Nobel-winner urges end to death by stoning for all Iranians

The sentence of death by stoning handed down by an Iranian court against a mother of two could be quashed, a senior judiciary official said on Sunday, adding that some ambiguities remained in her case.When asked by Fars news agency whether the stoning sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani could be quashed, Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of East Azerbaijan judiciary, said that "anything is possible."Sharifi's remark came a day after Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, the son of Mohammadi Ashtiani, pleaded for her execution by stoning to be stayed.

Iran's English-language Press TV on Friday denied reports that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman whose sentence to death by stoning for adultery had sparked an outcry, has been freed from jail.A German-based campaign group said late on Thursday that Mohammadi Ashtiani had been released along with her son and lawyer after photographs of her on home leave appeared in the media.

Iran told a UN rights body on Thursday that a final decision has yet to be taken in the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning, which has sparked an international outcry.However, Mossadegh Kahnemoui, a senior Iranian judicial official, insisted that the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, had been found guilty of adultery and conspiracy to murder her husband."Her case is still being processed and nothing is yet decided," he told the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, after committee members raised questions about her fate.

Iran was reviewing a sentence of stoning to death against a woman accused of adultery, a rights official said, but her lawyer warned Saturday there was no guarantee the execution would be halted.Mohammad Javad Larijani, Iran's top human rights official, said late Friday that the verdict of death by stoning against Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani is being reviewed by the judiciary."She was sentenced to 90 lashes by one court and stoning by another. The verdict is under revision," Larijani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

An Iranian mother's sentence of death by stoning could be quashed, a senior judiciary official said on Sunday, pointing out that ambiguities remain 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.

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, has also been sentenced to 99 lashes for a photo published of her without a headscarf, according to her son.In an interview published on the website of the French magazine La Regle du Jeu and the blog Dentelles et Tchador, Mohammadi-Ashtiani's son Sajjad said they learned of the new punishment from released inmates.

Human Rights Watch has expressed "grave concerns" that Iran will soon execute a woman sentenced to death by stoning after she made a televised confession.The "televised confession by Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani heightens the already grave concern that Iran will soon execute the 43-year-old woman," the New York-based watchdog said in a statement issued here late on Friday.On Wednesday, a woman dressed in a face-covering chador and said to be Mohammadi-Ashtiani confessed on Iranian television to being an accomplice in her husband's murder in 2006.

Iran told Western nations on Tuesday to stay out of the case of a woman who faces death by stoning, warning it will not tolerate any interference in the matter still under examination."Independent nations do not allow other countries to interfere in their judicial affairs," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference.The official was responding to questions from reporters about the status of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two sentenced to death by stoning by an Iranian court.