Man stoned to death in Iran as price for adultery

A man convicted of adultery was stoned to death last week in a village in northern Iran, a judiciary official said Tuesday, the first time in years that the country has confirmed such an execution.

Jafar Kiani was killed Thursday in Aghchekand, about 125 miles west of Tehran, the official said, without giving details of how the stoning was carried out.

Under Iran’s Islamic law, adultery is punishable by stoning. A man is usually buried up to his waist, and a woman is buried up to her neck with her hands also buried. Those carrying out the verdict then throw stones until the condemned dies.

International human rights groups have long criticized stoning in Iran as a “cruel and barbaric” punishment. U.N. human rights chief Louise Arbour condemned the execution, saying that “stoning is in clear violation of international law.”

The execution came two weeks after international pressure caused Iranian officials to delay carrying out the sentence against Kiani and his female companion, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, who also was sentenced to death by stoning. It was not known whether a date had been set for her execution.

The couple had reportedly been imprisoned for 11 years.