EU decries 'barbaric' plans to stone Iranian woman

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100907/ap_on_re_us/iran_stoning;_ylt=Atg6tWPbEQEsTHNFLkRpdnJvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJkcGZvaWczBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwOTA3L2lyYW5fc3RvbmluZwRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzIEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDZXVkZWNyaWVzYmFy

TEHRAN, Iran – The international crossfire over Iran's stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery intensified Tuesday with a top European Union official calling it "barbaric" and an Iranian spokesman saying it's about punishing a criminal and not a human rights issue.

The sharp words from both sides provide a snapshot of the dispute: Western leaders are ramping up pressure to call off the sentence for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani and Iran is framing it as a matter for its own courts and society.

The case of the 43-year-old mother of two also spills over into larger and even more complex issues for Iran's Islamic leaders of national sovereignty and defense of their system of justice.

Iranian authorities routinely defend their legal codes and human rights standards as fully developed and in keeping with the country's traditions and values. They have widely ignored Western denunciations over the crackdowns after last year's disputed presidential election.

Iranian authorities also bristle at Western criticism — including U.S. State Department human rights reports — and say foreign governments overlook shortcomings in their own systems and fail to hold Western ally Israel accountable.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, showed Tuesday that the Islamic state was willing to push back just as hard as the West — at least with rhetoric.

"If release of all those who have committed murder is considered defending human rights, all European countries can ... free murderers in defense of human rights," Mehmanparast told reporters.

Ashtiani's stoning sentence was put on hold in July and is now being reviewed by Iran's supreme court. Iranian authorities also say she has been convicted of playing a role in her husband's 2005 murder.

But her lawyer, Houtan Javid Kian, says she was never formally put on trial on the charge of being an accomplice to murder and was not allowed to mount a defense.

At the European parliament, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was "appalled" by the news of the sentence.

"Barbaric beyond words," he said during his first State of the Union address in Strasbourg, France.

The case also has been wrapped up in claims of Iranian missteps and abuses.

Last month, Iranian authorities broadcast a purported confession from Ashtiani on state-run television. A woman identified as Ashtiani admitted to being an unwitting accomplice in her husband's killing. Kian said he believes she was tortured into confessing.

Then on Monday, Kian said he received word that his client was lashed 99 times last week in a separate punishment after British newspaper ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as Ashtiani. The newspaper, the Times of London, later apologized for the error.

There was no official Iranian confirmation of the new punishment.

Iran has given no signal it will bend easily to international appeals. Even an offer of asylum from Brazil — which is on friendly terms with Tehran — went nowhere.

The Vatican has hinted of the possibility of behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save her life.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the stoning sentence "the height of barbarism." Earlier, a hard-line Iranian newspaper, Kayhan, described French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as a "prostitute" for condemning the stoning sentence.

Mehmanparast, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said the insult was not sanctioned by the government.

U.S. officials have so far let European allies lead the way over the case, preferring to keep up efforts to enforce tighter U.N. and American sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. But Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said last month that Washington remains "troubled" by the case and Ashtiani's "fate is unclear."

Ashtiani's lawyer sees the next critical period coming next week. The moratorium on death sentences during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan will end, and he worries that an execution could be then carried out "any moment."

Stonings of men and women were widely carried out in the early years after the 1979 Islamic revolution. More recently, the punishment has been imposed less frequently, but cases are rarely confirmed by authorities and no official records are released.

In January 2009, Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said two men convicted of adultery were stoned to death the previous month in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

More recently, the punishment has been imposed less frequently...

And in the not too distant future we will get to read stories of how Iran "now fires random nuclear missiles less frequently." Yep these are folks who deserve to run an actual nuclear armed country...

[Danno 1,228]

<<<TEHRAN, Iran – The international crossfire over Iran's stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery intensified Tuesday with a top European Union official calling it "barbaric">>>

Whats the deal was she in fact convicted of murder as well and if so why do reports keep failing to leave this detail inaccurate by simply mention a lesser charge?

[evli1966 88]

<<<TEHRAN, Iran – The international crossfire over Iran's stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery intensified Tuesday with a top European Union official calling it "barbaric">>>

Whats the deal was she in fact convicted of murder as well and if so why do reports keep failing to leave this detail inaccurate by simply mention a lesser charge?

She was aquitted of the murder charges that is what is missing.

[Peikko 1,575]

She was aquitted of the murder charges that is what is missing.

Acquitted? I thought there was no knowledge outside of Iran if she was acquitted or found guilty and sentenced. The pertinent point however is that the sentence for the murder charge, were she found guilty (the actual charge was accessory to murder) would be imprisonment not a capital sentence. The stoning sentence is specifically for the charge of rape.

