Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (born 1967) is an Iranian woman convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and adultery.

She gained international notoriety for originally being sentenced to death by stoning for her crimes.

Ashtiani was arrested in 2005 on charges of adultery and conspiracy to commit murder of her husband.

In 2005, Ebrahim Qaderzadeh, Ashtiani's husband, aged 44, was murdered by electrocution by his cousin, Isa Taheri.

Ashtiani allegedly committed adultery with Isa Taheri, who murdered her husband, as well as a second unknown man.

Taheri and Ashtiani were arrested as suspects, and according to some sources, Ashtiani was accused of committing adultery by the wife of one of her late husband's coworkers.

In 2006, the court sentenced her to death by stoning after she was convicted.

An international campaign to overturn her sentence was started by her children, Farideh and Sajjad Qaderzadeh, through a letter about their mother's case which was published by Mission Free Iran.

Prominent media sources picked up on the news via interviews with her son, which included information on her stoning sentence.

The international publicity generated by Ashtiani's situation led to numerous diplomatic conflicts between Iran's government and the heads of certain western governments.

As a result, her execution was stayed indefinitely.

Shortly after the international campaign began, various Iranian officials stated that Ashtiani was also guilty of various charges related to the murder of her husband.

The range of charges included murder, manslaughter, conspiracy, and complicity.

However, major human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, some NGOs and her lawyers stated that Ashtiani was acquitted of murder, and that she initially received a 10-year sentence for complicity in murder and "disrupting the public order".

It was reduced to five years on appeal.

She was convicted twice of adultery in separate trials and sentenced to death by stoning.

On May 15, 2006 Sakineh entered a guilty plea of having had an "illicit relationship outside marriage" with another man (court records show it was not Taheri, but another person).

The court handed down a punishment of 99 lashes; her son watched the whipping.

In addition, she may have received one year in prison as well.

In his trial, Taheri was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.

Under Islamic law, murderers can be forgiven and pay restitution (diyya) to the victim's family, or the family can demand retribution (qisas) and have the murderer executed.

Sajjad Qaderzadeh, Ashtiani's son, forgave Taheri, accepted blood money, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

According to some sources, he was later freed and is no longer in prison.

In September 2006, Ashtiani's murder case went to trial.

She was not found guilty of the actual murder (since she did not physically kill her husband and the murderer was forgiven) but she was given 10 years in prison for complicity in murder and disrupting the public order, equal to Taheri's sentence.

Upon appeal, this was later reduced to five years in prison.

She was also brought to trial again for adultery.

Her son, Sajjad Qaderzadeh, states that he was unaware of this new trial, and as she had been convicted for adultery previously, this new trial was "illegal".

However, this trial may have been for adultery committed with Taheri, rather than a "second man", as records from her previous trial seem to indicate.

This time, the court sentenced her to death, because of her alleged role in her husband's murder.

Ashtiani recanted a previous confession and entered a plea of "not guilty".

Out of the five ruling judges, three found her guilty; the other two indicated that although they do not doubt her guilt, since she had been previously convicted of adultery, she should not be punished again.

Due to the 3–2 majority vote, she was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.

In December 2011, the Iranian authorities indicated that they intended to go ahead with her execution, but by hanging.

However, the hanging was not carried out, and Iranian officials afterwards denied that they intended to execute her.

On 24 July 2012, Amnesty International stressed that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's fate was still unclear, while her former lawyer Javid Houtan Kiyan languished in jail.

Her sentence was commuted and she was released in 2014 after serving nine years on death row.

Ashtiani is an Iranian Azeri born in Tabriz in the Persian calendar 1347 (1967–1968) and grew up in the rural town of Osku, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran.

Sakineh worked outside her home for two years as a kindergarten teacher.

In March 2014, Ashtiani was pardoned for good behavior and released from prison.