Iranian mother sentenced to death by stoning

JERUSALEM - An Iranian woman, who has been charged with committing adultery with two men involved in the killing of her husband, is to be stoned to death.

Forty-three-year-old Sakineh Mohamamadi e Ashtiani, who hails from the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, has been accused of having affairs with two men, who were accused of murdering her husband in 2005.

“If the barbaric sentence is enforced it would be the first stoning to take place in the hardline Islamic Republic in years,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

Experts say infidelity is outlawed in Iran and usually punished with lashes or prison.

Execution is permitted under Iranian law but stoning is rare.

Ashtiani was sent to jail after being sentenced to 99 lashes for having ‘illicit relationships’.

“She was then tried for murder and found guilty, and the sentence of death by stoning imposed,” the paper said.

While adultery is punishable by stoning, Iranian human rights advocates point out that murder is punishable by hanging, and suggest that her adultery case was reopened during her murder trial, despite her already having been sentenced.

Ashtiani has denied any wrongdoing and her two children Fasride and Sajjad backed by human rights group are leading the campaign for her release. (ANI)