Two Day Magazine

According to an Iranian newspaper, Carla Bruni, France’s First Lady, was called a “prostitute” after she denounced Iran for planning to stone a woman to death for adultery.

Bruni is part of a growing campaign to stop the unnecessary stoning of 43-year-old mother of two, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Now with the First Lady of France behind the movement, momentum is building to free Ashtiani. Several French cities even held marches this weekend in support of Ashtiani.

Ashtiani is facing capital punishment for supposedly cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him. Ashtiani states that she was forced to confess to the charges of adultery and conspiring to murder her husband in 2005. She has accused the Tehran government of lying throughout her case so that they have an excuse to execute her.

In May 2006, a criminal court found Ashtiani guilty of having an “illicit relationship” with two men following the death of her husband. She was sentenced to 99 lashes. However, her case was reopened that September and she was convicted of “adultery while being married” and sentenced to death by stoning.

“They’re lying”, the mother of two told the Guardian, speaking through an intermediary who chose to remain anonymous.

“They are embarrassed by the international attention on my case and they are desperately trying to distract attention and confuse the media so that they can kill me in secret.”

She believes her harsh treatment is due, in fact, because she is a woman. She states that she had been acquitted of murder, but found guilty of adultery. The man who has been convicted and jailed for the murder of her husband is not facing the death penalty.

Because of this tragic and disturbing situation, France has appealed to the European Union to threaten new sanctions over what has happened.

Bruni wrote an open letter to Ashtiani to show her support.

“Why shed your blood and deprive your children of their mother? Because you have lived, because you have loved, because you’re a woman and because you’re an Iranian? Everything within me refuses to accept it.”

The response by the Iranian newspaper Kayhan, the conservative state-run newspaper, says it all:

“French prostitutes join the human rights protest”.

The article goes on to accuse Bruni of being a hypocrite, by trying to “justify her own immorality.” It details her sordid past relationships with many celebrities as well as singles out her friend, Isabelle Adjani, a French actress. Adjani stands with Bruni and calls for Ashtiani’s immediate release.

I, too, stand with Bruni in her call to free Ashtiani. The blatant disregard for women’s rights by this regime is deplorable. Sending women off to die for supposed “adulterous acts” is barbaric, at best. Adding insult to injury, not only is she facing the death penalty for a ridiculous “crime”, the man who actually killed her husband does not face death. If you want to talk about hypocrisy, maybe the Iranian government should take a look at their own actions.

As Bruni so eloquently put it, how could one be stoned to death, or possibly hung, for living and loving? This has nothing to do with religion. This has nothing to do with protecting people from violent criminals. This has everything to do with keeping women enslaved on the most basic level of one’s existence--the expression of their sexuality.

Mahnaz Afkhami, president of the Women’s Learning Partnership and Foundation states, “A woman is half of a man. Women cannot have guardianship of her children. A woman does not have right to divorce equal to men. A woman cannot leave the country without permission of her husband---all of these and many, many others.”