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 VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Sunday raised the possibility of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to spare the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

In its first public statement on the case, which has attracted worldwide attention, the Vatican also decried stoning as a particularly "brutal" form of capital punishment.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the Catholic church opposes the death penalty in general.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of adultery. In July, Iranian authorities said they would not carry out the stoning sentence for the time being, but the mother of two could still face execution by hanging for adultery and other offenses.

Her son, Sajad, told the Italian news agency Adnkronos that he was appealing to Pope Benedict XVI and to Italy to work to stop the execution.

Lombardi told The Associated Press that no formal appeal had reached the Vatican, but hinted that Vatican's diplomacy might be employed to try to save Ashtiani.

"When the Holy See is asked, in an appropriate way, to intervene in humanitarian issues with the authorities of other countries, as it has happened many times in the past, it does so not in a public way, but through its own diplomatic channels," Lombardi said in a statement.

In one of the late Pope John Paul II's encyclicals in 1995, the pontiff laid out the Catholic Church's stance against capital punishment.

Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, told the ANSA news agency that while Italy respects Iranian sovereignty and isn't in any way interfering, "a gesture of clemency from Iran is the only thing that can save her."

Meanwhile, the lawyer who defended a woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran was reunited with his family in Norway Thursday.

Mohammad Mostafaei said he was pleased his wife and 7-year-old daughter were allowed to travel to Norway on tourist visas.

In August, the 31-year-old lawyer fled to Turkey then Norway after learning Iranian officials intended to arrest him. He has said he is seeking asylum in Norway, but still hopes officials in Iran will allow him to return to his practice.

Mostafaei's wife, Fereshteh, said Thursday that she was "really happy" to join her husband in Norway. But she said she was "very worried about the future" and unsure how long the family will stay in Norway.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39015497/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa

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By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran – The European Union on Tuesday condemned the stoning to death sentence passed against an Iranian woman convicted for adultery, saying it was "barbaric."

In his first State of the Union address to the European parliament in Strasbourg, France, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said he was "appalled" by the news of the sentencing, and called it "barbaric beyond words."

The sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was put on hold in July after an international outcry over the brutality of the punishment, and it is now being reviewed by Iran's supreme court.

Ashtiani's lawyer has said there are still worries the delayed execution could be carried out soon with the end of a moratorium on death sentences for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Ashtiani's case points to larger divides between the West and Iran, which staunchly defends its legal codes and human rights standards as fully developed and in keeping with its traditions and values.

Iranian authorities have repeatedly bristled at Western criticism — including U.S. State Department rights reports — saying foreign governments overlook shortcomings in their own systems and fail to hold Western ally Israel accountable for its treatment of Palestinians.

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