News

A lawyer representing the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery has issued a new appeal for support.

The lawyer warned that the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has become a test of the West's ability to curb the human rights abuses of the Tehran regime.

The worldwide campaign to save Ms Ashtiani had worked so far, Javid Houtan Kian said, but he added: "If they can get away with stoning Sakineh they can get away with anything."

Mr Kian, 32, is Ms Ashtiani's lawyer in the northern Iranian city of Tabriz, where she has been imprisoned for the past five years and subjected to 99 lashes. Mohammed Mostafaei, her lawyer in Tehran, fled to Turkey this month after a warrant was issued for his arrest, and Mr Kian says that he, too, is living in fear of arrest or worse.