Stoning sentence may be quashed: judiciary

AFP/Tehran

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani sits next to her son Sajjad during an interview with foreign media in Tabriz, north-western Iran, on Saturday

An Iranian mother’s sentence of death by stoning could be quashed, a senior judiciary official said yesterday, pointing out that ambiguities remained in her case.

The head of East Azerbaijan’s judiciary said "anything is possible,” asked by Fars news agency whether Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s sentence for adultery could be overturned.

Malek Ajdar Sharifi’s remark came a day after Mohammadi Ashtiani appeared before a group of journalists working for international news networks during what judiciary officials called an "out of prison” visit to her family.

The journalists were not allowed to ask her questions during the meeting which took place in the presence of judiciary officials at a guest house in Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan province.

His statement also came after Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, Mohammadi Ashtiani’s son, pleaded before foreign media that her execution by stoning be stayed.

Sharifi said that certain "ambiguities” still remained in the "evidence” gathered in Mohammadi Ashtiani’s case, and this was causing the delay in taking a final decision over the verdict.

The cleric said it was easy to issue a verdict in a case where the murderer clearly confesses to his crime.

"But in this case where the defendant (Mohammadi Ashtiani) denies or makes justifications and there are ambiguities in the evidence, the procedure gets prolonged,” he said.

Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence has triggered an outcry in the West, was sentenced to death by two different courts in Tabriz in separate trials in 2006.

In her remarks to foreign media on Saturday, she said she wants to sue "the two German” journalists, her former lawyer Mohammad Mostafaie, anti-stoning campaigner Mina Ahadi and her husband’s convicted murderer Issa Taheri.

"I have told Sajjad (her son)... to sue the ones who have disgraced me and the country... I have a complaint against them,” she said.

The two German journalists from Bild am Sonntag were arrested on October 10 in Tabriz for interviewing Ashtiani’s son and family lawyer who were also taken into custody. Her son has been free on bail since last month.

Iran says the two Germans entered the country on tourist visas and failed to obtain the necessary accreditation for journalists before "posing as reporters” when they contacted her family.

"I am willing to talk because many people exploited (the case) and said I have been tortured, which is a lie... Leave my case alone. Why do you disgrace me?” the convicted woman asked the reporters.

Berlin said yesterday that Mohammadi Ashtiani’s remarks appeared to have been made under duress.