Iran Suspends Stoning Death of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, Convicted of Adultery

(Sept. 8) -- Facing mounting international condemnation, Iran said today it is putting off the execution by stoning of a woman convicted of adultery.

"The verdict regarding the extramarital affairs has stopped, and it's being reviewed," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran's state-run, English-language Press TV, according to Reuters.

Iran is putting off the execution by stoning of a woman convicted of adultery amid mounting international condemnation of the death sentence

Michel Euler, AP

Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran protest the death sentence of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani on Aug. 28 in Paris. Iran said Wednesday Ashtiani's execution has been put off and is being reviewed.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of adultery, a crime that is punishable by death under Iran's Sharia law. The sentencing sparked an outcry around the world, and today the European Parliament passed a resolution declaring that the punishment "can never be justified or accepted," The Associated Press reported.

On Tuesday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso called the planned execution "barbaric beyond words."

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Ashtiani has also been charged in connection with her husband's slaying. "Her sentencing for complicity in murder is in process," Mehmanparast said, according to CNN.

Human rights activists have criticized an Iranian television interview last month with Ashtiani, in which she indicated she knew about a plot to have her husband killed. They said her statements may have been coerced.

Mehmanparast suggested the U.S. was responsible for fomenting international protests against the planned stoning to tarnish Iran's image at a time when it is under pressure to halt its nuclear program. "It looks like they are playing a political game," he said, according to Reuters.