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Iran urged to halt stoning execution
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MWC Corner
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By Shahram Vahdany
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Iran urged to halt stoning execution
Amnesty International called on Iran to abolish the "grotesque and horrific" practice of stoning people to death.
Amnesty, which opposes the death penalty under any circumstances, said an Iranian mad had been stoned to death in July last year for committing adultery, in spite of a moratorium being imposed on such executions in 2002.
The woman he was convicted of committing adultery with still faces the threat of being stoned, a practice that involves the woman being buried up to her chest in sand and then pelted with stones until she dies.
"Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian government to abolish immediately and totally execution by stoning and impose a moratorium on the death penalty," the right group said in 30-page report.
"Iranian law prescribes that the stone be deliberately chosen large enough to cause pain, but not to kill the victim immediately. It is particularly grotesque and horrific practice."
While stoning is relatively rare in Iran, it is he favoured form of execution in cases involving adultery and has disproportionate impact on women, according to Amnesty.
Iran has one of the highest rate of execution in the world. In 2006. 177 people were put to death, mostly by hanging. Last year, that number was expected to be exceeded, with 124 people executed in the first seven months of the year.
As well as calling for the abolition of stoning and moratorium on the death penalty, Amnesty also urged the Iranian government to decriminalize adultery, which is not illegal in the majority of countries.
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