Iran's decision last week to suspend death by stoning as a penalty for adultery was made in response to the ''demands of modern age'' and mounting protests inside and outside the country.

The Majlis or parliament has not yet abolished it by changing the penal code, but many are closely watching for an eventual decision by parliament and the Iranian government.

The reformists, who control the parliament under the leadership of President Mohammad Khatami, have been pushing a change in the execution law.

Accordingly, 11 women members of parliament submitted a bill early last December to the 290-seat legislature to abolish the practice of death by stoning to punish adultery.

According to Naseeb Al Saleh, professor of political science at Ajman University in the United Arab.Emirates: ''The move to halt the practice is a victory for reformist MPs who have been looking to end discrimination against women.''

The move comes after pressure from the European Union, which is engaged in human rights talks linked to trade negotiations.

'Negative effect'

The EU-Iran negotiations, which began in December, are the most serious Western attempt to engage Iran since 1979, but the EU has been insisting that Iran take steps to improve its human rights record.

However, Iranian MP Jamileh Kadivar denied that the suspension of death by stoning was related to talks with the EU, saying ''the head of the judiciary has sent a ruling to judges telling them not to order execution by stoning''.

The judges have been told to issue alternative punishments and the decision would be upheld pending a permanent change in the law, she added.

It is unclear if judges will still be allowed to order other forms of execution such as hanging, which is frequently carried out in public for crimes such as murder, armed robbery and rape. The EU has been demanding that Iran end public executions as well.

''Stoning has been provisionally suspended due to its negative effects, but this suspension is provisional,'' said Hojatoleslam Mohsen Gharavian, a conservative cleric based in the theological base of Qom, according to the state news agency IRNA.

Still, this top conservative cleric acknowledged that the practice had been widely criticised and had hurt the Islamic republic's image abroad.

In line with the country's political system, he said, it is now up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to take a final decision on whether the punishment used against adultery should be completely stopped.

''If it is in the interests of Muslims and Islam, it can be suspended for a determined period by the supreme guide,'' he was quoted as saying.

In Iran's political system, Khamenei is the final authority on all matters and his endorsement of all laws passed by the parliament, including one against stoning, would give it the final stamp of legality before it is implemented.

Figures withheld

Under Iran's strict Islamic law, in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, men and women convicted of adultery are normally sentenced to death by stoning. Men are buried up to their waists in a pit and women up to their shoulders. Onlookers are then invited to pelt them with stones until death.

According to the law, the stones must be big enough to injure but not kill with just a few blows, which Amnesty International has described as a ''method specifically designed to increase the victim's suffering''. The victim is acquitted if he or she manages to get out of the pit.

The Syariah ruling on adultery was incorporated in the 1995 Islamic Penal Code of Iran. Iranian officials refuse to reveal how often stonings are carried out.

But an Amnesty International 2002 report said at least 139 people, including one minor, were executed in Iran in 2001, at least two by stoning and one by beheading.

EU diplomats say there was at least one unconfirmed case in 2002, in which an accused woman survived by escaping from the pit.

The law is particularly harsh on women. In accordance with the Syariah ruling, an act of ''adultery'' witnessed by at least four people is punishable by stoning to death.

But women do not have the same right when dealing with ''unfaithful'' husbands. Unofficial figures put at about 70 the number of women accused of adultery and who have been stoned to death so far.

These figures place Iran second on the list of execution capitals of the world, although it remains far behind China. It is also only one of the seven countries, including the US, that allows the execution of people under 18.

Anti-stoning law?

Phasing out death by stoning is unlikely to be easy.

''The fact that two prominent clerics Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Musavi Tabrizi have spoken out against stoning could facilitate the passage of the anti-stoning legislation,'' said Naseeb Al Saleh, the professor at Ajman University.

''But the Guardians Council has always adopted a confrontationist attitude toward the reformists.''

Indeed, Ayatollah Gholamreza Rezvani, a member of the Guardians Council, said that there was no substitute for the stoning of adulterers.

According to Farsi daily Hayat-i No, Rezvani said that Islamic rulings do not depend on societal tastes. ''Stoning is a sanction for ethical problems such as adultery and there is no other sanction for having intercourse with a married person.''

But Mohammed Reza Khatami, deputy head of parliament and brother of Iran's president, told the Women in Iran magazine that the Koran allows for stoning to be replaced by other forms of punishment. IPS