Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani is just the latest individual to be punished under the barbaric legal system in the Islamic Republic of Iran. She confessed to adultery…after being lashed ninety-nine times. And though the mother of two later retracted her confession, she will still be stoned for her “crime”.

She will be buried up to her chest, deeper than a man would be, and the stones that will be hurled at her will be large enough to cause pain but not so large as to kill her immediately, according to an Amnesty International report that cited the Iranian penal code.

The 42-year-old woman from the northern city of Tabriz was convicted of adultery in 2006, and her execution is imminent, said prominent human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei.

Such barbaric punishments are nothing new in Iran. The country has a history of hanging individuals for being gay. Official morality police are known to use intimidation and even violence in pursuit of stopping Iranians, particularly women, from acting too western. And, of course, we all know what happened to protesters who spoke out against the government in Tehran last year.

There’s another problem in this case: The woman speaks Turkish rather than Farsi, the official language of Iran. And let’s just say that not understanding the national language in Iran during court proceedings isn’t quite like failing to understand the national language in the United States during court proceedings.

The circumstances of Ashtiani’s case make it not an exception but the rule in Iran, according to Amnesty International, which tracks death penalty cases around the world.

“The majority of those sentenced to death by stoning are women, who suffer disproportionately from such punishment,” the human rights group said in a 2008 report.

And to think there are people who don’t want this country possessing nuclear weapons. Go figure.