Showing posts with label adultery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adultery. Show all posts

Monday, July 26, 2010

Iran Stoning Case Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's Relatives Arrested

THE GUARDIAN: The lawyer defending Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani himself faces re-arrest as his wife and brother-in-law are held by Iran authorities

Authorities in Iran have issued an arrest warrant for an acclaimed Iranian lawyer and arrested his wife and brother-in-law over his involvement in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning.

Lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei's office in Tehran was ransacked, and he was interrogated in Evin prison for four hours on Saturday over his human rights activities and involvement in the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two who was convicted of adultery and whose plight in Iran has drawn international attention since her children launched a campaign for her release almost a month ago.

Mostafaei called Sakineh's stoning sentence "a bogus conviction" and "absolutely illegal" in an interview with the Guardian earlier this month.

He was released, then called back for further questioning before being set free. Authorities then issued an arrest warrant.

When they were unable to find him the authorities arrested his wife, Fereshteh Halimi and her brother Farhad Halimi to try to force him to surrender. However, it is still unclear whether Mostafaei has been arrested or he has managed to evade officials. >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Monday, July 26, 2010

Related >>>

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Iran Stoning Case Woman Ordered to Name Campaigners

THE GUARDIAN: Mother interrogated in prison over photograph and children advised to stay silent or face arrest

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Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Photograph: The Guardian

Iran has put fresh pressure on the woman it last month sentenced to death by stoning, demanding the names of those involved in the campaign for her release.

The case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has drawn international attention after her children launched a campaign for her release. After a global outcry last month, Iran's judiciary said Sakineh would not be put to death by stoning, but still faced execution by hanging.

The 43-year-old mother of two has been interrogated inside Tabriz prison over the names of the people who have been in touch with her family and the way her photo has been distributed among the media, the Guardian has learned.

Sakineh's photo, which has been distributed all over the world, has become a defining image for human rights activists campaigning against stoning in Iran.

"Sakineh has been under big pressure since the world has paid attention to her case", a source close to her family told the Guardian. "Recently she was questioned and asked to advise her children to remain silent, otherwise they will be arrested too. International attention is the only hope for Sakineh's release", the source added.

Sakineh's lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, has received a letter from the Iranian intelligence service summoning him to a meeting in Evin prison in the next three days to "clarify certain issues".

Mostafaei is an acclaimed lawyer who volunteered to represent Sakineh when he heard her story.

Sakineh received 99 lashes, but was subsequently accused of adultery during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband. Iran's judiciary has said Sakineh faces execution by hanging "because she is convicted of murder". >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Thursday, July 22, 2010

Sign the petition to free Sakineh here

Friday, July 02, 2010

’Help Us Save Our Mother’: Pleas from the Children of ‘Adulterous’ Iranian Woman Who Faces Death by Stoning

MAIL ONLINE: An Iranian mother-of-two faces death by stoning after being convicted of adultery.

Amnesty International today urged the Iranian authorities to halt the execution of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.

The human rights organisation describes stoning as a ‘grotesque and unacceptable penalty which Iran should abolish immediately’.

Ashtiani’s children joined in with a heart-breaking appeal to the international community to help spare their mother’s life.

‘Please help end this nightmare and do not let it turn into a reality,’ begged her daughter, Farideh, 16, and her son, Sajad, 20.

‘Explaining the minutes and seconds of our lives is very difficult. Words lose their meaning in these agonising moments. Help us save our mother.’

Ashtiani, 43, was convicted of having an ‘illicit relationship’ with two men in May 2006 and received 99 lashes as her sentence.

Despite this, she was later convicted of ‘adultery while being married’ and was sentenced to death by stoning. >>> Michael Theodoulou | Thursday, July 01, 2010

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Carla Bruni Reins In the Heavies to Calm l’affaire Twitter

THE SUNDAY TIMES: After rumours of extramarital affairs, telephone taps and a plot to destabilise the French state, the latest episode in France’s presidential soap opera features efforts by Carla Bruni, the president’s wife, to rein in “the firm”.

A cluster of Nicolas Sarkozy’s closest advisers called themselves “the firm” years ago in a tribute to the ruthless lawyers of the John Grisham thriller. Like guard dogs, they have protected “Sarko”, always ready to rip his opponents to shreds.

