Iran reduce Ashtiani sentence, but execute a person every 8 hours!

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been sentenced to 10 years in jail instead of hanging, according to officials. This ‘pardon’ is certainly due to international pressure as the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said 47 prisoners, or an average of about one person every eight hours, have been put to death since the beginning of the new year.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani: has been sentenced to 10 years in jail instead of hanging, according to officials

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old woman had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery but Iran did not expect such an strong international outcry led by human rights organizations such as Amnesty International.

The reduction in sentence is certainly good news, however, Drewery Dyke, of Amnesty International, said: "Issuing old news about the fate of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, by way of a letter from a parliamentarian to the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, is being used to distract from the more pressing news about the rate of executions in the country."

According to the International Campaign for Human Rights, Iran executes more people per capita than any other country, and in absolute numbers is second only to China. Iran executed at least 179 people in 2010 and 388 in 2009.

So while we can celebrate Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s sentence reduction we must not forget the hundreds being executed around the world who have not been lucky enough to have the same international outcry and continue our fight for their right to life.

“Government can’t be trusted to control its own bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to kill.”

HELEN PREJEAN, Dead Man Walking

End it