Rights group claims Iranian authorities to retain stoning as adultery punishment

A human rights group has said that Iran plans to retain stoning as lawful punishment for women committing adultery.

Iraq's judicial council is in favour of making the stoning provision a draft law.

Although there are no statistics for indicating the exact number of stoning victims, human rights groups claimed that Iranian authorities are holding at least 10 women and men on grounds of adultery charges and will face execution by stoning, CNN reports. he Melli-Mazhabi site opposing the government in Iran reported that the judicial council called the Guardian Council consisting of 12 religious jurists had called for its security agents last November to shift the bodies of four women who had been stoned to the Tehran medical examiner's office, according to the U.S. State Department.

The State Department's report stated that the women's bodies had facial wounds indicating torture, beatings and stoning.

However, according to the State Department report, the Iranian officials denied the reports but did not provide alternative explanations for the causes of death, adding that the women were allegedly charged with involvement in 'illegitimate relationships' and drug use.

The rights group noted that at least 70 people have been executed by stoning in Iran since 1980, where the last known execution through stoning took place in 2009.

The Guardian Council had completed reviewing and amending the draft law by April this year and confirmed that the law will be implemented soon, the report added.