According to Iran's Islamic legal system, people sentenced to stoning should be half buried before being pelted with stones large enough to hurt, but

Human rights activists have grown increasingly worried over the past year at the high number of executions and other brutal forms of punishment.

Iran has placed a new moratorium on the execution of people by stoning, the country's judiciary has announced.
At least nine people in the country are believed to be facing the sentence for a range of offences including adultery, prostitution and incest.
The head of the judiciary Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi first told judges to stop carrying out the penalty in 2002 after pressure from the EU.
Last year, however, a man was stoned to death in western Iran, prompting fears that the punishment would again be regularly carried out.
Several other cases of stonings in the past two years were reported but never officially confirmed.
The judiciary's spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said four sentences had been commuted - two will now face long prison sentences and the other two will be flogged.
"In a few other cases, these people have asked for forgiveness and their request ... is under review," he said.
According to Iran's Islamic legal system, people sentenced to stoning should be half buried before being pelted with stones large enough to hurt, but not large enough to kill immediately.