Following pressure from the Stop Stoning Campaign, Iran’s judiciary has announced that execution by stoning will be suspended. Stoning to death is the punishment for adultery in Iran and the majority of those executed by stoning in Iran are women.

Amnesty International has welcomed the judiciary’s decision and expressed its hope that other forms of punishment, such as the amputation of limbs, be halted. Following an earlier breach of a suspension on stoning, it is uncertain whether the judiciary’s decision will have an effect. However, the decision has in fact led to several women – who were facing the punishment – to have their sentences commuted.