Ashtiani outrage spurs Iran to commute stoning sentences to hanging

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Iran appears to be quietly changing the sentences of Iranians awaiting death by stoning to hanging after international outcry following the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two.

Mariam Ghorbanzadeh, 25, who was six months' pregnant and miscarried after being beaten up in Tabriz prison this week, was initially sentenced to death by stoning for adultery but her sentence has been commuted to hanging in a rapid judicial review. The decision is thought to have been driven by the Iranian authorities' desire to avoid further international condemnation over the barbaric punishment.

According to Iranian law, officials could not carry out her sentence while she was pregnant. Speaking to the Guardian, her lawyer, Houtan Kian, who represents Mohammadi Ashtiani and two other women kept in Tabriz prison convicted of adultery, said: "My fear is that Iran executes Mariam and those others whose cases have not attracted media attention."

Another of Kian's clients, Azar Bagheri, 19, was imprisoned at the age of 15 after her husband accused her of having an extramarital relationship. Bagheri was on death row for adultery but her sentence was commuted to 100 lashes after Mohammadi Ashtiani's story came to light. Although Bagheri's death penalty was handed down four years ago, the sentence could not be carried out until she was 18 years of old.

"All these women are convicted for adultery but Iran is trying to change their sentences after Sakineh's case has embarrassed them," Kian said.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/iran-stoning-sentences-commuted-ashtiani

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Iranian woman 'confesses' on TV (VIDEO)

The Iranian woman whose sentence to death by stoning sparked an international outcry was put on state-run TV where she told how her cousin had approached her about killing her husband, which in Iran was taken as a confession of adultery and involvement in murder. Her lawyer says she was tortured before the interview.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/aug/12/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-iran

[Xithras]

1. Iran uses short drop hanging. It's no better.

Measured drop hanging kills the person virtually instantly, and largely painlessly, but Iran won't use it because it's a "western invention". Iran is PROUD of the fact that hanging, as a punishment, was invented in Persia about 2500 years ago. They stick to the older style short drop or suspension hanging (depending on the locality) because it's more "traditional".

Suspension and short drop hanging is essentially just suspended strangulation. If the person is lucky, the rope will pinch their arteries and they'll black out quickly. If they're unlucky, they'll stay conscious as they struggle and thrash for breath until they finally pass out from lack of oxygen. Often, the difference between the two is the mercy and skill of the executioner. Iranian executioners are often lacking in both.

[oberliner]

2. Death penalty for adultery?

That seems more than a little excessive, regardless of the method used.

[golddigger]

3. The human race has come long way

in the last 5,000yrs.:sarcasm:

[SILVER__FOX52]

4. This is total bullshit...........

I wonder what happens in Iran when the husband, cheats. I'll bet anything it's not very serious or even a crime. This kind of thinking is insane.

[oberliner]

5. Apparently men can get the death penalty for adultery as well in Iran

From Amnesty International:

According to the Iranian newspaper Ham Mihan, Mohammad Ali Navid Khamami is at imminent risk of stoning to death after being convicted of “adultery while being married” in the city of Rasht, Gilan Province in northern Iran. No further details are available about his arrest and subsequent trial.

Fears for Mohammad Ali Navid Khamami’s life increased after the spokesman for the Judiciary, Ali Reza Jamshidi, confirmed in a press conference on 5 May 2009 that another man had been stoned to death in the Iranian month of Esfand (February- March 2009). Although Ali Reza Jamshidi also said that he was not aware of anyone else at risk of stoning in Rasht, but he did not deny the possibility.

Amnesty International had written to the Head of the Judiciary on 3 April 2009 requesting confirmation that 30-year-old Vali Azad from Parsabad had been stoned to death in secret in Lakan Prison on 5 March 2009. He had been sentenced to stoning to death for “adultery while being married” by Hojjatoleslam Kashani, Head of Branch 11 of the General Court in Gilan Province. According to the report received by Amnesty International, a woman convicted in the same case had been pardoned. Following his execution, Vali Azad’s body was reported to have been buried in secret, despite requests by his family to have his body returned to them for burial.

http://amnesty.name/fr/library/asset/MDE13/041/2009/fr/cd8a0a48-b092-4a23-8907-867a5c722ddf/mde130412009en.html

[aquart]

6. What do THEY get for murdering her baby?

I am so impressed by patriarchal behavior.

Any man who lifts a hand to a woman needs to have that hand cut off. And his dick. Let him sit to pee and discover a whole new world.

[mike r]

7. They need to string up the whole damn Iranian theocracy

[Turbineguy]

8. They should be careful about

these sudden leaps of nearly 2 millennia forward. It might create tension and social disorientation. Not for the Iranian people, but for the Imams.

[CBGLuthier]

9. Sounds like Compassionate Conservatism to me