death penalty news May 18, 2005
IRAN: Iran: Woman sentenced to stoning, man to execution An Iranian woman was sentenced yesterday to death by stoning in Tehran, according to a state-run daily. The young woman, only identified by her first name Fatemeh, 25 years old, was given two death sentences, for murder and having an affair. The Etemaad daily reported that a Tehran court found Fatemeh guilty of strangling to death a 22-year-old neighbour, whom she allegedly also had an affair with. The court also sentenced her husband to prison time for taking part in the murder. The first death sentence was issued for the murder, while the stoning to death sentence was issued for the alleged affair. Separately, a man, identified as Hossein Gholi, was sentenced to death by execution in Tehran, for the murder of a friend whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife. Hossein Gholi denied that he had murdered his friend; however the court ruled that he was guilty and sentenced him to execution. Late last month the European Parliament adopted a resolution, calling on Iran to end its increasing human rights violations. It condemned "the serious increase in human rights violations, particularly the increasing number of reports of public executions, and floggings". The EP called "on the Council (of Europe) and the Commission to closely monitor the implementation of commitments made by Iran to moratoriums in the three key areas of stoning, execution of minors and amputations". The EP resolution said that it was "very concerned that the human rights situation has deteriorated in the last two years and calls on the Iranian authorities to make a serious commitment to reversing this trend". It expressed alarm at "the high number of executions in Iran, in particular of minors, and Iran's refusal to release official statistics on the death penalty". (source: Iran Focus)
