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Iran jails wife of lawyer who defended woman sentenced to death by stoning; Turkey locks up the lawyer

Iran is holding hostage the wife of prominent human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei in an effort to get him to return from Turkey, where he fled after interrogation in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison — where his wife is now detained. Mostafaei’s crime was to defend Sakineh Mohammadei Ashtiani, who had been sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of adultery.

Turkey, meanwhile, has detained Mostafaei, despite offers from Norway to give him asylum and pay for his plane ticket to Oslo. Iranian blogger and democratic activist Potkin Azarmehr tried to get answers from the Turkish embassy in London.

Turkey has said it will not extradite Mostafaei to Iran.

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