The world spoke out against the barbaric sentence for an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, and it seems Iran has listened.
"She will not be executed by stoning punishment," the Iranian embassy said in a statement to London's Channel 4 news Thursday, commenting on reports that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (left) would be stoned to death for "illicit relationships" conducted after the death of her husband.
The embassy claims that, despite international reports, the violent punishment was never actually on the table. "This mission denies the false news aired in this respect," the embassy said in the statement.
"The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran highly recommends that news and reports should not be taken for granted and considered a reliable source of information for official statements or misjudgements."
It had read like a story straight out of the Middle Ages: Caught committing adultery, a woman was sentenced to a barbaric fate. But for Ashtiani, the brutal sentence seemed far from ancient history -- it was a terrifying reality.
Ashtiani was found to have had "illicit relationships" with two men after the death of her husband, and initially sentenced to 99 lashings.
But after she was flogged in front of her teenage son, the case was re-opened and the judge ultimately gave her the death penalty, sentencing her to a violent end.
Under Iran's Islamic laws, adultery is the only capital offense that can be punished by stoning, the AP reports. A man is usually buried up to his waist, and a woman up to her neck.
Those attending the execution then throw stones at the prisoner until he or she dies. If the convicted person is able to escape from the hole, the death sentence is commuted.
Ashtiani already has spent five years in prison, and her two children were heartbroken and horrified by her sentence. "Imagining her, bound inside a deep hole in the ground, stoned to death, has been a nightmare for me and my sister for all these years," her son Sajad, 22, told the Guardian.
Since news of Ashianti's sentence broke, buman rights activists, politicians and celebrities have voiced outrage.
Stoning is a "medieval punishment which has no role in the modern world," British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the AP on Thursday. "If the punishment is carried out, it will disgust and appall the watching world."
Celebrities such as Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, and Robert Redford have added their names to a campaign pushing for Ashianti's release, according to The Times of London, which also quoted Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass) voicing his disgust.
Even Lindsay Lohan weighed in on the case, taking to Twitter on Wednesday to post a link to the story and asking her fans to pass it on.
Stoning is a common sentence under Iran's Islamic laws, but rarely comes to pass -- the punishment is typically given in name only and later converted to a fine.
The last known stoning took place in 2008, the AP reports, although human rights activists believe there may have been more because the government rarely confirms that a stoning has been carried out.
Mina Ahadi, a prominent human rights activist in Germany, has been working to raise the profile on Ashtiani’s case, and says she knows of at least 12 other Iranian women awaiting the same fate.
"These are just the women I know,” she told the AP. “I estimate that at least 40 to 50 other women are waiting for the same destiny in Iran right now.”
Source: NY Daily News, July 8, 2010
The Guardian: Iran halts woman’s death by stoning
A 43-year-old Iranian woman will not be stoned to death after an international campaign launched by her children.
It is unclear whether the authorities have lifted the death sentence for alleged adultery against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani or if she faces execution by another means.
Mohammadi Ashtiani endured a sentence of 99 lashes after being convicted in May 2006 of conducting an “illicit relationship outside marriage”. But her case was reopened when a court in Tabriz suspected her of murdering her husband.
She was acquitted, but the adultery charge was reviewed and a death penalty handed down on the basis of “judge’s knowledge” – a loophole that allows for subjective judicial rulings where no conclusive evidence is present.
Her case has highlighted the growing use of the death penalty in a country that has executed more than 100 people this year.
Her son Sajad, 22, and daughter Farideh, 17, told the Guardian their mother had been unjustly accused and punished for something she did not do, prompting international appeals for the death sentence to be lifted. Read full story here.
Amnesty International: Further information on UA 211/09 (7 August 2009) – Fear of execution
IRAN Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (f)
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, is held on death row in Tabriz Prison, north-west Iran. On 8 July 2010, the Iranian Embassy in London announced that she would not be stoned to death, but she still could be executed, by stoning or other means.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence. Despite this, she was then also convicted of "adultery while being married", which she has denied, and sentenced to death by stoning.
Following an international outcry in recent weeks against her possible execution, the Iranian Embassy in London issued a statement on 8 July 2010 which said that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani would not be executed by stoning. However, her precise legal status is unclear as her lawyer has not received any official communication regarding commutation of her death sentence.
During her trial, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani retracted a "confession" that she had made during her pre-trial interrogation, alleging that she had been forced to make it under duress, and denied the charge of adultery. Two of the five judges found her not guilty, noting that she had already been flogged and adding that they did not find the necessary proof of adultery in the case against her. However, the three other judges, including the presiding judge, found her guilty on the basis of "the knowledge of the judge", a provision in Iranian law that allows judges to make their own subjective and possibly arbitrary determination whether an accused person is guilty even in the absence of clear or conclusive evidence. Having been convicted by a majority of the five judges, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was sentenced to death by stoning.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In Iran, stoning to death is prescribed as the mode of execution for those convicted of committing the offense of "adultery while being married". In 2002, the Head of the Judiciary instructed judges to impose a moratorium on stonings. Despite this, at least five men and one woman have been stoned to death since 2002. In January 2009, the Spokesperson for the Judiciary, Ali Reza Jamshidi, confirmed that two executions by stoning had been carried out in December 2008 and said that the directive on the moratorium had no legal weight and that judges could therefore ignore it.
At least seven other women and three men are currently believed to be at risk of stoning to death in Iran. Buali Janfashani and Sarimeh Sajjadi were also reported to have had their sentences of stoning upheld on appeal in January 2010.
In June 2009, the Legal and Judicial affairs committee of Iran's parliament (Majles) recommended the removal of a clause permitting stoning from a new version of the Penal Code currently under discussion in the parliament. It appears that the draft currently being considered for approval by the Council of Guardians, which checks legislation for conformity to the Constitution and to Islamic Law, may not include the penalty of stoning. However, the Council of Guardians could reinstate the clause on stoning.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Urging the Iranian authorities not to execute Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani by stoning or any other means;
- Calling on them to clarify her current legal status to her and her lawyer;
- Stating that Amnesty International opposes the criminalization of consensual sexual relations, and urging the authorities to speedily enact legislation that unequivocally bans stoning as a legal punishment and does not permit the use of other forms of the death penalty or flogging or imprisonment against those convicted of "adultery".
APPEALS TO:
Leader of the Islamic Republic
Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email: info_leader@leader.ir;
via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English);
OR http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
Office of the Head of the Judiciary
Pasteur St.
Vali Asr Ave. south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Email via website: http://www.dadiran.ir/
(1st starred box: your given name; 2nd starred box: your family name; 3rd: your email address)
Salutation: Your Excellency
Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Howzeh Riassat-e Ghoveh Ghazaiyeh
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737
ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Fax: 011 98 21 3390 4986
Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com (In subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
COPIES TO:
Iran does not presently have an embassy in the United States. Instead, please send copies to:
Iranian Interests Section
2209 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Phone: 202 965 4990
Fax: 1 202 965 1073
Email: requests@daftar.org
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 20 August 2010.
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