Iran: Mokarrameh Ebrahimi saved from stoning
Posted: May 15, 2008
A pit in Aghche Kand, Iran, where Mokarrameh Ebrahimi's partner Ja'far Kiani was stoned to death in July 2007.
© www.meydaan.org
Mokarrameh Ebrahimi was freed from prison in northwestern Iran on March 17, 2008. Her youngest child, a son named Ali, who was living in prison with her was also released.
Mokarrameh Ebrahimi was sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of adultery, along with Ja'far Kiani with whom she had two children. Ja'far Kiani was stoned to death on July 5, 2007.
The executions by stoning of the couple were initially scheduled for June 17, 2007.
Activists from Iran's Stop Stoning Forever campaign publicized the plans for this public execution, which led to a widespread domestic and international outcry, including from Amnesty International members.
In mid-October 2007, the Head of the Judiciary sent Mokarrameh Ebrahimi's case to the Amnesty and Clemency Commission, who have now ordered her release. She is believed to have been pardoned by the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Shadi Sadr, leader of the Stop Stoning Forever campaign, said, “It was a rare ruling... I cannot tell how the commission came up with this decision... But you cannot deny the role of public opinion and domestic and international pressures.”
According to Amnesty International's sources, at least ten women - Iran, Khayrieh, Kobra N, Fatemeh, Ashraf Kalhori, Shamameh Ghorbani, Leyla Ghomi, Hajar and sisters Zohreh and Azar Kabiri-niat - are still at risk of being stoned to death, along with two men - Abdollah Farivar and an unnamed Afghan national.
Since the Stop Stoning Forever campaign was launched in October 2006, six people have been saved from stoning: Hajieh Esmailvand, Soghra Mola'i, Parisa, Parisa's husband, Najaf, Zahra Reza'I and Mokarrameh Ebrahimi.
Others have been granted stays of execution, and some of the cases are being reviewed or re-tried. Activists in the campaign have faced repression.
A new version of the Iranian Penal Code is under consideration by the Majles (parliament) which, if passed, would appear to allow for stoning sentences to be changed to execution by other means or flogging.