Celebrities Call on Iran to Free Ashtiani, Who Faces Death by Stoning

LONDON -- The ongoing saga of the Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning in Iran for adultery has taken yet another turn. On Monday, more than 80 celebrities wrote an open letter to the Times of London calling for the release of 43-year-old Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani,

The letter was published on the front page of the Times of London newspaper. It was signed by actors, writers and musicians including Sting, V. S. Naipaul and Robert Redford, as well as prominent politicians like British opposition leader Ed Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Together, they called on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release Ashtiani, along with her son and lawyer, who are also imprisoned.

The campaign follows on the heels of a 25-minute program which aired on Friday on Iranian state television in which Ashtiani confesses to -- and then re-enacts -- her alleged part in the murder of her husband, who died in 2005. In the film, she is shown with a needle, indicating where she gave him an injection to knock him unconscious, so that her alleged lover could then electrocute him. The entire film takes place inside Ashtiani's home, which led to early, misguided reports that she had been freed.

In the film, a voiceover describes Ashtiani as a "prostitute" and "adulterous woman." Her jailed son also appears in the program, in which he plays the role of his father in the reconstruction of the alleged crime. So does her lawyer, who claims that he and her son had been taking orders from Mina Ahadi, an Iranian human rights activist who has publicized the case internationally.

This is the third time that Ashtiani has been brought before the cameras to "confess" to a crime and in all three cases, human rights groups have dismissed the confessions as coerced.

Ashtiani was initially convicted in May 2006 of conducting an "illicit relationship outside marriage." She was given a sentence of 99 lashes, but her case was re-opened when a court in Tabriz suspected her of murdering her husband. She was acquitted on the murder charges, but the adultery charge was reviewed and a death penalty handed down on the basis of "judge's knowledge" – a loophole that allows for subjective judicial rulings where no conclusive evidence is present. She has been in prison ever since.

Iran is the only country in the world in which stoning is both legal and is still carried out. At least 20 Iranians, mostly women, are currently believed to be under sentence of stoning to death. About one or two cases are thought to be carried out each year.

In July, and under severe international pressure, the Iranian government backed down from carrying out a death sentence by stoning against Ashtiani. Instead, the stoning sentence was put on hold for review by the country's supreme court.

Since then -- and in an apparent bid to defray the bad publicity the regime has gotten on this case -- the focus of Ashtiani's "confession" has moved from the issue of adultery to that of murder. It seems the strategy is to portray her as a common criminal, sentenced for a crime that also carries the death penalty in the United States and many other countries. This would certainly be consistent with Friday's video re-enactment of her husband's murder.

But if that's the message that's being sold by the Iranian government, not too many people appear to be buying it. According to Amnesty International, international standards for a fair trial guarantee the right not to be forced to incriminate oneself or to confess guilt. "To organize a televised 'confession' midway through a judicial review of a serious case – where a woman's life hangs in the balance – makes a mockery of Iran's legal system," said Clare Bracey of Amnesty International.

It's as yet unclear what will happen with this case. Friday's documentary includes previously reported comments by an adviser to the Iranian supreme leader that that there is a "good chance" that Ashtiani's life could yet be spared. To this end, the message of the video, at least, would appear to be that her stoning sentence is merely "symbolic."

But she could still be sentenced to death by hanging for murder or spend the rest of her life in prison.

Meanwhile, the Secretary General of Iran's High Council for Human Rights said on Monday that the West takes advantage of stoning for propaganda.

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