AN IRANIAN mother of four faces death by stoning "at any moment", human rights campaigners have warned.
Kobra Najar has spent more than ten years behind bars after being convicted of adultery and encouraging another man to murder her violent and heroin-addicted husband, who forced her into prostitution.
If her sentence is carried out, Najar will be
ritually washed, wrapped in a white shroud and carried on a stretcher with her hands tied behind her back to an open space in the prison at dawn. There she will be buried up to the armpits and stoned to death in the presence of prison officials.
Najar, 43, is among eight women and one man facing the same punishment for adultery.
Their plight is being publicised by an Iranian rights group which is seeking pardons for the nine and international support to persuade Tehran to abolish stoning.
All are said to have suffered violence, been forced into marriage or had divorce applications rejected.
The man, a 50-year-old music teacher, was convicted of having illegal sex with a student.
The verdicts "can be carried out at any moment", said Shadi Sadr of the Volunteer Lawyers' Network, which represents the female convicts. "And there are no guarantees that the punishments (against the nine] will be halted or commuted."
Amnesty International has listed Iran as the world's second most prolific executioner last year, with at least 317 people put to death.
Hanging is the usual form of capital punishment in Iran – stonings are very rare.
A moratorium on the practice was issued in 2002 by the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi but despite this, a man convicted of adultery was stoned to death last year. It was the first stoning confirmed by Iran's judiciary in five years, although reports say there were two stonings in 2006.
The full article contains 316 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
