Global outcry forces Iran to cancel stoning of adulterous woman

London, July 9 (ANI): Bowing to international pressure, Iran has said that it will not stone a woman to death after she was convicted of adultery.

The Iranian embassy here issued a statement, saying "according to information from the relevant judicial authorities in Iran, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani will not be executed by stoning."

The Telegraph said that the statement did not say whether the 43-year-old would be spared or executed by hanging instead.

Human rights group Amnesty International has said that Mohammadi-Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 or 2007 and has previously received a flogging of 99 lashes.

The United States and Britain have led global condemnation of the planned stoning execution.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague labelled the punishment "medieval", saying it would "disgust and appal" the rest of the world.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: Stoning as a means of execution is tantamount to torture. It's barbaric and an abhorrent act."

A host of prominent names from the worlds of politics and arts signed an open letter condemning the planned stoning.

Signatories included former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, three former British foreign ministers, and Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timorese president and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

American actors Robert De Niro and Robert Redford also signed, as did French actress Juliette Binoche and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy. (ANI)