What is most difficult about these types of cases is that the judicial system is politically motivated. Stoning was introduced post 1979 for political ends. The Iranian public have no stomach for these types of sentences (yes, really that is true) and typically a stoning sentence will be commuted to a lesser sentence - but the judiciary must not be seen to lose face. The judicial system is not very fair, and it is less fair for a woman than a man. A female adulterers testimony is apparently only given 50% the weight of that of the testament of a man. it is therefore extremely difficult for a women who is accused of adultery to prove herself innocent. Throwing something else in there, men are legally allowed to have more than one sexual partner, women are not and women are more commonly than one would believe forced into prostitution to pay for drug habits of their husbands. All is not fair in the judicial system, so a stoning sentence for a woman (which is more commonly given to women as well, just to add insult to injury as it were) is not a safe sentence, in that it will not be at all clear that she is guilty of the crime.

[^_^ 5,021]

The Iranian public have no stomach for these types of sentences (yes, really that is true)...

When Boo Yah makes claims, we ask that he back it up. You may wish to consider doing the same.

[Amby 490]

I just heard on the news that Iran has "suspended" the stoning sentence

[Amby 490]

Iran has backed down over plans to stone to death a woman charged with adultery after an international outcry.

The Islamic republic's London embassy said in a statement that "according to information from the relevant judicial authorities in Iran" Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani "will not be executed by stoning".

However, there are still fears that Ms Ashtiani, a mother-of-two, could be put to death by other means after she was found guilty of an affair while she was married.

Her lawyer Mohammed Mostafaei told The Times: "This is a positive development but nothing is clear yet. There have been cases in Iran of stonings being changed to hangings. We have to wait and see what happens."

His client, 43, has already received 99 lashes in mid-2006 after she was convicted of an "illicit relationship" with two men after her husband's death, according to Human Rights Watch.

Later that year she was put on trial again for "adultery while being married", during which Ms Ashtiani said she was forced to make a confession under duress.

In 2007, Iran's Supreme Court confirmed her execution and the woman has since exhausted all her appeals. She is currently imprisoned in the city of Tabriz.

Ms Ashtiani's 22-year-old son Sajjad has sent an open letter to former political activist Mina Ahadi and other anti-capital punishment campaigners.

"I ask you to send the letter of my mother's pardon to Tabriz and return my mother's life back to her. I hope that you see to it that justice in my mother's case prevails," he said.

"My mother is in a bad psychological state, and in five whole years has been imprisoned without a day of (leave from the prison)."

He told how he has appealed dozens of times to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and judicial chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt has condemned stoning as "a medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world".

He said in a statement: "The continued use of such a punishment in Iran demonstrates a blatant disregard for international human rights commitments which it has entered into freely, as well as the interests of its people.

"I call on Iran to put an immediate stay to the execution of Ms Mohammadi Ashtiani on the charge of adultery, and review the process by which she was tried, and her sentence.

"She has already faced the disgraceful punishment of 99 lashes for adultery; her execution would disgust and appal the watching world."

Human Rights Watch has also called on Tehran to stop her killing and do away with all death sentences.

The organisation said under the country's law, cases of adultery must be proven either by repeated confession or by the evidence of witnesses - four men or three women and two men.

However, judges are also able to use their "knowledge" to determine guilt or innocence.

Ms Ashtiani's lawyer has said two of the five trial judges found her not guilty - the other three ruled she was guilty based on their "knowledge".

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/09/08/iran-womans-stoning-suspended-international-outcry/?test=latestnews

[evli1966 88]

Acquitted? I thought there was no knowledge outside of Iran if she was acquitted or found guilty and sentenced. The pertinent point however is that the sentence for the murder charge, were she found guilty (the actual charge was accessory to murder) would be imprisonment not a capital sentence. The stoning sentence is specifically for the charge of rape.

What is most difficult about these types of cases is that the judicial system is politically motivated. Stoning was introduced post 1979 for political ends. The Iranian public have no stomach for these types of sentences (yes, really that is true) and typically a stoning sentence will be commuted to a lesser sentence - but the judiciary must not be seen to lose face. The judicial system is not very fair, and it is less fair for a woman than a man. A female adulterers testimony is apparently only given 50% the weight of that of the testament of a man. it is therefore extremely difficult for a women who is accused of adultery to prove herself innocent. Throwing something else in there, men are legally allowed to have more than one sexual partner, women are not and women are more commonly than one would believe forced into prostitution to pay for drug habits of their husbands. All is not fair in the judicial system, so a stoning sentence for a woman (which is more commonly given to women as well, just to add insult to injury as it were) is not a safe sentence, in that it will not be at all clear that she is guilty of the crime.

