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Sakineh Mohannadi Ashtiani - Source: ONE News
As a campaign to save the life of an Iranian woman gathers
international attention, there are now reports that she will no
longer be stoned but she still faces the death penalty.
Celebrities including actors Robert Redford and Emma Thompson are
reported to have joined the US and British governments in the
campaign to save the life of Sakineh Mohannadi Ashtiani.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague told a news conference: "Stoning is a medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world and the continued use of such a punishment in Iran demonstrates in our view a blatant disregard for human rights commitments which it has previously entered into."
The US State Department said it was deeply troubled by reports of the proposed stoning execution, which it called "a form of legalised death by torture."
The 43-year-old mother of two has already been in prison for five years and received 99 lashes for having an illicit relationship which she has denied.
The Iranian government has today announced that she will not now
be stoned to death.
However, it is not clear whether the death sentence against her has
been lifted, or whether she still faces execution by another
method.
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