capital punishment around the world
New York Times - July 11, 2007
Executions Are Under Way in Iran for Adultery and Other Violations By NAZILA FATHI
TEHRAN, July 10 — The Iranian government confirmed Tuesday that a man
was executed by stoning last week for committing adultery, and said
that 20 more men would be executed in the coming days on morality
violations.
A judiciary spokesman, Alireza Jamshidi, told reporters on Tuesday
that a death sentence by stoning had been carried out last week near
the city of Takestan, west of Tehran, despite an order by the chief
of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi, not to permit such
executions.
“The verdict was final, and so it was carried out for the man but not
for the woman,” the ISNA news agency quoted Mr. Jamshidi as saying.
He said the 20 additional executions were for such things as “rape,
insulting religious sanctities and laws, and homosexuality.” Most
executions in Iran are hangings, often in public and at the scenes of
the alleged crimes.
The police arrested about 1,000 people in May during a so-called
morality crackdown. Mr. Jamshidi said 15 more men were being tried on
similar charges and could receive death sentences.
The daily newspaper Etemad Melli reported Monday that Jaffar Kiani,
47, who had been convicted of adultery, was executed by stoning on
Thursday in the cemetery of a small village near Takestan. “Villagers
said the sentence was carried out by the local judge and
authorities,” the newspaper reported.
Mr. Kiani and his partner, Mokarameh Ebrahimi, 43, who has two
children, were scheduled to die on June 21, but the execution was put
off by Ayatollah Shahroudi.