BRUSSELS European Union nations and the continents biggest human rights organization slammed Iran on Wednesday for its plans to stone a woman convicted of adultery, increasing the global pressure on Tehran over a case it has tried to frame as a criminal matter and not one of human rights.
The plight of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani , a 43-year-old mother of two, has cast a harsh light on Irans version of Islamic justice and taken multiple twists. Iran appears to have put the stoning on hold for now but has also indicated Ashtiani could be hanged for her conviction of playing a role in her husbands 2005 murder.
Even as Iran insists the case is a matter for its own courts and society, the global outcry has grown.
On Wednesday, the European Union Parliament in Strasbourg, France, passed a resolution condemning Tehran, a move that comes on the heels of EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso calling stoning "barbaric." The vote passed by a huge 658-to-1 margin with 22 abstentions. The vote against was an error and was to be amended in the parliamentary records later.
Sweden summoned Irans ambassador to protest the sentence.
"It is important that we are not passive in a case that � except for her own destiny � has become a symbol for the repression in Iran," Swedens Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said. "We are against the death penalty in all cases, but stoning is a specifically vile form of the death penalty."
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle released a statement saying he is "deeply worried for Ms. Ashtianis life."
"Iran has to respect human rights, especially because it committed to do so under international law," Westerwelle said. It is "not a question of religion, but a question of fundamental human dignity."
The sentiments were echoed by the 47-nation Council of Europe, the continents biggest human rights organization. It called on the Islamic republics parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, to do his utmost to fully repeal the sentence.
"This inhuman sentence and the mistreatment that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is suffering cast a tragic shadow on your country," wrote Mevlut Cavusoglu, President of the Councils Parliamentary Assembly.
On Irans state-run Press TV, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast repeated previous statements that plans to carry out the stoning have been "stopped" while judiciary officials also study the punishment for Ashtianis conviction of playing on role in her husbands 2005 murder.
Ashtianis lawyer, Houtan Javid Kian, told The Associated Press there has been no change in her case and the stoning sentence was suspended but not officially canceled. He has said Ashtiani was never formally put on trial on the charge of being an accomplice to murder and was not allowed to mount a defense.
On Monday, Kian said he had received word that his client was lashed 99 times last week in a separate punishment after British newspaper ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as Ashtiani. The newspaper, the Times of London, apologized for the error.
There has been no official Iranian confirmation of the new punishment.
The Vatican has hinted at the possibility of behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save Ashtiani. Some Western officials, including Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, have said they dont believe Iran will carry out the stoning following the international outcry.
But Iran has at times struck a defiant tone. Even an offer of asylum from Brazil � which is on friendly terms with Tehran � went nowhere.
Mehmanparast accused the United States and other Western countries of trying to "exploit" the case and turn it into a "political charade."
"Our country has been under a lot of political pressure by the U.S. and other Western countries over its nuclear work," he noted.
The European Parliament, however, insisted universal human rights were what was at stake.
In its resolution, it said that "a sentence of death by stoning can never be justified."
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Associated Press Writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Malin Rising in Stockholm and Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to the story.
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