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A man and a woman sentenced to death in Mashahd: Concerns about possible stoning sentence

25 Sep 08

Iran Human rights, September 25: A man and a woman who are convicted of murder and adultery, are sentenced to death by a court in the city of Mashad (north-eastern Iran) reported the state run news agency ISCA news.

They are identified as Mojtaba and Tahere, and convicted of adultery and murdering Tahere’s husband Mohammad in June 2007.

The court has sentenced Mojtaba and Tahere to death for murder, but they haven’t decided about the punishment for adultry, says the report.

Stoning is commonly used as punishment in the adultery cases.

Human rights defenders are concerned that Tahere and Mojtaba could be facing death by stoning.

To our knowledge two people have been stoned to death in Mashad since 2006. Mahboubeh M. and Abbas H. were stoned to death in a cemetery in Mashad in May 2006. But the media and the court announced that they were executed, without mentioning the stoning punishment.

At least 11 people convicted of adultery (extra-marital sexual relationship)are waiting in the Iranian prisons sentenced to death by stoning. Although the spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary has recently said that "stoning as punishment is suspended in Iran". Human rights defenders are concerned that other methods of execution could replace stoning.