IRAN. WOMAN FACES NOOSE OR STONING

an Iranian official says he is waiting for orders on whether to stone or hang a woman convicted of adultery, the latest in a chain of death sentences passed against women for "fornication". 
The official from Iran's conservative judiciary said that Hajieh Esmailvand's prison sentence, that began in January 2000, would end in less than a month -- a jail term in the northern city of Jolfa that was always intended as a precursor to execution.
"Her (death) sentence is approved by the Supreme Court, but there are no orders to carry out the sentence. We do not yet know if it is by stoning or hanging".
Judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimirad said the death sentence could still be quashed by the special authority of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, head of the judiciary.