(CNN) -- Iran's judiciary chief has temporarily halted the execution of a woman convicted of adultery, state media reported Sunday, citing a judicial official.
"Although the verdict still stands and is definite, the execution has been halted on humanitarian grounds from the order of the honorable judiciary chief, and will not be implemented at this time," Malek Ajdar Sharifi, a judiciary official in East Azerbaijan province, told Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency.
The well-publicized case involves Sakineh Mohammedie Ashtiani, who faces the possibility of execution by stoning after being convicted in 2006 of adultery.
Her lawyer, Mohommad Mostafaei, told CNN that Ashtiani confessed to the crime after being subjected to 99 lashes. She later recanted that confession and has denied wrongdoing, he said.
