According to a press release from the International Committee against Stoning (ICAS), Iran has announced that Sakineh Ashtiani will not be executed during the month of Ramadan.
However, ICAS and Ms Ashtiani's family are concerned that she could still be executed at any time as three people were publicly executed on Friday 13 August in one town in Iran and 70 people put to death in another.
As for the recent television interview in which Ms Ashtiani "confessed" to involvement in her husband's murder (see WVoN story), ICAS has information that she was put under pressure and beaten in prison to make her confess.
It says that the prosecutor, Nobakht, visited her in prison saying that he would try to save her from execution if she make a public confession to sex outside of marriage and involvement in her husband's murder.
This is very worrying, says ICAS. It knows from previous experience that the Islamic regime has put other prisoners under pressure to confess on TV with the same promise, only to execute them two or three days later.
I despair. What can we do other than to continue doing what we're doing which is to publicise what is going on, sign the petition and donate what we can to the campaign.
