Iran has retreated in the face of rising international outrage and announced a woman convicted of alleged adultery would be spared execution by stoning.
However, it remains unclear if the convicted woman still faces execution. Human rights group Amnesty International said last week it feared Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has two children, could be executed by stoning at any time for adultery.
It said she was convicted in 2006 of having had an "illicit relationship" with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence.
The rights group said that, despite this, Mohammadi Ashtiani was subsequently convicted of "adultery while being married," which it said she denied, and was sentenced to death by stoning.
Both Britain and the United States yesterday urged Iran to halt the execution.
"Stoning is a medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world and the continued use of such a punishment in Iran demonstrates in our view a blatant disregard for human rights commitments which it has previously entered into," British foreign secretary William Hague said.
The US State Department said it was deeply troubled by reports of the proposed stoning execution, which it called "a form of legalised death by torture".
Agencies