Unleashed last week, however, one of these political pitbulls wreaked so much havoc that the nation was left wondering whether its master had lost his mind.

Just as gossip about marital discord in the Sarkozy household had dissipated, Pierre Charon, who handles sensitive matters for the president, managed to reignite “l’affaire Twitter” with claims of a plot emanating from abroad to discredit the French leader by spreading rumours about his love life over the internet.

The culprits would be rooted out, he promised, by a criminal investigation.

It was whispered that Dominique de Villepin, the former prime minister and Sarkozy’s chief rival, had played a role in disseminating gossip that the president was having an affair with Chantal Jouanno, his ecology minister, and that Bruni, the singer and former model, was in a relationship with another musician. All have denied any infidelity.

Charon announced that the domestic intelligence service was investigating the rumours, which first surfaced on Twitter, the internet social networking site, in February.

One of the culprits, he had earlier alleged, was Rachida Dati, a former justice minister and a fallen presidential favourite. Sarkozy abruptly cancelled her car and bodyguards and told aides that he did not want to see the Euro MP and Paris district mayor ever again.
She suffered further humiliation when she went to Geneva to address an expatriate meeting on behalf of the president’s centre-right UMP party. Instead of booking her into the five-star hotel she had requested, the party, citing a need to crack down on expenses, put her in a room at the airport overlooking a car park.

Dati was said to have been on the verge of tears when told by reception that the hotel was full and she would have to share her room with a parliamentary aide. “That’s what happens when you attack the firm,” Charon told a group of Sarkozy supporters last week.

Dati has threatened to sue him or anyone else who links her to the rumours and appealed on Wednesday for an audience with the president so she could persuade him of her innocence. She has long been at loggerheads with Charon and other members of “the firm” such as Brice Hortefeux, the interior minister, who is one of Sarkozy’s best friends.

The bad feeling dates back to before Sarkozy was president, when Dati told Cécilia, his second wife, about his affair with a journalist from Le Figaro newspaper. >>> Matthew Campbell in Paris | Sunday, April 11, 2010

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Sarkozy Blames 'Anglo-Saxon Financiers' For Spreading Rumours About His Marriage As Dati Protests Her Innocence

MAIL ONLINE: French president Nicolas Sarkozy has accused British financiers of being part of a 'plot' to destabilise his country's economy by spreading rumours his marriage was in crisis.

The furious president is is said to believe that 'Anglo-Saxon financiers' may have started rumours that he and wife Carla Bruni were both having affairs.

The comments from his spokesman came as former justice minister Rachida Dati formally denied that she was behind the rumours.

In the latest dramatic twist to the Elysee Palace soap opera, the 44-year-old single mother ‘denied vehemently’ having said that the President and his wife were both having affairs.

Her comments came as a criminal inquiry was launched into the scandal, with those found guilty facing prison.

The president's spokesman Pierre Charon has ordered a 'campaign of terror' against those who started the rumours, which first appeared on Twitter then in newspapers across Europe.

The Elyseé Palace seems persuaded that the rumours originated in the Anglo-Saxon dominated financial markets as part of a conspiracy to initiate speculation against French debt.

'We shall find out if there has now been some kind of organised plot involving financial movements,' Mr Charon said in an interview with internet newspaper Rue 89.

'The fact that these rumours were spread in the newspapers in Britain, Germany and Switzerland makes us think of a conspiracy while France is preparing to take over the presidency of the G20 in 2011,' he said.

France's first couple were at the centre of media frenzy last month after false rumours erupted that Ms Bruni was having an affair with pop star Benjamin Biolay, six years her junior.

Mr Sarkozy was said to have sought comfort in the arms his attractive ecology minister Chantal Jouanno, a claim she has denied.

Those responsible for starting the rumours will be 'hunted down and punbished'[sic] and a criminal investigation had been launched by police and intelligence agencies, Mr Charon said.

He added: 'We are going to war on these ignominious reports. We want to take things as far as we can to make sure this will never happen again. We want those who tried to spread fear to feel fear themselves.'

France's left-wing Liberation [sic] newspaper described the language used as 'paranoid'.

