July 12, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 26, 1428

TEHRAN: Iran’s judiciary has launched a probe against the judge who ordered the stoning to death of a man convicted of adultery despite suspension of such executions, the ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

“The judges’ disciplinary court will investigate the action carried out by the judge that was contrary to the order of judiciary chief,” ISNA quoted a judicial official as saying.Iran on Tuesday said that Jafar Kiani had been stoned to death in a village in Qazvin.

The punishment was meted out despite a 2002 directive from chief judge Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi suspending the practice although it still exists in law.

“The execution of the verdict shocked us... so the head of the judiciary took up the case and halted the sentence against a woman who was also condemned to stoning,” Tehran’s appeal courts head Mohammad Ali Ebrahimkhani told ISNA.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour condemned the stoning and urged Tehran to spare the woman the same fate while Norway summoned Iranian Ambassador Abdol Reza Faraji Rad to protest against the ‘barbaric’ punishment.—AFP