Stoning case woman 'confesses to adultery'
Updated on 12 August 2010
An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning is reported to have confessed to adultery and talked about her husband's killing on state television.
In an interview dismissed as "toxic propaganda" by campaigners, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani apparently talked about striking up a relationship with her husband's cousin.
She is reported to have said: "He told me: 'Let's kill your husband'. I totally could not believe that my husband would be killed. I thought he was joking.
"Later, I found out that killing was his profession. He came (to our house) and brought all the stuff. He brought electrical devices, plus wire and gloves. Later, he killed my husband by connecting him to the electricity."
The head of the judiciary in Iran's East Azerbaijan province told the television programme that Ms Ashtiani had injected an anaesthetic into her husband.
"After the husband went unconscious, the real murderer killed the victim by connecting electricity to his neck," he said.
Ms Ashtiani's case has caused shockwaves around the world. It has been publicised by her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, who has fled Iran and is now seeking asylum in Norway.
In her interview, the 43-year-old mother-of-two is reported to have criticised Mr Mostafaei, apparently asking: "Why did you publicise my case? Why did you harm my reputation and dignity?
"Not all of my relatives and family members knew that I am prison. Why did you do this to me?"
Ms Ashtiani has received 99 lashes for allegedly having an illicit relationship with two men.
The stoning sentence has been suspended, amid international outrage, but it could still be carried out.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law.