French daily Sud-Ouest wrote: 'Can't Mr sarkozy see that it is precisely this kind of threatening language that makes people want to target him in the first place.'

And reporters at the Journal du Dimanche - which repeated the rumours in a blog on the paper's website - protested what they called the 'unprecedented bullying and inquisitorial' attitude of the Elysie. >>> Mail Foreign Service | Tuesday, April 06, 2010

LE POINT: Rumeurs sur la vie privée du couple présidentiel : RÉACTION - Me Herzog, avocat de Sarkozy : "Je ne peux pas exclure que ce soit une machination" >>> Par Cyriel Martin | Mardi 06 Avril 2010

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Rumeurs sur les Sarkozy: "Rachida Dati n'est pas impliquée" : FRANCE | Le rôle prêté à Rachida Dati dans la propagation de rumeurs autour de la vie privée du couple présidentiel est "impensable" et susceptible de relever de la diffamation, a déclaré l'avocat de l'ex-garde des Sceaux, Me Georges Kiejman. >>> AFP | Mardi 06 Avril 2010

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Somali Woman Stoned for Adultery

BBC: A 20-year-old woman divorcee accused of committing adultery in Somalia has been stoned to death by Islamists in front of a crowd of about 200 people.

A judge working for the militant group al-Shabab said she had had an affair with an unmarried 29-year-old man.

He said she gave birth to a still-born baby and was found guilty of adultery. Her boyfriend was given 100 lashes.

It is thought to be the second time a woman has been stoned to death for adultery by al-Shabab.

The group controls large swathes of southern Somalia where they have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law which has been unpopular with many Somalis.

'Lenient'

According to reports from a small village near the town of Wajid, 250 miles (400km) north-west of the capital, Mogadishu, the woman was taken to the public grounds where she was buried up to her waist.

She was then stoned to death in front of the crowds on Tuesday afternoon.

The judge, Sheikh Ibrahim Abdirahman, said her unmarried boyfriend was given 100 lashes at the same venue. >>> | Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Amnesty Calls for Repeal of New Anti-gay Laws in Indonesia

PINK NEWS: Amnesty International has demanded that a new Indonesian bylaw that endorses stoning to death for adultery and caning of up to 100 lashes for homosexuality should be repealed immediately.

The local Islamic Criminal Code was passed by the Aceh Provincial House of Representatives on Monday. 
It forbids a number of acts including alcohol consumption, gambling, intimacy between unmarried couples, adultery and fornication, and homosexuality.

In a statement released today Amnesty International said:

"We are concerned by provisions that criminalize adultery and homosexuality.

"Indonesian authorities must ensure that such provisions are repealed in conformity with international law and standards relating to physical and mental integrity and equality before the law."

The bill caused outcry from human rights groups when it was revealed on Monday.

"The new criminal bylaw flies in the face of international human rights law as well as provisions of the Indonesian constitution," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director.

"Stoning to death is particularly cruel and constitutes torture, which is absolutely forbidden under all circumstances in international law." >>> Staff Writer, Pink News | Friday, September 18, 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009

Aceh Govt. Refuses to Sign Stoning By-law

THE JAKARTA POST: The Aceh provincial government will not sign the controversial Islamic bylaw allowing adulterers to be stoned to death, an official said.

Hamid Zein, the head of the legal bureau of the Aceh governor’s office, said Thursday that the administration has firmly rejected the bylaw passed by the legislative council on Monday.

“As long as the executive and legislative bodies do not settle differences in the application of [capital punishment by] stoning, the Aceh government will not sign the bylaw,” Hamid said.

In the deliberation he said government representatives had repeatedly stated objections to the inclusion of the stoning penalty for adulterers in the Islamic criminal code (jinayat). Aceh is the country’s only province with special provisions allowing it to have Islamic sharia-based laws.

However, following initial endorsement of the bylaw, Home Minister Mardiyanto said the government would file a review to the Supreme Court, saying it was “detrimental” to Acehnese and would “frighten” visitors and investors, as well as possibly not respecting the [national] constitution.

His statement signaled the first time the central government had intervened in the issuance of rules and legislation by the Aceh administration and council.

The National Commission on Violence against Women has gone further, calling for a judicial review of the 2006 law on Aceh’s governance that provided its authority to issue sharia-based laws, saying that the bylaw was contrary to human rights.

