Agence France Presse, TEHRAN, October 15 – An Iranian women found guilty of having an extra-marital affair with an Afghan and being an accomplice in the murder of her husband has been sentenced to death by stoning, a press report said Saturday.
The Shargh newspaper identified the woman by her first name of Soghra, and said the killing took place in the Varamin district south of Tehran.
The woman’s lover, only identified as Ali Reza, was sentenced to death for committing the murder.
Executions by stoning have been suspended by the head of the judiciary since late 2002, when the European Union opened long-term trade talks with Iran and made human rights issues a key condition to negotiations.
The judiciary has acknowledged that stoning sentences may have been issued by certain courts, but asserts that they are invariably quashed on appeal or by the Supreme Court — which has to approve all executions.
Human rights activists and diplomats have said that while Iran appears to have respected a moratorium on stoning, there have been cases of minors being executed.