PM pleads for woman's life

St Vincent (CMC):

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says he has made a personal plea to the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to spare the life of a woman who is facing death by stoning over an alleged adulterous affair.

Gonsalves, who said he is the only Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leader to have made such a plea to the Iranian head of state, said that he had been told that the case against Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, 43, had not yet been completed.

"I wrote a letter to him on August 8. I am not questioning their jurisprudence, I have my private view of that. What I am asking for is mercy. Because every religious system, every judicial system has mercy in it," he told a news conference here on Monday.

"He says to me the case has not yet run its course through the judicial system so it is premature to speak about mercy," Gonsalves said.

"I registered my concerns directly ... . I spoke with President Ahmadinejad directly about it. He offers his own explanation, the trial has not yet concluded and that she is not only on trial for adultery, she is also on trial for conspiracy to murder her husband".

Gonsalves said that he is not sure of the conspiracy case against the woman, noting "I read various accounts, but I will tell you I can't sit and see a woman being stoned to death and don't raise my voice of concern."