death, British media report.

The 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was arrested in 2006 charged with carrying out an “illicit relationship” outside marriage and has been in Tabriz prison since.

According to Daily Times and Guardian, Iranian judicial authorities have announced that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned to death.

The authorities have not however indicated whether they have lifted the death sentence against her.

Ms. Ashtiani’s attorney however has not confirmed the lifting of the sentence. He has told AFP today that no official changes have been communicated to him regarding Ms’ Ashtiani’s case so far and that his client remains in prison.

Britain and the US have been in the forefront of protests against the death by stoning sentence of Ms. Ashtiani.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague described stoning as a “medieval punishment” yesterday adding: “If the punishment is carried out, it will disgust and appall the watching world.”

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman described stoning as “a barbaric and abhorrent act” and added that US authorities “condemn in the strongest terms the use of the practice of stoning anywhere it occurs as a form of legalized torture.”

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is the mother of two that has been sentenced to 99 lashes and stoning for “committing adultery”. She has already been flogged and her stoning sentence was approved by the Supreme Court.

A number of prominent celebrities and politicians of the world have also lent their support to the campaign to prevent her from being stoned to death according to The Times.