Governor Irwandi Yusuf on Thursday declined to comment. >>> Hotli Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post , Bandah Aceh | Friday, September 18, 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! MPs Pass Law to Stone to Death Adulterers in Indonesian Province

As darkness falls over the world, our politicians continue to be in denial about the dangers of Islam. I speak not of radical Islam, but of Islam itself. For Islam truly is the problem; and it’s the greatest problem facing the civilized world today.

The silly word games our politicians play, the useless, banal games to try and separate this Islam from that one, the games they play to exonerate themselves from action – action which they are too cowardly to take, are really not helpful. On the contrary, these games hinder our ultimate success over the cult that is Islam, over the world’s greatest force for darkness, backwardness, inhumanity, and barbarity.

We need to roll back the frontiers. We need to push back the enveloping tide of ultimate backwardness – the evil forces which will take us back to the ‘New Dark Age’. The process of taking the world back to benightedness has begun; it needs to be halted forthwith, it needs to be halted without further delay.
– © Mark


THE TELEGRAPH: Married people who commit adultery could be stoned to death under new law unanimously passed on Monday by MPs in the devoutly Muslim Indonesian province of Aceh.

Muslim women are seen in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia Photo: The Telegraph

The law, which will come into effect in 30 days, also decrees that homosexuals could be caned and jailed for eight years.

Those convicted of rape or consuming alcohol could be face up to 200 lashes of the cane meted out in public.

The 69-seat house in the semi-autonomous province voiced no reservations over the new law, an extension of the Sharia code already in force.

Gambling and drinking were already banned after Aceh introduced elements of Sharia law in 2001, when it became compulsory for women to wear headscarves. >>> Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok | Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Thursday, July 23, 2009

150 Women Face Adultery Flogging on Maldives

THE INDEPENDENT: Almost 150 women living in the Maldives face a public flogging for indulging in extra-marital sex after being convicted by the Muslim country's conservative courts. Around 50 men also face the punishment.

Earlier this month, an 18-year-old woman fainted after she was flogged 100 times having been found guilty of having sex with two different men. The woman, who was pregnant at the time of sentencing, had her punishment deferred until after the birth of her child and the court said the teenager's pregnancy was proof of her guilt. In contrast, the accused men were acquitted, with one of them escaping punishment simply because he denied the charge. >>> Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent | Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Ten Saudis Seek Asylum After Princess Is Allowed to Stay

THE INDEPENDENT: Chairman of home affairs committee welcomes decision to give sanctuary to woman with illegitimate child

Ministers are considering asylum applications for 10 Saudi Arabian nationals who claim they are at risk of persecution if they are forced to return to the Middle Eastern kingdom, it emerged last night.

The new cases were made public after The Independent revealed the plight of a Saudi princess who was granted asylum in Britain after she had an illegitimate child with a British man.

The young woman, who has also been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for asylum after she told a court that she faced execution if her husband found out about her adultery and she was forced to return to Saudi Arabia.

Immigration and asylum experts said last night that asylum cases from women fleeing the kingdom were very rare. But Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said of the case: "This is the kind of person that our asylum laws are designed to protect. A woman and her unborn child should under no circumstances be sent back to a country where it is likely that they will be harmed. I welcome the decision made in this case."

New figures released by the Home Office also showed that a further 15 Saudis were refused asylum by the Government last year. There are no details about the sex of each of the applicants nor for the number of asylum applications received this year.
Mr Vaz called for more information to be made public about claims from Saudi Arabia. He said: "This is a country with a questionable human rights record. It is important to make clear the number of people who are fleeing similar treatment."

The princess's case is one of a small number of claims for asylum brought by citizens of Saudi Arabia which are not openly acknowledged by either government. British diplomats believe that to do so would in effect highlight the persecution of women in Saudi Arabia, which would be viewed as open criticism of the House of Saud and lead to embarrassing publicity for both governments.

The woman, who comes from a very wealthy Saudi family, says she met her English boyfriend – who is not a Muslim – during a visit to London. They struck up a relationship after he gave her his telephone number in a department store. She became pregnant the following year and worried that her elderly husband – a member of the royal family of Saudi Arabia – had become suspicious of her behaviour, she persuaded him to let her visit the UK again to give birth in secret. She feared for her life if she returned to Saudi Arabia.

