Stoning case woman's son freed on bail

The son of an Iranian woman whose death sentence by stoning caused world outrage has been released on bail.

Sajjad Qaderzadeh told reporters in the north-west city of Tabriz today that he was released after posting bail and was now free.

He was originally arrested in October after speaking with two German journalists about his mother’s case.

It is not clear if he was ever formally charged, but he said he was arrested because the journalists had not been authorised. The Germans remain in custody for working as journalists after entering the country on tourist visas.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 and sentenced to death by stoning after the murder of her husband a year earlier. In the face of international outrage the sentence has been suspended and is under review by the Supreme Court.

She has also been convicted of being an accessory to her husband’s murder and could face death by hanging as well.

Mr Qaderzadeh told journalists that he did not doubt his mother was guilty, but was asking that her stoning sentence be commuted.

“I do not think that my mother is innocent. She is certainly guilty,” he said. “However, the decision has to be made by our country’s officials. They may change the stoning sentence to some other verdict.”

Stoning was widely imposed in the years following the 1979 Islamic revolution and, even though Iran’s judiciary still regularly hands down such sentences, they are often converted to other punishments.

The last known stoning was carried out in 2007, although the government rarely confirms that such punishments have been meted out.

Under Islamic rulings, a man is usually buried up to his waist, while a woman is buried up to her chest with her hands also buried. Those carrying out the verdict then throw stones until the condemned dies.