Man convicted of adultery stoned to death in Iran

A man was stoned to death in Iran for committing adultery while the woman involved in the case was spared as she repented, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

According to a news report 30-year-old government stuff, who was only named as “V,” was brutally stoned in a prison in northern Iranian city Rasht on March 5. Some Iranian news websites have mentioned him as Vali Azad. While confirming the incident of punishment, the judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said:

"What you said about stoning is correct. But the woman repented ... Among the instances in which the sentence is not performed is when there is a repentance by the individual involved."

According to Iranian Islamic law adultery is a heinous crime and should be punished by public hurling of stones at the partially buried convict. A man should be buried up to his waist and a woman up to her shoulders. In past four years, five Iranians have been stoned to death, despite a 2002 directive by judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi imposing a moratorium on stoning. The European Union and the United Nations have criticized Iran for stoning convicted criminals. The Iranian rights groups have also urged the government to stop the punishment.