Porn film actress stoned to death in Iran prison

An Iranian woman convicted of acting in pornographic films has been stoned to death in the prison where she has been held for the last eight years, a newspaper reported Monday.

The unnamed 35-year-old was buried in a pit and pelted with stones until she died in the centre of Tehran's Evin prison, the Entekhab paper said, adding that she had been tracked down after an intensive police search.

It said investigators only succeeded in finding her after they noticed the serial number of an electricity meter that was in the background of a scene in one of her films.

She denied being the woman on screen but police found several witnesses who testified she was indeed the X-rated actress.

The woman was sentenced to death after being convicted of adultery and "corruption on earth," a verdict which was upheld by the supreme court, the paper said.

Under Iran's Islamic law, adultery and corruption on earth are punishable by death.

Men sentenced to stoning are buried up to their necks, and women up to their armpits, but according to Islamic tradition they are acquitted if they succeed in pulling themselves free during the stoning.

The paper did not say when the woman was executed.

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