updated: *CNN is reporting that Kayhan also wrote that Ms Bruni “deserves death”
August 31, 2010
Iran doesn’t much like France but calling First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy a ‘prostitute’ is one way to rile up and already riled up European Union. UK Foreign Minister Wm Hague spoke out with Turkish FM DAVUTOGLU next to him (who said he would have to look at her file which has been stolen) and here is Finland’s FM letter to International Committee Against Execution.
Aug 28 100 Cities Protest Trocadero Square, Paris, France
In response to First Lady Carla Bruni of France’s words of support (below) for Sakineh Ashtiani, State TV called her “immoral” and the Ayatollah run newspaper Kayhan called her a “prostitute” and proceeded to detail her past love interests.
Here are Ms Bruni’s words. They were already in a different post but it’s easier all in one. Translation provided by FOX.
MS BRUNI: France will not abandon you. Please know from within your cell that my husband will plead ceaselessly for your release and that France will not abandon you.
How can I remain silent after learning of the sentence which has been pronounced against you?
Your eyes, full of pain and dignity, your forehead, your mind, your spirit…transformed into targets for stone throwers, to be pulverized to pieces….I just can’t see what good could come out of this macabre ceremony, whatever the judicial reasons put forward to justify it.
Shed your blood and deprive children of their mother, why? Because you have lived, because you have loved, because you’re a woman and because you’re Iranian?
Everything within me refuses to accept this.
[All emphasis added]
The Kayhan denounced Bruni-Sarkozy and actress Isabelle Adjani in an editorial headlined “French Prostitutes Join Human Rights Protest.” The piece called Bruni-Sarkozy a “hypocrite” and detailed the former supermodel’s colorful past love life with several celebrities.
*CNN is reporting that Kayhan went even further.
Kayhan, a newspaper headed by a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reiterated those statements Tuesday, writing that,
“this woman with a bad history supports an Iranian woman who has committed adultery during marriage and is an accomplice to the murder of her husband who is sentenced to death, and in fact she [Bruni-Sarkozy] also deserves death.”
For the record – Ms Ashtiani was tried for murder and believe it or not was found not guilty. And as far as adultery (which she did not commit) she was already punished with 99 lashes and Iran law says a person cannot be punished for the same crime twice.
*French Foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero re Kayhan’s comments:
We’re making this message known through normal diplomatic channels.
*Also from CNN:
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner raised the issue last week with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, asking that measures be studied to stop Iran from violating human rights.
Kouchner in a letter to Ashton published in the French press:
We need to encourage the Union in initiatives to remind Iranian authorities that, as well on the nuclear file, their attitude of isolation has a price, which they can liberate as soon as they choose a more responsible behavior and more in line with their international commitments on the subject of human rights.
*Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast criticized Kayhan:
Insulting officials of other countries and using improper words are not endorsed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The media can criticize the policies, attitudes and comments of other countries’ officials, they can object to them, we call for them to review their deeds, but we do not think applying insulting and degrading words is the right thing to do.
The US press commented on it but did not take the time to talk about the real issue: putting an end to stoning and saving Sakineh’s (and others) lives.
