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Iran Parliament Plans End To Some Punishments

TEHRAN (AFP)--Iran's parliament plans to scrap stoning and amputation of a hand as punishments in a revised version of the Islamic penal code, the official IRNA news agency reported Monday.

"Parliaments judicial commission decided not to put some Islamic punishments including stoning in the (revised) law in line with the interests of the country," commission head Ali Shahrokhi told the agency.

He said the commission is also proposing the abolition of amputation and has considered the idea of a "special court for minors under 18."

Once the commission has finalised the new version of the penal code, parliament will vote on whether to implement the revised law for a trial period.

Afterwards it will be discussed for final approval by the vetting legislative body, the Guardians Council.

Under Iran's existing law, adultery is still punishable by stoning, which involves the hurling of stones in public at a partially buried convict. A man is buried up to his waist and a woman up to her shoulders.

Convicts are spared if they can free themselves.

A man found guilty of adultery was stoned to death in the northern city of Rasht earlier this year, a top official told reporters in May, despite a moratorium announced by the judiciary on such executions.

He said the woman involved in the case "repented and so has not been stoned."

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  06-22-091445ET
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