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Iranian widow faces being stoned to death in days
Human rights groups, government officials and celebrities are appealing to Iran to halt death-by-stoning plans for a convicted adulterer.
The execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, who has already spent five years in prison and received 99 lashes for alleged adultery, would "disgust and appall the watching world", the British Government declared, according to a Thursday report in U.K. newspaper The Times.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Iran should stop Ashtiani's and all death sentences.
"Death by stoning is always cruel and inhuman, and it is especially abhorrent in cases where judges rely on their own hunches instead of evidence to proclaim a defendant guilty," said Nadya Khalife, Middle East women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch in a statement on its website. "Iran should immediately put a stop to this execution – and all executions."
Celebrities signing up to campaign for Ashtiani's release include Sir David Hare, the playwright, actress Emma Thompson, actress Juliette Binoche, fashion designer Katherine Hamnett and actor Colin Firth, The Times said.
Even American jail-bound actress Lindsay Lohan got in on the act. On Twitter, she posted a series of messages about the "cruel and inhuman" punishment and linked to a Wednesday Newsweek story about Ashtiani.
The Newsweek story said Ashtiani could be buried up to her breasts and stoned to death as early as this coming weekend.
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She is being held in a local jail in the northern Iran town of Tabriz, the U.K.'s Daily Express reported.
In May 2006, a criminal court in East Azerbaijan province found Ashtiani guilty of having had an "illicit relationship" with two men following the death of her husband.
But that September, during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband, another court reopened an adultery case based on events that allegedly took place before her husband died, the BBC reported.
Where is stoning legal, and how is it done?
Newsweek: Stoning of Iranian woman imminent
Despite retracting a confession she said she had been forced to make under duress, Ashtiani was convicted of "adultery while being married" and sentenced to death by stoning.
Ashtiani, a mother of two, denies the charges. She has been in prison since 2006 and has already been given 99 lashes. She has lost appeals for clemency.
Under Iran's strict interpretation of Islamic law, sex before marriage is punishable by a hundred lashes, but married offenders are sentenced to death by stoning, the BBC reported.
'Nightmare'
Ashtiani's son Sajad, 22, and daughter Farideh, 17, told the London-based Guardian newspaper last week that their mother has been unjustly accused and already punished for something she did not do.
"She's innocent, she's been there for five years for doing nothing," Sajad told the Guardian. He described the imminent execution as barbaric. "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."
On Friday, protesters gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London to demand Ashtiani's release, the Guardian said.
Five years ago when Sakineh was flogged, Sajad was 17 and present in the punishment room, he told the Guardian. "They lashed her just in front my eyes, this has been carved in my mind since then."
Sajad and Farideh Ashtiani wrote a letter on June 26 asking the public, "Please help our mother return home!"
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Mohammed Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who volunteered to represent Ashtiani when her sentence was announced a few months ago, called the planned stoning "an absolutely illegal sentence."
"Two of five judges who investigated Sakineh's case in Tabriz prison concluded that there's no forensic evidence of adultery," Mostafaei told the Guardian. "According to the law, death sentence and especially stoning needs explicit evidences and witnesses while in her case, surprisingly, the judge's knowledge was considered as enough," he said.
European Union Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton told Iran in a letter that she was "deeply concerned" about Ashtiani and other pending executions, the Express reported.
Calling death by stoning "a particularly cruel method of execution which amounts to torture," Ashton said, "I call on Iran to halt these executions."
Amnesty International has contacted the Iranian government directly to appeal for clemency, the Express reported. The organization also offers support for Ashtiani on its website.
© 2010 msnbc.com Reprints
The execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, who has already spent five years in prison and received 99 lashes for alleged adultery, would "disgust and appall the watching world", the British Government declared, according to a Thursday report in U.K. newspaper The Times.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Iran should stop Ashtiani's and all death sentences.
"Death by stoning is always cruel and inhuman, and it is especially abhorrent in cases where judges rely on their own hunches instead of evidence to proclaim a defendant guilty," said Nadya Khalife, Middle East women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch in a statement on its website. "Iran should immediately put a stop to this execution – and all executions."
Celebrities signing up to campaign for Ashtiani's release include Sir David Hare, the playwright, actress Emma Thompson, actress Juliette Binoche, fashion designer Katherine Hamnett and actor Colin Firth, The Times said.
Even American jail-bound actress Lindsay Lohan got in on the act. On Twitter, she posted a series of messages about the "cruel and inhuman" punishment and linked to a Wednesday Newsweek story about Ashtiani.
The Newsweek story said Ashtiani could be buried up to her breasts and stoned to death as early as this coming weekend.
Story continues below More below
Advertisement | ad info
Sponsored links
Marketplace
She is being held in a local jail in the northern Iran town of Tabriz, the U.K.'s Daily Express reported.
In May 2006, a criminal court in East Azerbaijan province found Ashtiani guilty of having had an "illicit relationship" with two men following the death of her husband.
But that September, during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband, another court reopened an adultery case based on events that allegedly took place before her husband died, the BBC reported.
Where is stoning legal, and how is it done?
Newsweek: Stoning of Iranian woman imminent
Despite retracting a confession she said she had been forced to make under duress, Ashtiani was convicted of "adultery while being married" and sentenced to death by stoning.
Ashtiani, a mother of two, denies the charges. She has been in prison since 2006 and has already been given 99 lashes. She has lost appeals for clemency.
Under Iran's strict interpretation of Islamic law, sex before marriage is punishable by a hundred lashes, but married offenders are sentenced to death by stoning, the BBC reported.
'Nightmare'
Ashtiani's son Sajad, 22, and daughter Farideh, 17, told the London-based Guardian newspaper last week that their mother has been unjustly accused and already punished for something she did not do.
"She's innocent, she's been there for five years for doing nothing," Sajad told the Guardian. He described the imminent execution as barbaric. "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."
On Friday, protesters gathered outside the Iranian embassy in London to demand Ashtiani's release, the Guardian said.
Five years ago when Sakineh was flogged, Sajad was 17 and present in the punishment room, he told the Guardian. "They lashed her just in front my eyes, this has been carved in my mind since then."
Sajad and Farideh Ashtiani wrote a letter on June 26 asking the public, "Please help our mother return home!"
Story continues below More below
Advertisement | ad info
Sponsored links
Marketplace
Mohammed Mostafaei, an Iranian lawyer who volunteered to represent Ashtiani when her sentence was announced a few months ago, called the planned stoning "an absolutely illegal sentence."
"Two of five judges who investigated Sakineh's case in Tabriz prison concluded that there's no forensic evidence of adultery," Mostafaei told the Guardian. "According to the law, death sentence and especially stoning needs explicit evidences and witnesses while in her case, surprisingly, the judge's knowledge was considered as enough," he said.
European Union Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton told Iran in a letter that she was "deeply concerned" about Ashtiani and other pending executions, the Express reported.
Calling death by stoning "a particularly cruel method of execution which amounts to torture," Ashton said, "I call on Iran to halt these executions."
Amnesty International has contacted the Iranian government directly to appeal for clemency, the Express reported. The organization also offers support for Ashtiani on its website.
© 2010 msnbc.com Reprints
I heard they are saying they will not stone this woman to death. Not sure if that means they will pick another type of execution tho. hmmm.
God Bless America! I am so glad to have been born here! They treat their women like cattle.
So sad. And I would agree, it is torture. Most moderate Muslims say this is not acceptable according the the Q'aran either. Unfortunately, Iran is under the control of a lunatic so I find it unlikely that the pleas and cries will be heard.
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