he complaint of Sakineh’s son

“They could stone her in the next few hours”

PARIS – It’s a matter of hours. Today Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani could be stoned. The alarm was raised by the son, 22-year-old Sajiad who lives in Tabriz, the city in the north of the country where Sakineh is locked up. Although the authorities continue to say that the sentence is suspended and that “nothing has been decided yet”, the relatives of the Iranian woman fear a sudden acceleration desired by the more fundamentalist fringes of the regime. A spokesman for the Tehran Foreign Ministry reiterated that the judicial procedure is underway: no official comment until it is concluded.

Meanwhile, Sakineh would immediately have a new sentence of 99 lashes “with the false accusation of spreading corruption and indecency”. Sajjad released an open letter dated September 3 that refers to an article published by the London Times last August 20 in which a picture of a woman without a veil appears, in which Sakineh would have been acknowledged. “My mother – Sajjad wrote in her open letter published on the Internet by the International Committee against executions – was summoned by the judge who deals with the misconduct in prison and was sentenced to 99 lashes on the basis of the false accusation of spreading the corruption and indecency by spreading that photo of a woman without a veil who is mistakenly assumed to be her “.

“My mother is alive only because there is international mobilization ,” Sajiad said. The Madrid government also supported the campaign in favor of Sakineh, while in Italy the face of the Iranian woman sentenced to stoning appeared on the facades of many local administrations and the Ministry of Equal Opportunities. “This event could be an opportunity for Iran to restart dialogue,” said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. And the appeal promoted by the French newspapers with which Repubblica is associated , has now reached one hundred thousand accessions.

“It’s a countdown,” says Sakineh’s son, who has no faith in the “official procedure”. The Iranian authorities, accuses Sajiad, have extorted the woman’s confession after raping her. “They are capable of anything – he continues – even to kill her without telling us anything.” The family’s new concerns are also linked to the fact that Sakineh hasn’t been able to talk to anyone for days. His new lawyer was the victim of a mysterious theft. Meanwhile, on Monday Mohammad Mostafaei, the man who had defended the Iranian woman since 2007, will meet Minister Bernard Kouchner in Paris.

After repeated threats, Mostafaei was forced into exile in Norway. France is driving diplomatic pressure on Iran. Kouchner asked the EU to hypothesize new sanctions to seek a solution to the matter, while President Nicolas Sarkozy, declared himself personally “responsible” for Sakineh. His wife, Carla Bruni, was insulted and threatened with death for her letter to the Iranian woman. For some days, the Elysée switchboard has been clogged due to the hundreds of messages of solidarity with the première dame. The presidency of the Republic has been forced to place an announcement on its site to ask to send letters or emails.

(04 September 2010)