Iran has abolished stoning as a form of capital punishment, an Iranian newspaper reported Thursday, in an apparent step to ease European Union human rights concerns ahead of a possible breakthrough trade accord.
The daily newspaper Bahar quoted Qorbanali Dorri Najafabadi, the former intelligence minister who heads the Supreme Administrative Court as saying, "The practice has been stopped for a while".
The newspaper also cited a reformist parliamentarian as saying the head of judiciary had sent a directive to judges instructing them to stop issuing death verdicts by stoning. "To the best of my knowledge, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi has ordered that execution by stoning should be stopped," said Jamileh Kadivar. (Albawaba.com)
