IRAN PLANS DEATH BY STONING FOR ADULTERY

Britain urged Iran to halt the execution of a woman who a rights group says faces death by stoning for adultery.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague commented on the case of 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, saying it would"disgust and appal" the rest of the world.

"Stoning is a medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world and the continued use of such a punishment in Iran demonstrates in our view a blatant disregard for human rights commitments which it has previously entered into," Hague told a news conference.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, "We’re trying to work and consult on all these issues with our neighbour Iran, of course we have to see the file."

The case was also raised in Britain’s House of Commons, prompting speaker John Bercow to describe it as "a horrific, truly horrific matter".

"We in this house, I hope, are in favour of human rights, not of their grotesque abuse," he added. Human rights group Amnesty International said last week it feared that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has two children, could be "at imminent risk" of execution by stoning at any time for adultery.

It said she was convicted in 2006 of having had an "illicit relationship" with two men and received 99 lashes as her sentence.

The rights group said that, despite this, Mohammadi Ashtiani was subsequently convicted of "adultery while being married", which it said she denied, and was sentenced to death by stoning. Hague called on Iran to put an immediate stay on the execution and review the process by which Mohammadi Ashtiani was tried.