Stoning for adultery; Iran amends law

 Tehran: Iran has amended its law on stoning convicted adulterers to death to allow judges to impose a different form of execution, according to the revision seen on Thursday.

The controversial practice, in which stones are thrown at the partially buried offender, has provoked outcries from human rights organisations, international bodies and Western countries urging Iran to abandon it.

In Iran, executions are normally carried out by hanging.

Under Iran’s interpretation of Islamic Sharia law in force since its 1979 revolution, adultery is punished by the stoning of convicted adulterers.

Women are buried up to the their shoulders, but men only up to their waists. They are spared if they manage to free themselves before dying.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking are also punishable by death in Iran, which has one of the highest annual execution counts in the world, alongside China, Saudi Arabia and the United States.