Ashtiani Rescued From Being Stoned To Death – For Now

Related, please sign and send: http://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944〈=en

Please sign here as well: http://freesakineh.org/

Simulposted with Care2

Iran’s judiciary has said the the stoning sentence for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, convicted of adultery, will not be carried out – at least for now. But her fate remains uncertain.

Last week, Ximena Ramirez wrote a wonderful Care2 post, explaining all the details of this case, including the fact that Ashtiani only confessed to her crime after being lashed 99 times. Ramirez also documented in detail all the many groups around the world who have come to Ashtiani’s aid to denounce this horrendous sentence.

And yet the battle is not over. Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the senior judicial official in East Azerbaijan province, where the mother-of-two was convicted, said yesterday that the sentence “will not be implemented for the time being.” He added that whatever the final decision, the verdict “will be carried out regardless of western media propaganda.”

Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, was found guilty of having an “illicit relationship” with two men in 2006 but her lawyer and her family denounced the trial as a sham. She received the 99 lashes, but then was accused of “adultery while being married” during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband.

So what will happen next? Nothing is certain. Ashtiani has already been in prison for 5 years, awaiting execution. On Friday, Iran’s senior human rights official Mohammed Javad Larijani that Ashtiani’s sentence was “under revision” as the judiciary chief preferred to use another method for execution instead of stoning.

Iran says that stoning is used only rarely, but it appears that 15 people, 12 women and three men, are currently on death row awaiting stoning.

Meanwhile, the world is in uproar, with condemnation of this atrocious practice coming from the U.S., Britain and many other countries, in addition to celebrities and intellectuals around the world.

Yet we still don’t know. Ashtiani has been saved for now, but her future is unclear and she remains in prison. Let’s keep the pressure on.