Disturbing pictures show Taliban militants allegedly stoning woman to death in Pakistan

A woman lies tied to the ground as a group of men gather round her, repeatedly throwing stones at her.



She appears to plead for help but despite her cries, they continue to rain stones down on her until she lies still.



Disturbing pictures today released to ABC news purport to show Taliban militants stoning a woman to death in north-west Pakistan.

Stoning is a routine punishment for adultery in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Under the rule of the Taliban however, being seen alone with a man is sufficient crime alone to warrant the death penalty.

A rare video reportedly smuggled out of northwest Pakistan allegedly shows a woman being stoned to death by Taliban militants in the upper region of Orakzai.

The execution allegedly took place two months ago in the upper region of Orakzai.

The grainy cellphone footage of the execution was reportedly smuggled out by a Taliban member who witnessed the stoning and then passed to it Al Aan, a Dubai-based pan-Arab television channel that deals with women's issues in the Arab world.



ABC news was unable to independently confirm the authenticity of the video, which is so graphic that it cannot be shown in its entirety.

The woman was thought to have been executed because she was seen out with a man

In Iran, the case of Ms Sakineh Ashtiani, 43, who has been convicted of murder and adultery under Sharia law, has drawn worldwide attention and international outrage.



EC minister Jorge Barroso described it as ose Manuel Barroso, who called it "barbaric beyond words".

Speaking in France earlier this month, Mr Barroso said: "We condemn such acts, which have no justification under any moral or religious code."

The grainy cellphone footage was smuggled from north-west Pakistan by a witness to the stoning who then passed it to Al-Aan TV

It is thought that the international outrage caused by her case has led her sentence to be commuted from death by stoning to hanging.



While Ms Ashtiani's lawyer, Mohammed Mostaefi, has been forced to flee to Europe for his safety, Ms Ashtiani's fate, as she waits in Evin prison, remains uncertain.

Protestors in Paris demonstrate against the death-by-stoning sentence of Iranian mother Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani



