Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned to death - for the time being

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stoned to death - for the time being

Iran's judiciary has said that the stoning sentence for a woman convicted of adultery will not be carried out – for now.

 But the fate of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, which has generated huge international concern, remains uncertain.

Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the senior judicial official in East Azerbaijan province, where the mother-of-two was convicted, told the Irna state news agency yesterday the sentence "will not be implemented for the time being."

Ajdar Sharifi added that the sentence would still be carried out if the judiciary wanted, despite protests from the west. Mohammadi Ashtiani's crimes were "various and very serious" and not limited to adultery, he insisted.

"Although the verdict is definitive and applicable, it has been halted due to humanitarian reservations and upon the order of the honourable judiciary chief."

Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, was found guilty of having an "illicit relationship" with two men in 2006 but her lawyer and family denounced the trial as a sham.

"Whenever the judiciary chief [Sadeq Larijani] deems it expedient, the verdict will be carried out regardless of western media propaganda," the official said.

Mohammadi Ashtiani received 99 lashes but was subsequently accused of "adultery while being married" during the trial of a man accused of murdering her husband. "If we give the details of the crimes she committed, the public will understand the depth of her inhuman and criminal nature. But due to humanitarian considerations we can't give the details," said Ajdar Sharifi. He said her crimes were so severe that "if she had only cut her husband's head off, it would have been better than what she has done."

On Friday, Iran's senior human rights official Mohammad Javad Larijani said Mohammadi Ashtiani's sentence was "under revision" as the chief of judiciary preferred to use another method for executions instead of stoning.

Iran says stoning is used only rarely. Last year, three people sentenced to death by stoning were hanged instead. Guardian research has also found 15 people, 12 women and three men, who are currently on death row awaiting stoning.

The last stoning of a woman in Iran was in 2007, when the execution of Mahboubeh M sparked outcry. She had been forced to confess to adultery.

Iranhas clearly been rattled by the campaign against the sentence, which was first highlighted in this paper last week. The case has brought furious condemnation from the US, Britain and many other countries as well as from celebrities and intellectuals across the globe. William Hague, the foreign secretary, warned that if the "medieval" execution went ahead it would "disgust and appal" the world.