She persuaded the court that if she returned to the kingdom she would be subject to capital punishment under Sharia law – specifically flogging and stoning to death. She was also worried about the possibility of an honour killing. Since she fled Saudi Arabia, her family and her husband's family have broken off contact with her. >>> Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor | Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

British Mother and Her Lover Jailed for Two Months for Adultery in Dubai

MAIL Online: The British mother of two accused of cheating on her estranged husband in Dubai has been jailed for two months.

Sally Antia, 44, was arrested for breaching the emirate's strict morality laws on May 2 this year after her husband Vincent informed police that he believed she was having an affair.

She pleaded guilty to adultery. Her lover Mark Hawkins, who had previously denied the allegation, was also jailed for two months.

Their sentences will be backdated from the date of their arrest on May 2 this year.

Mr Hawkins appeared nervous ahead of the sentencing yesterday and refused to divulge details of the affair.

During an interview with Sky News he continually asked: 'Have you seen Sally? How is Sally?'

He said there were 'quite a few other Britons' in the jail in Dubai with the pair, and admitted he found the situation 'hard, extremely difficult to deal with'.

'It is extremely difficult to get information on what is happening in the outside world, the officers only speak Arabic.

'Making phone calls to anyone is also difficult, and when you do, you are only allowed a few minutes a day.'

But he admitted that not knowing what would happen to him or Ms Antia was the worst, saying: 'I just hope at least something will happen (in court tomorrow), so that I can finally know what is going to happen to me.'

Vincent Antia was accused of informing on his wife to improve his chances of winning custody of their children. >>> | Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Thursday, May 28, 2009

'This Is Like Being in a Filthy Labour Camp,' Says Adultery Mother Locked in Dubai Jail Hell

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British mother Sally Antia, who is being held in a Dubai jail, claims she is given food riddled with maggots. Photo courtesy of MailOnline

MAIL Online: A British mother being held in a Dubai prison for adultery has revealed the appalling conditions she is enduring while awaiting her fate.

Sally Antia claims she is being fed food riddled with maggots and shares a toilet and poorly functioning shower with 100 other women.

Conditions are so crowded that she - like every other woman in the underground jail - sleeps toe-to-head with another woman in her single bunk bed.

She regularly washes in water from a bucket.

Mrs Antia and her boyfriend Mark Hawkins, 43, were both arrested in the early hours of May 2 as they walked out of one of Dubai's five-star hotels.

Their arrest followed a complaint by Mrs Antia's estranged husband Vincent made to police that his wife was committing adultery - a crime in the ultra-strict United Arab Emirates. >>> By Dan Newling | Thursday, May 28, 2009

Saturday, April 25, 2009

New Dark Age Alert! Taliban Gunmen Shooting Couple Dead for Adultery Caught on Camera

Are these the tribal savages Obama wants to do business with?

By now, it should be becoming increasingly obvious to all that Islam is a ‘religion’ neither of peace nor love. Do not let your cowardly politicians fool you!

Further, be sure of this: Wherever Islam spreads, and whenever it becomes stronger in numbers, its adherents become ever more emboldened. If you think that this sort of brutality and savagery couldn’t happen in the West, you are GREATLY mistaken.
– ©Mark


THE TELEGRAPH: Taliban gunmen have been filmed executing a surprised couple whom they repeatedly shot for the alleged crime of adultery.


Their deaths were squalid, riddled with bullets in a field near their home by Taliban gunmen as the execution was captured on a mobile telephone.

In footage which is being watched with horror by Pakistanis, the couple try to flee when they realise what is about to happen. But a gunman casually shoots the man and then the woman in the back with a burst of gunfire, leaving them bleeding in the dirt.

Moments later, when others in the execution party shout out that they are still alive, he returns to coldly finish them with a few more rounds.

Their "crime" was an alleged affair in their remote mountain village controlled by militants in an area that was only recently under the government's sway. It was the kind of barbarity that has become increasingly familiar across Pakistan as the Taliban tide has spread.

