Iran Denies Stonings Carried Out Recently

Judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimirad (file photo) (Fars)

November 21, 2006 -- A spokesman for Iran's judiciary, Jamal Karimirad, today rejected reports claiming that stoning sentences have been carried out recently in Iran.

Karimirad was reacting to a letter by women's rights activists who have called on the head of Iran's judiciary to end the Islamic practice of stoning convicted adulterers to death.

Activists have said that a man and a woman were stoned to death in May despite a moratorium on the practice, and several others face stoning sentences.

Karimirad said some courts might have issued stoning sentences but that the sentences have subsequently been commuted.

(ISNA, ILNA)