Iranian authorities temporarily stayed the execution by stoning of a woman

Iranian authorities temporarily stayed the execution by stoning of a woman convicted of adultery while her case was being studied by the judiciary pardons commission. Hajieh Esmailvand, whose plight has been taken up by rights group Amnesty International, was originally sentenced by a court in the northwestern town of Jolfa to be flogged 100 times, jailed for five years and then hanged. Her lover, identified only as Ruhollah G., who was 17 years old at the time of the affair, has been sentenced to hang and was still awaiting execution. In its report, reformist daily Tosseh said the two had murdered Esmailvand's husband in 2000. The Supreme Court later changed Esmailvand's sentence to stoning because of the adultery, as is permitted under Islamic law. But an unnamed judiciary official said the "stoning has been stayed pending a decision by the pardons commission."
  Although the exact date of Esmailvand's arrest and trial are not known, it is reported that she had been imprisoned in Jolfa since January 2000. Amnesty said reports suggested that the Supreme Court has ordered that the remainder of her prison sentence be annulled so that the stoning sentence could be carried out before December 21.