Iranian Woman, Facing Death For Committing Adultery, Is Set Free

If you think America is hard on our cheaters, philanderers have been stoned to death in Iran up until this year.  Although there has been a moratorium on the harsh capital punishment since 2002, last year, Jafar Kiani, who was accused of adultery, died by stoning when local authorities took justice into their own hands.  His lover, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, remained in prison with their son for over a decade. But Ebrahimi managed to beat the odds of facing the same fate yesterday in court. The 34-year-old mother not only had her death sentence repealed, but immediately released. Ebrahimi was in such disbelief she told her lawyer, “It may be a trick—they aren’t going to release me, I can’t believe it.” Although death by stoning is still set in stone in traditional Iranian law, with twelve people still in jail awaiting their sentence to be carried out, this victory is truly groundbreaking. [BBC]