Iranian woman sentenced to death for adultery, state media says

Woman can appeal sentence of death by stoning, which was handed down after husband says he saw her with another man at home

By AP 3 November 2023, 2:01 pm Edit

Iranian women shout slogans during a demonstration outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul, Saturday, October 22, 2022. (AP/Emrah Gurel)

TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian court has sentenced a woman to death for adultery, state media said.

A report by the IRAN newspaper on Wednesday said the woman worked as a trainer in a women’s gym, and that her husband contacted police in 2022 when he found her with another man at their home.

The husband discovered from surveillance cameras that she was having relations with other men, the report said.

Under Iranian law, she can appeal the death sentence, as while Iranian courts sometimes sentence people to death by stoning for adultery, it can be reduced to lighter punishments upon appeal.

Iran is under international pressure for its extensive use of the death penalty. On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Iran was executing people at “an alarming rate.” He said at least 419 people received capital punishment in the first seven months of this year, an increase of 30% from the same period last year.

In 2017, a court sentenced a woman to death for adultery, but there has been no report of her execution.

Protesters display placards with the lettering reading ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ in a rally in support of the demonstrations in Iran, in Berlin, Germany on October 22, 2022. (John MacDougall/AFP)

Crimes punishable by the death penalty include adultery, sodomy, murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping and drug trafficking.

In 2022, Iran executed two gay men who were convicted of sodomy.