Iran won’t send woman who faced stoning to Brazil

AP: Iran’s president says authorities won’t send a woman who had faced death by stoning on an adultery conviction to Brazil, which has offered her asylum.

The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president says authorities won’t send a woman who had faced death by stoning on an adultery conviction to Brazil, which has offered her asylum.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the international outcry over the woman’s initial stoning sentence by saying “the number of such people is very very insignificant.”

Iran lifted the stoning sentence for 43-year-old mother of two Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, but is now accusing her of playing a role in her husband’s 2005 murder. She could still be hanged.

Brazil, which has friendly relations with Iran, has offered her asylum.

In a TV interview broadcast Monday, the president said he didn’t think there was a need to send her to Brazil and that the judiciary is also against the idea.