Urgent Action

Another Woman Sentenced to Death by Stoning in Iran

January 8, 2001

Once again, an Islamic court in Iran has sentenced a woman to death by stoning. A 38-year-old woman from Mehr Shahr, near the city of Karaj, has been handed this abhorrent sentence. Under the Islamic penal code of Iran, any form of association or friendship between the sexes outside marriage is punishable by flogging, imprisonment, forced marriage and stoning to death. For adultery, the penal code accords stoning or flogging depending on whether the accused are married or unmarried. The law stipulates the size of the stone, which must be used in stoning to ensure maximum suffering of the accused. The man involved in the relationship has also been given a death sentence.

The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) condemns the Islamic Republic of Iran, the barbaric act of stoning and the death penalty. It calls on all groups and individuals to demand the release of the woman and man and the abolishment of stoning and the death penalty.

Send your protest letters to:

Mohammad Khatami

The Presidency

Email: khatami@president.ir

Fax: 0098 216 464 443