I would say the judicial system is more religeously motivated than political but seeing that the political policy closely resemble the religeous laws.

yes I agree the laws seem lopsided for offenses and it seems once again laws of these predominate islam countries with strong influence from the relgeous extremists.

Although if the public has no stomach for it then we the world do not see them making a change seeking help to make it so.

by the way

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Iran has put the stoning sentence of a woman convicted of adultery and murder "on hold," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told state-run Press TV on Wednesday.

While the statement did not differ greatly from previous, sometimes contradictory reports from the Iranian government about the fate of the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, it did indicate continued attention to the murder aspect of her case.

"The sentencing of Ms. Ashtiani for adultery has been stopped and (her case) is being reviewed again, and her sentencing for complicity in murder is in process," Mehmanparast said.

Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 and sentenced to death by stoning, but her son and human rights activists urged help for her this summer, prompting an international outcry.

There have been conflicting reports about the murder charge, which relates to the death of Ashtiani's husband. Ashtiani's previous lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, said last month his client had been sentenced to death for the crime but that the sentence was commuted because the victim's family forgave her.

• cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Iran'); Iran
• cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Sakineh_Mohammadie_Ashtiani'); Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani

Ashtiani, however, told the British newspaper The Guardian last month that she was acquitted of the murder in 2006. Ashtiani, who spoke to the newspaper through an intermediary, said the man who actually killed her husband was identified and imprisoned for the crime.

Mehmanparast said those concerned about Ashtiani's condition should have some consideration for the family of the victim, according to Press TV.

"Defending a person on trial for murder should not be turned into a human rights matter," Mehmanparast said.

Ashtiani gave an interview to state-run TV last month in which she said she knew about a plot to kill her husband but that she had not taken it seriously at the time.

"The man entered my life and fooled me with his words and said let's kill my husband," she said in the interview, which was criticized by human rights groups. "He fooled me and said I'll do this for you, what a bad husband, I'll take care of you. He was my husband's cousin, and he said things about my husband.

"Then I realized, when I went to prison, he had a criminal record and that this was his third criminal record, and when he said we should kill my husband, I couldn't even believe him or that my husband would die, I thought he was joking, that he had lost his mind.

"When my husband's mother was at our house one day and I went to get her medicine, I saw him there with all the tools he had bought, including electrical tools, wires and gloves. Then he killed my husband by connecting him to electricity with the electrical wires. He had told me beforehand to send my kids to their grandmother's house."

The prosecutor of East Azerbaijan Province, Malek Ajdar Sharifi, said on the same program that "the deceased was given an injection to fall asleep by his wife, then the man arrived and put him into the bath and put two electrical lines on his body and killed the deceased."

The human rights group Amnesty International criticized the interview, saying Ashtiani may have been coerced.

I just heard on the news that Iran has "suspended" the stoning sentence

Suspending it because it seems the workd is tired of the BS and this time it can not be explained away as extremist activity.

[mawilson 2,133]

Iran has backed down over plans to stone to death a woman charged with adultery after an international outcry.

They will behead her instead?

[Sofiyya 1,687]

They will behead her instead?

If they follow the Bible, they will.

[Amby 490]

They will behead her instead?

I wondered what the alternative was

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

I wondered what the alternative was

the cali method: getting her stoned.

[evli1966 88]

They will behead her instead?

Lets hope not the ignorance and stupidity of such laws in this world sickens me.

I hate that we here have the death penalty in the USA but at least it is a law not based on religeous principle directly.

If they follow the Bible, they will.

That is clearly the point

Please educate me what facist country creates its laws and penalties based directly on the bible.

The bible states Thou shalt not kill or Wages of sin are ........... but in most if societies laws like adultry do not carry death penalties if they are even charged. It is only the Islamic countries that do not allow it's people to reject those laws so they can maintain its control on its people and keep for the most part woman subjicated below men.

The peaceful religeon you are trying to teach me and others about have some hideous practices which are on going. (the laws of these countries are based off Islamic religon laws.)

It is hard for someone non muslim to believe in the Islamic peacefullness when practices like these are allowed.

[Peikko 1,575]

When Boo Yah makes claims, we ask that he back it up. You may wish to consider doing the same.

The problem is that statistical evidence is very hard to come by there are no official records available. I will say that I heard this from an Iranian source, not some US or UK commentator.