#NEWS : Iran stoning woman 'freed'

www.telegraph.co.uk

An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery has been released, according to campaigners.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

By Jon Swaine 7:45PM GMT 09 Dec 2010

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, 43, became an internationally recognised emblem for the brutality of the Iranian regime when she was sentenced to execution for having relationships with men, including one convicted of her husband’s murder.

Amid ongoing global outcry over her case, the Anti-Stoning Committee, a German-based campaign group, said last night that the mother-of-two, her son and her lawyer had all been freed from prison.

“We have got news from Iran that they are free,” a spokesman said. The Iranian government did not confirm the reports.

Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, who lobbied for the release, hailed it as “a great day for human rights.”

He said: “Iran has made the gesture of understanding and clemency that we were hoping for and it did so using its prerogative as a sovereign state,” he said.

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