In Iran, Death by Stoning for Adulterers

In Iran, eight women and one man, between the ages of 27 and 50, convicted of adultery have been sentenced to death due to what traditional Islamic law considers capital offense. For this crime the Iranian penal code specifically indicates death by stoning. According to lawyer and women's rights activist Shadi Sadr, the adulterers' "verdicts are approved, and they may be executed at any time."

The procedure for this death sentence, also practiced in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Sudan, is to bury the offender - a man up to his waist and a woman up to her head - and commence stoning until the convicted is pronounced dead. This practice was imposed in early years after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution that brought fundamental clerics and strict interpreters of religious law to power. The government rarely confirms when it carries out a stoning sentence, with the last known stoning having occurred in July of 2007.

Under Iran's Islamic laws, adultery is the only capital offense punishable by stoning. Other capital offenses in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, apostasy, blasphemy, drug trafficking, prostitution, treason and espionage.