IRAN: MAN STONED TO DEATH FOR ADULTERY

May 5, 2009: iranian judiciary spokesman, Ali Reza Jamshidi, in response to a question  regarding a man who had been stoned to death for adultery recently in Rasht (northern Iran) said, “Stoning was carried out during the Iranian month of Esfand,” which ended on March 20.
Iranian Resistance had previously reported, “On March 5, a 30-year-old man from Parsabat Moghan, northern Iran, was stoned to death in the Lakan prison in the northern city of Rasht.
He was identified as Vali Azad, an employee of the Commerce Department. The mullahs' local judiciary refused to release the body to his family and buried him in an unknown location.”
The state-run daily Aftab-e Yazd reported that a 30-year-old government employee identified as Vali Azad, was stoned to death in Rasht prison on March 5, further confirming the report.
In 2002, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, head of the mullahs’ judiciary, had announced a ban on implementing stoning sentences. The judiciary spokesman explained about this inconsistency as well as the rationale for implementing stoning, and said, “Considering the independence  of judges, it is possible that as long as the ban on stoning has not become law, the recommendations of the head of the judiciary would not be acted upon.”
The woman involved in the case has "repented and so has not been stoned", Jamshidi added. (Sources: NCRI, Ansa, Skynews, 05/05/2009; Amnesty International, 21/06/2009)