CARLA BRUNI HAS BEEN branded ‘a prostitute’ by an Iranian newspaper after voicing her support for a campaign to save a woman from stoning.
Mother-of-two Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, is facing death by stoning for adultery.
She was accused of having an affair and helping to kill her husband. She was cleared of murder, but found guilty of adultery which falls under capital punishment in Iran.
Carla Bruni recently wrote an open letter addressed to Ashtiani in which she asks: “Why shed your blood and deprive your children of their mother?”
The letter continues:
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 Iranian people are among the most ancient and remarkable nations of the planet.
I do not understand how the heirs of a great civilization built upon tolerance and refinement can be unfaithful to this millennial heritage.
The letter is one of a series being published by Elle, Libération in France, and the Huffington Post, in support of Ashtiani.
The case has generated interest around the world, and France has urged the EU to impose further sanctions on Iran over it. On Friday, the French foreign minister said that France would do all it could to prevent the “atrocious death”.
Conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan ran an article accusing Bruni of being a hypocrite, and questioning her relationships with high-profile celebrities.
President Sarkozy’s office has not responded to the comments.
Sentence suspended
Iran temporarily suspended her sentence last month after international outcry, but Ashtiani may be hanged instead.
Her lawyer claims she was forced to appear on state television and confess to the adultery charges. In the interview, Ashtiani also said that she knew the person who murdered her husband.
She was previously given 99 lashes after being found guilty of having relationships with two men following the death of her husband. The current case relates to an alleged affair while her husband was alive.
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