TEHERAN (WJC)–Iran has told Western nations to stay out of the case of a woman who faces death by stoning, warning it would not tolerate any interference in the matter as it was still under examination by the judiciary.
“Independent nations do not allow other countries to interfere in their judicial affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at a press conference. He was responding to questions from reporters about the status of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two sentenced to death by stoning by an Iranian court.
“Western nations must not pressurize and hype it up… judicial cases have precise procedures, especially when it concerns murder. If a person committed a crime in Iran, that person is prosecuted which is normal, especially if she has killed somebody. The heavier the sentence, the more meticulous we are in carrying it out. This is being done,” said Mehmanparast.
Western nations and human rights groups have come out strongly against Mohammadi-Ashtiani’s stoning sentence and warned that her execution was imminent. The head of Iran’s judiciary, Sadeq Larijani, temporarily suspended the sentence from being carried out.
The human rights organization Amnesty International says Mohammadi-Ashtiani was only sentenced for having an “illicit relationship” with two men and that the murder charge was adopted later.
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Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress