IRAN'S NEW PENAL CODE UNFAIR TO WOMEN: NOBEL LAUREATE

Nobel peace laureate Shrin Ebadi criticised Iran's new Islamic penal code, saying it remains unfair to women and uses an "incorrect" interpretation of Islam. The new Islamic penal code, whose details are yet to be debated by parliament, has been criticised for an increased imposition of harsh punishments such as flogging and execution for a variety of crimes. Critics also complain about the unchanged age of legal responsibility, which deems a boy punishable from the age of 15 and a girl from the age of nine.
Legal experts admit that some positive changes have been incorporated in the new code such as the possibility of suspending or commuting sentences and conditional release in certain crimes such as financial offences. But they say the law remains inflexible in terms of crimes whose punishment has been defined by Islamic law such as stealing, drinking alcohol, adultery and apostasy which are respectively punishable by amputation, flogging, stoning and execution.