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Iran Arrests Two Foreigners Over Stoning Case

12 October 2010 01:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Iranian authorities have arrested two foreigners as they were interviewing the son of a woman who could face death by stoning on an adultery conviction, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
The Iranian state news agency reported Monday that the two had entered the country on tourist visas and were posing as journalists. They were arrested while asking questions about 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence has generated international outrage. Their nationalities were not revealed.
Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, was sentenced to death by two different courts in the northwestern city of Tabriz in separate trials in 2006.
The first death sentence, by hanging, was for her involvement in the murder of her husband. It was commuted to a 10-year jail term by an appeals court in 2007. But the second, by stoning on a charge of adultery, was upheld by another appeals court.
Since July, Iranian officials have said repeatedly that the stoning sentence has been stayed. The sentencing has drawn an international outcry that has seen strong representations by the French and Italian governments as well as the Vatican.