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Iranian woman could be stoned to death soon: lawyer

Demonstrators hold portraits of Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, behind an effigy of her, during a protest in front of the Iran embassy in Rome, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. (AP / Gregorio Borgia) Demonstrators hold portraits of Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani during a protest in front of the Iran embassy in Rome, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. (AP / Gregorio Borgia) This undated image made available by Amnesty International in London, Thursday July 8, 2010, shows Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a mother of two who is facing the punishment of stoning to death in Iran, on charges of adultery. (AP / Amnesty International) French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner prepares to address reporters during a press conference he gave in Paris, Wednesday Jan. 13, 2010. (AP / Remy de la Mauviniere)
Demonstrators hold portraits of Iranian woman Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, behind an effigy of her, during a protest in front of the Iran embassy in Rome, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. (AP / Gregorio Borgia)

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Date: Monday Sep. 6, 2010 3:44 PM ET

TEHRAN, Iran — The lawyer for an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned on an adultery conviction said Monday that he and her children are worried the delayed execution could be carried out soon with the end of a moratorium on death sentences for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In an unusual turn in the case, the lawyer also confirmed that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was lashed 99 times last week in a separate punishment meted out because a British newspaper ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her. Under Iran's clerical rule, women must cover their hair in public.

With the end of Ramadan this week, the mother of two could be executed "any moment," said her lawyer, Javid Houtan Kian.

The sentence was put on hold in July after an international outcry over the brutality of the punishment, and it is now being reviewed by Iran's supreme court.

Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the murder of her husband the year before and was sentenced at that time to 99 lashes. Later that year, she was also convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, even though she retracted a confession that she says was made under duress.

"The possibility of stoning still exists, any moment," Kian told The Associated Press. "Her stoning sentence was only delayed; it has not been lifted yet."

After putting the stoning sentence on hold, Iran suddenly announced that the woman had also been brought to trial and convicted of playing a role in her husband's 2005 murder. Her lawyer disputes that, saying no charges against her in the killing have ever been part of her case file.

In early August, Iranian authorities broadcast a purported confession from Ashtiani on state-run television. In it, a woman identified as Ashtiani admits to being an unwitting accomplice in her husband's killing.

Kian says he believes she was tortured into confessing.

In the latest twist, authorities are said to have flogged her for the publication of a photo of a woman without her hair covered in the Times of London newspaper. The woman in the photo was misidentified as Ashtiani.

She was lashed on Thursday, Kian said, citing information from a fellow prisoner who was released last week. Kian has been allowed no direct contact with his client since last month.

"We have no access to Ashtiani, but there is no reason for the released prisoner to lie" about the flogging, he said.

There was no official Iranian confirmation of the new punishment.

The woman's son, 22-year-old Sajjad Qaderzadeh, said he did not know whether the new lashing sentence had been carried out yet, but that he also heard about the sentence from a prisoner who recently left the Tabriz prison where his mother is being held.

"Publishing the photo provided a judge an excuse to sentence my poor mother to 99 lashes on the charge of taking a picture unveiled," Qaderzadeh told the AP.

The Times apologized in its Monday edition but added that the lashing "is simply a pretext."

"The regime's purpose is to make Ms. Ashtiani suffer for an international campaign to save her that has exposed so much iniquity," the newspaper said.

Another lawyer who once represented Ashtiani, Mohammad Mostafaei, said in a news conference in Paris that it was not certain if there really had been a new conviction and sentence over the photograph.

"I have contacted my former colleagues at the court who told me nothing was clear on this situation," he said at the news conference with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. "There isn't any punishment for this act in our law."

Kouchner called the stoning sentence "the height of barbarism" and said her case has become a "personal cause" and he was "ready to do anything to save her. If I must go to Tehran to save her, I'll go to Tehran."

Ashtiani's two children remain in Iran and her son is a ticket seller for a bus company in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz. He said he and his younger sister, Farideh, 18, have not seen their mother since early August.

"We have really missed her," he said. "We expect all influential bodies to help to save her."

Among other countries calling for Iran to show flexibility in the case are Italy and Brazil.

The Vatican on Sunday raised the possibility of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save her life as well.

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I think he was pushed to take matters into his own hands. I have a teenage son and if he was involved with a drug dealer I would be furious and try anything to save him like this father did for his daughter. Why do police often say they can't do anything until it's too late? Whether it be a drug dealer or an abusive spouse, the police can't seem to do anything until something really bad happens. In this case they could have raided the drug dealers home and arrested him. The whole town knew what was going on in that house but yet the police chose to do nothing. Release this man and give him a medal for doing the right thing by his daughter. I can't wait to see the episode on W5, I will certainly be watching this one.

Shelley

W5: How far would you go to save your child?