Stay of execution for Iranian stoning woman
Source: Agencies |
November 4, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN Iranian woman accused of adultery will not be executed any time soon, France's foreign minister said, citing a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart.
German-based human rights group the International Committee against Stoning said on Tuesday that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani would be hanged instead of stoned, although Iranian authorities have declined to comment on the issue.
Ashtiani's stoning sentence was suspended earlier this year after prominent political and religious figures called it medieval, barbaric and brutal. Brazil, a close ally of Iran, offered to give the 43-year-old mother of two asylum.
"Manouchehr Mottaki (the Iranian foreign minister) assured me that Iranian legal authorities had not reached a verdict in the affair relating to (Ashtiani) and that the information regarding her alleged execution did not correspond to reality," Bernard Kouchner said in a statement.
He added he had spoken to Mottaki asking him to grant her a pardon.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Iranian authorities against going ahead with the punishment, saying it would hurt Iran's international relations.
"This is a barbaric punishment and it will damage Iran in the eyes of the world. It will be much better not to proceed with it," Hague told -reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Officials in Iran were not available to comment.
German-based human rights group the International Committee against Stoning said on Tuesday that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani would be hanged instead of stoned, although Iranian authorities have declined to comment on the issue.
Ashtiani's stoning sentence was suspended earlier this year after prominent political and religious figures called it medieval, barbaric and brutal. Brazil, a close ally of Iran, offered to give the 43-year-old mother of two asylum.
"Manouchehr Mottaki (the Iranian foreign minister) assured me that Iranian legal authorities had not reached a verdict in the affair relating to (Ashtiani) and that the information regarding her alleged execution did not correspond to reality," Bernard Kouchner said in a statement.
He added he had spoken to Mottaki asking him to grant her a pardon.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Iranian authorities against going ahead with the punishment, saying it would hurt Iran's international relations.
"This is a barbaric punishment and it will damage Iran in the eyes of the world. It will be much better not to proceed with it," Hague told -reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, during a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Officials in Iran were not available to comment.
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