Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Iran has sentenced a prominent human rights lawyer, Abdolfattah Soltani, to 18 years in jail for allegedly spreading anti-regime propaganda, several opposition websites reported on Tuesday.

Foreign Secretary William Hague has vowed to confront Iran's "repressive" human rights record by pushing for tough sanctions at next week's United Nations General Assembly.

Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday vowed to confront Iran's "repressive" human rights record by pushing for tough sanctions at next week's United Nations General Assembly.

A woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran is in "perfect health" and has been allowed to attend her mother's funeral, a justice official told IRNA state news agency on Wednesday.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran has intensified its crackdown on opponents as well as executions of drug traffickers, political prisoners and juvenile criminals, the United Nations said on Monday.

Two German reporters detained for four months after interviewing the son and lawyer of a woman facing death by stoning were returning home Sunday after being freed.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has suspended a sentence to hang a woman at the center of a global outcry about a separate stoning sentence, a member of parliament was quoted Monday as saying, but another official suggested the comments were false.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has suspended a sentence to hang a woman at the center of a global outcry about stoning, a member of parliament was quoted as saying on Monday.

A US woman whom Tehran says is an American spy caught filming on its northern borders has confessed to espionage, a senior Iranian police official said on state television on Sunday.

An Iranian security official confirmed on Saturday that an American woman said by media earlier this week to have been arrested for spying when trying to enter the country is in custody, as the United States denied the reports.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said on Saturday an apology from the German publisher Axel Springer which employs two journalists detained in Iran would be a "useful gesture".

A US woman reported by media to be a suspected spy was refused entry at a border crossing with Armenia a week ago over a visa problem, Iran's Al-Alam television reported Thursday, citing a security source.

Iran warned on Tuesday that campaigns to free two German journalists detained over the case of a woman sentenced to death by stoning will "backfire" and urged Germany to avoid politicising the issue.

An Iranian mother's sentence of death by stoning could be quashed, a senior judiciary official said on Sunday, pointing out that ambiguities remain in her case.

Report: Iran official leaves open option of commuting stoning death sentence against woman. Authorities reviewing a death by stoning sentence against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery could still halt the punishment, a senior judiciary official said Sunday as Iran struggles to mute an international outcry over the case.

Report: Iran official leaves open option of commuting stoning death sentence against woman. Authorities reviewing a death by stoning sentence against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery could still halt the punishment, a senior judiciary official said Sunday as Iran struggles to mute an international outcry over the case.

BERLIN (Reuters) - One hundred German political and business leaders published an appeal to Iran on Sunday to free two German reporters held in Iran since October.

TABRIZ, Iran (Reuters) - An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery was allowed out on prison leave to have dinner with her daughter and son on Saturday, hours after he had appealed to the judiciary to spare her life.

An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery said on Saturday she would sue two German journalists who have been jailed in Iran for interviewing her son.

Germans imprisoned in Iran for covering woman sentenced to stoning death allowed family visit. Iran allowed two imprisoned German journalists to meet family members for about 12 hours overnight, the first visit in the nearly three months since they were arrested while covering the case of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning.