Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani (Iranian woman facing stoning) 'confesses' to murder on Iran state TV

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Lawyer says Ashtiani was tortured before interview recorded in Tabiz prison, and fears execution imminent -

Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Thursday August 12 2010 -

The Iranian woman whose sentence to death by stoning sparked an international outcry is feared to be facing imminent execution, after she was put on a state-run TV programme last night where she confessed to adultery and involvement in a murder. Speaking shakily in her native Azeri language, which could be heard through a voiceover, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani told an interviewer that she was an accomplice to the murder of her husband and that she had an extramarital relationship with her husband's cousin. Her lawyer told the Guardian last night that his client, a 43-year-old mother of two, was tortured for two days before the interview was recorded in Tabriz prison, where she has been held for the past four years.

"She was severely beaten up and tortured until she accepted to appear in front of camera. Her 22-year-old son, Sajad and her 17-year-old daughter Saeedeh are completely traumatised by watching this programme," said Houtan Kian.

He added that there were now fears that the Iranian authorities would act quickly to carry out the death sentence, which was reportedly commuted to hanging after an international outcry last month. The sentence was initially for "having an illicit relationship outside marriage" but some Iranian officials have claimed she was also found guilty of murdering her husband and should still face death by stoning.

The interview was broadcast on a show called 20:30, a day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Tehran to honour treaty obligations to respect the rights of citizens and halt executions. Observers suggested one of the signs she was speaking under duress was that in the interview she blamed the western media for interfering in her personal life.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani-confesses-murder-iran

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Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Her lawyer said she was tortured
for two days before she agreed to appear on TV.
Photograph: AP

She was acquitted of murder a while ago and was going to be stoned for adultery, now they have made her admit to murder to cover their asses. I'm speechless.

Iranian facing stoning speaks: 'It's because I'm a woman'

Sat Aug-07-10

=snip=

Mohammadi Ashtiani said: "I was found guilty of adultery and was acquitted of murder, but the man who actually killed my husband was identified and imprisoned but he is not sentenced to death."

From: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4495250

[snagglepuss]

1. I saw this earlier this evening. I felt so utterly sickened and angry

that I couldn't bring myself to post the story here. What absolute hell she and her children must be enduring. The Iranian clerics and their minions are disgusting filthy pigs. May those assholes reap what they sow.

[SkyDaddy7]

2. Anyone who follows Iran knows...

This sick disgusting theocracy loves to put people on State TV after torturing them. I could only imagine the all to real nightmarish terror her kids are going through right now!

I am against killing but I honestly think I could bullet through the heads of all those people regardless of the number who are responsible for stuff like this!

I am so mad right now & it is only 5am...Not the first news story I should have read this early in the AM.

[leftynyc]

3. Fucking barbarians

Parading a woman who has been tortured on tv. Most likely threatening her family with the same. There are simply no words to express the level of disgust I'm feeling.

[Delphinus]

5. Indeed,

there are no words to truly express the outrage and the heartbreak at the same time.

[The Wizard]

4. Iran's militant theocratic government

will reap what it sows.
They are gruesome degenerates using fear to suppress the citizens. Kind of like Republicans, but more honest about who they really are.

[oberliner]

6. Rights group criticizes Iranian woman's TV interview

Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- An international human rights organization criticized Thursday an interview given by a 43-year-old woman sentenced to death by stoning on Iranian state-run TV a day earlier.

In the interview, the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, denounced her lawyer and said she knew about a plot to kill her husband but felt she had been misled. The mother of two faces a death sentence for adultery.

The Amnesty International human rights group criticized the broadcast Thursday.

"Televised 'confessions' have repeatedly been used by the authorities to incriminate individuals in custody," Amnesty International said. "Many have later retracted these 'confessions,' stating that they were coerced to make them, sometimes under torture or other ill-treatment.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/12/iran.stoning/

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[oberliner]

9. She was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, not murder

Interestingly the man who was actually convicted and jailed for murdering this woman's husband did not face the death penalty and was released from prison after three years.

[mcollins]

11. Your attitude shows more about your beliefs in oppression

than anything else you say.

Zionist, indeed.

[okieinpain]

8. we should do the right thing and stop buying their oil, and put

a tariff on anyone's products that do purchase their oil. but when did lives ever matter when it comes to old dinosaur shit.

[daleo]

10. The U.S. government has accepted torture tainted evidence too

In the Kahdr murder trial, going on in Guantanamo right now. That case involves someone who was 15 years old at the time of the alleged crime, had been forced to be a child soldier by his father, was threatened with jailhouse rape by American interrogators, and was subjected to torture ("stress positions", etc.). I am no defender of the Iranian regime, but the U.S. doesn't really have the moral high ground when it comes to this subject any longer.