Iran warns over interfering in stoning case

FOREIGN countries should not interfere in Iran’s legal system and stop trying to turn the case of a woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery into a human rights issue, Tehran said yesterday.

The case of the 43-year-old mother-of-two, condemned to death for illicit sex and charged with involvement in her husband’s murder, provoked an international outcry, with Brazil offering her asylum and the Vatican speaking out against the “brutal” punishment.

A government spokesman said the furore was based on false information about Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s case.