Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Four Iranian men sentenced to execution by stoning
Agence France-Presse Tehran, November 11
Four Iranian men found guilty of a series of kidnappings and rapes have been sentenced to execution by stoning, the conservative Qods newspaper said on Tuesday, despite an order from the judiciary late last year for judges to issue alternative punishments.
The four were members of a gang who abducted and raped an undisclosed number of women and girls in the northeastern city of Mashhad. Nine members of the gang have already been executed by hanging, one of them publicly.
After a campaign by pro-reform MPs and pressure from the European Union, which has linked progress on human rights and other issues to trade talks, Iran's judiciary late last year announced it was suspending executions by stoning.
The hardline-run judiciary said it had ordered judges to issue alternative punishments to stoning, without saying what other punishments could be ordered.
No executions by stoning have been reported by the Iranian press for over a year, although Amnesty International reported at least two cases during 2002. Diplomats said two people were stoned to death in 2001.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003.