IRAN: AMNESTY CAMPAIGN FOR EIGHT WOMEN AT RISK OF BEING STONED TO DEATH

as many as eight woman are at imminent risk of being stoned to death for adultery in Iran, according to reports received by Amnesty International. Ashraf Kalhori was scheduled to be stoned to death for adultery with her neighbour, a charge she now denies, in July 2006 but her execution was stayed. She was also sentenced to death for the murder of her husband. Iranian media are now reporting that the Amnesty and Clemency Commission rejected her plea and that her sentence could now be implemented at any time.
A woman known as Iran is at risk of execution by stoning for adultery, a confession that she later retracted. A court in Khuzestan province sentenced Iran to five years' imprisonment for complicity in her husband's murder, and to death by stoning for adultery. The stoning sentence was overturned in June 2007 and she was retried, but was again sentenced to stoning. Her case has been before the Amnesty and Clemency Commission for over a year. She is held in Sepidar prison, in Ahvaz city.
A woman named Khayrieh was sentenced to death in Khuzestan for complicity in the murder of her husband, and death by stoning for adultery. A relative of her husband, with whom she had an affair, murdered Khayrieh's husband, who was subjecting her to domestic violence. Khayrieh has denied any involvement in her husband's murder, but has acknowledged adultery and so is at risk of execution by stoning. She is believed to be held in Sepidar Prison.
A woman known as Afsaneh R, from Shiraz in southern Iran, was also sentenced to stoning for adultery as well as to qesas ('retribution') for the murder of her husband, by a court in Fars, southern Iran, on April 9, 2008. This was confirmed by the Supreme Court on August 4, 2008. Four other cases have also recently been discovered by anti-stoning campaigners in Iran.
A woman known only as "H", and another identified only as "M.Kh" are both said to be held in Vakilabad Prison, Mashhad, north-eastern Iran, under sentence of stoning. An unnamed man and woman are also believed to be held under sentence of stoning in Tabriz Prison. Amnesty International does not have full details of their cases, but fears that they could be executed at any time.
Another woman and a man, Gilan Mohammadi and Gholamali Eskandari are also at risk of stoning, although Judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said on January 27 that their cases were being reviewed.