Amnesty Demands Iran Ends 'grotesque' Stoning Executions

Iran was urged today to abolish immediately executions by stoning, described by Amnesty International as a "grotesque and horrific" form of punishment.

The head of Iran's judiciary imposed a moratorium on such executions in 2002, but two people were stoned to death in 2006 and one last year, Amnesty said. Nine women and two men are currently under sentence of death by stoning.

Amnesty said in a new report that article 204 of Iran's penal code "dictates that the stones are large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the victim immediately."

The rules prescribe that men should be buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts for the purposes of death by stoning. Victims typically take 20 minutes to die.

Last week the Iranian human rights group led by Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ibadi protested against the amputation of hands and feet for offenses against public security. The UN and other bodies have often protested against torture and flogging in Iran.

Iran has one of the highest rates of execution in the world. In 2006, 177 people were put to death, mostly by hanging. That number was expected to be exceeded in 2007, with 124 people executed in the first seven months of the year.

"We welcome recent moves towards reform and reports that the Majles (Iran's parliament) is discussing an amended penal code that would permit the suspension of at least some stoning sentences, in cases where it is deemed 'expedient'," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director.

"But the authorities must go much further, and take the steps needed to ensure that the new penal code neither permits stoning to death nor provides for execution by other means for adultery."

Serious failings in the justice system commonly result in unfair trials, including in capital cases, Amnesty said.

"Women suffer disproportionately," it added. "They are not treated equally before the law and courts ... and they are particularly vulnerable to unfair trials because they are more likely than men to be illiterate and therefore to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit."

One of the eight women facing execution was allegedly forced into prostitution by an abusive husband who was a heroin addict. She was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of her husband - by one of her clients - and to death by stoning for adultery.

The Iranian authorities deny that stoning is still carried out.