[fund] promotion and application of religious laws

Some of the individuals who were executed for drug related charges had received their sentences in the past and the death penalty should not have been applied to them. In some cases, the individuals only had to pay a monetary penalty. However, their sudden death sentence was issued by the judiciary authorities. 

The Iranian woman whose sentence to death by stoning sparked an international outcry is feared to be facing imminent execution, after she was put on a state-run TV programme last night where she confessed to adultery and involvement in a murder. Speaking shakily in her native Azeri language, which could be heard through a voiceover, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani told an interviewer that she was an accomplice to the murder of her husband and that she had an extramarital relationship with her husband's cousin. Her lawyer told the Guardian last night that his client, a 43-year-old mother of two, was tortured for two days before the interview was recorded in Tabriz prison, where she has been held for the past four years.

SKSW and WLUML are still gravely concerned about the fate of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. On 4 August, Branch 9 of the Supreme Court in Iran began a review of Mohammadi Ashtiani's sentence and agreed to consider a judicial review of the case, submitted by her lawyer. The Supreme Court is expected to either accept or reject the judicial review on or around 15 August. The review appears aimed solely at reducing international pressure on the authorities, by deferring a decision on the method of execution and the stoning sentence remains in place.

Accommodating the growing number of Kuwaiti women wanting to trade, as well as Kuwaiti cultural tradition, the Kuwait Finance House is opening a trading hall exclusively for women at the local stock market exchange. “Women’s banking is no longer limited to deposit and withdrawal,” Tahani Saleh Al-Khamis, an area manager with the bank Kuwait Finance House told The Media Line. “[Women’s banking] has expanded over and beyond to include the demand for diversified products such as participation in investment funds and portfolios, particularly new and existing [ones].”