An Iranian court has sentenced a woman to death for committing adultery after a man complained to the police when he found out his wife was having an affair.
The case surfaced in 2022, when the accused woman's husband presented photographic evidence from surveillance cameras to the police. The man she was involved with has been sentenced to lashes, according to local media.
The verdict is subject to appeal.
The penalties have raised concern at a time when the number of executions in Iran is skyrocketing. Adding to the issue, Iran's Penal Code, based on Islamic law, traditionally prescribes stoning for adultery. However, Islamic leaders have shifted toward execution as an alternative.
The woman attributed her actions to feelings of loneliness and had been working as a sports coach, a detail that emerged amid widespread media coverage. The man implicated alongside her claimed ignorance of her marital status, a defense that did not spare him from corporal punishment.
Speaking to RFERL's Radio Farda, Mahmud Amiri Moghadam of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization, condemned the sentence.
"It is appalling that in a UN member state, which recently held the presidency of the Social Council of Human Rights, such draconian punishments for consensual sexual relations are not only contemplated but carried out," Moghadam said.
"While such sentences are often kept from public knowledge, there has been a noticeable increase in their pronouncement. Just this year, another individual was executed for similar charges."
The criticism of sentences highlights growing distrust in the Iranian judicial system, which Moghadam accuses of perpetuating violence while offering legal impunity for honor killings.
The rate of executions in Iran has been rising sharply, particularly in the wake of widespread protests that swept across the country last year following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody for an alleged head-scarf violation.
Amnesty International says the regime in Tehran executes more people than any other country in the world other than China.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a new report on November 2 that Iran was carrying out executions "at an alarming rate," putting to death at least 419 people in the first seven months of the year.