Iran woman escapes stoning death for adultery

The Iranian authorities announced that a woman convicted of adultery will not be stoned to death.

But it is not clear whether they have lifted the death sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has been in prison since 2006 in Tabriz.

The 43-year-old has already been punished by flogging for an "illicit relationship" outside of marriage when another court trial for adultery.

There was an international campaign to prevent him from being stoned.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the stoning is a punishment "medieval" and that its continued use has ignored Iran's human rights.

"If the sentence is completed, it will scare and disgust the world is watching," he told a news conference in London on Thursday.

Under strict interpretation of Islamic law Iran, sex before marriage is punishable by 100 lashes, but the married offenders are sentenced to death by stoning. The stones used must be large enough to cause pain condemned, but not enough to kill immediately.

Ms Ashtiani lawyer and human rights activists warned that his execution was imminent, after appeals for clemency were rejected.

In May 2006, a criminal court in East Azerbaijan province Ms Ashtiani found guilty of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the death of her husband. She received 99 lashes.

But that September, during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband, another court has reopened a case of adultery based on events that allegedly occurred before the death of her husband.

Despite the acquisition of a confession of, she said she had been forced to under duress, Ms Ashtiani was convicted.