Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, 43 is to executed by stoning in the city of Takistan in a public square, in front of a crowd of people on Thursday. She was convicted and sentenced to die for having a child out of wedlock, and committing adultery 11 years ago. The father of the child, who is unidentified, is also to be stoned to death with her.

Ebrahimi has spent the last 11 years in Choubin prison in Ghazvin, and is very distressed, according to Meydaan, the official site of the "Stop Stoning Forever Campaign." An informed source has commented that "the pits are dug and prepared in Behesht Zahra cemetery to implement the sentence." The Judge of Branch 1 will be the first to throw a stone, and the public has been invited to join in the stoning.

Although there had been no witnesses to the crime of adultery, or having a child out of wedlock, the sentence is being based on the judge's "knowledge." There have been numerous rumors about her past, but none could actually be proved. Iran's Islamic Penal code allows stoning as the method of execution for adultery.

Amnesty International is appealing against the scheduled stonings, to the Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi. Amnesty International is asking that the execution by stoning of the two be stopped and that their sentences be commuted to life imprisonment. They are also asking that all executions by stoning be abolished, according to their public statement...