Iran’s dilemma over Youcef Nadarkhani has raised hopes of a breakthrough in other high-profile cases that have embarrassed the regime, notably that of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani.
The 44-year-old mother of two has spent seven years on death row, but the case has gone cold in recent months as the regime ponders its next move. Her sentence to death by stoning for alleged adultery is still officially suspended. But a trumped-up charge for the murder of her husband was engineered in its place as the regime sought a new pretext to execute Ms Ashtiani without appearing to bow to the international outrage.
Her incarceration and uncertainty have taken their toll. Marcus Hellwig, a German journalist and the first Westerner to see Ms Ashtiani since her ordeal began, said in February that she now bears “no comparison to the beautiful woman she once was”. He was jailed in the same prison as Ms Ashtiani after being arrested during an interview with her son in 2010.
In December, a senior justice official insisted that Ms Ashtiani would be executed but suggested that she would be hanged for murder. Senior government officials and clerics are known to be anxious that such brutal and arbitrary justice undermines Iran’s standing in the Islamic world. Tehran has been stung by the criticism of its human rights record, hence the declaration in February that stoning had been banned.
But Iran has made such claims before and they have proved worthless. Human rights groups count at least seven women stoned to death since the practice was last officially outlawed in 2005.