But this time, with black-turbaned gunmen almost at the gates of Islamabad, the rare footage has shown urban Pakistanis what could now await them.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned that Islamic extremists could take over the nation. >>> By Saeed Shah in Islamabad | Saturday, April 25, 2009

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Dubai: Marnie Pearce Hands Herself In

MAIL ON SUNDAY: A British mother who was on the run in Dubai after being found guilty of adultery has been jailed after handing herself into police.

Teaching assistant Marnie Pearce now faces the prospect of never seeing her two young children again.

Marnie, 40, originally from Bracknell in Berkshire, insists she never cheated on her ex-husband Ihab El-Labban and has been framed so he could win custody of their sons Laith, seven, and Ziad, four.

Once she has served her three-month sentence, Marnie is set to be deported to the UK without her children. Dubai 'Adultery Case' Wife Hands Herself in to Spare Children >>> Mail On Sunday Reporter | Sunday, February 22, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Thursday, January 22, 2009

British Woman's Adultery Conviction Upheld by Dubai Court

THE TELEGRAPH: A British woman has lost an appeal against her conviction for adultery in Dubai and been sentenced to three months in jail.

Marnie Pearce, 40, originally from Bracknell, Berks, fears she will lose custody of her two sons following the decision by the Emirate's Appeal Court.

Miss Pearce, a teaching assistant, married an Egyptian, Ihab El-Labban, in the Seychelles in 1999 and they moved to Dubai six years ago.

They had two children, Laith, now seven, and Ziad, now four, but their marriage broke down.

In March last year she was arrested and accused of committing adultery with a British man who she insists was only a friend.

She was found guilty of the offence at the end of November and sentenced to six months in jail. >>> By Nick Allen and Caroline Gammell | Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Monday, December 01, 2008

Iran Confirms Stoning Sentence against Adulteress: Report

AFP: TEHRAN — Iran's supreme court has confirmed a sentence of death by stoning against a woman convicted of adultery in the southern city of Shiraz, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The woman identified as Afsaneh R., was also given a second death sentence for murdering her husband with the help of a man identified only as Reza, who had an affair with her, Etemad Melli newspaper reported.

The report said the supreme court had in August confirmed verdicts first issued in April, but gave no reason for the delay in making the decision public.

It said Reza had also been sentenced to 100 lashes for having an illegitimate relationship and 15 years in jail for collaborating in murder. >>> | November 29, 2008

Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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Monday, July 21, 2008

Iran: Nine Iranians Convicted of Adultery to Be Stoned to Death

FOX NEWS: TEHRAN, Iran — Eight women and one man convicted of adultery are set to be stoned to death in Iran, activists said Sunday.

Lawyer and women's rights activist, Shadi Sadr, said the nine were convicted of adultery in separate cases in different Iranian cities.

"Their verdicts are approved, and they may be executed at any time," she told reporters.

Sadr, who has been leading a campaign in Iran against stoning deaths since 2006, said trial protocol was not applied properly in the cases. Six of the nine were convicted based solely on judges' decisions with no witnesses or the presence of their lawyers during their confessions, she said.

Most of the nine come from areas of Iran that have low rates of literacy and some did not understand the cases against them, she said.

One of Sadr's colleagues, Mohammad Mostafai, said his client, Malak Qorbani, had plead guilty to adultery even though she did not know the meaning of the charge.

The nine are between 27 and 50 years old, among them a male music teacher who was convicted of adultery for having an affair with one of his students, the activists said.

"We are trying to stop the implementation of their verdicts. And secondly, we want to amend the country's penal law, in which death by stoning is prescribed," Sadr said. Activists: 9 Iranians Convicted of Adultery Set to Be Stoned to Death >>> AP | July 20, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Adulterer Is Stoned to Death in Iran

KUWAIT TIMES: TEHRAN: Iran said yesterday that a man convicted of adultery had been stoned to death, the first time it has confirmed such an execution in five years, drawing international condemnation. The punishment - which involves the public hurling stones at the convict buried up to his waist - was meted out despite a 2002 directive from the head of the country's judiciary suspending the practice. "This case has been recently executed in the village that was mentioned," judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told reporters about the stoning of Jafar Kiani in Aghche Kand near Takestan, in Qazvin province. Iran ‘adulterer’ stones to death (more)

Mark Alexander