Iran Stoning Case UPDATE: Ashtiani “Confesses” on State Television

Posted by Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
From Care2
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Here at Care2, we’ve been following the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani for over a month, and the latest development adds just one more horrifying layer to the ongoing saga, which involved international protests, an asylum offer from Brazil, and threats that forced her attorney to flee the country. On Wednesday night, the mother of two “confessed” on Iranian state TV, saying that she was an accomplice to her husband’s murder.  The woman identified as Ashtiani also criticized her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, for publicizing the case.

Ashtiani, who was first convicted in May 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men after the death of her husband.  She was sentenced to death by stoning later that year after being convicted of adultery, although she later retracted her confession.  Last month, Iran lifted the stoning sentence after international protests, but that doesn’t change things very much for Ashtiani, who has also been convicted in involvement in the death of her husband, who Iranian officials claim was murdered.  She could still face execution by hanging.

Public confessions are a method that Amnesty International and other human rights groups claim are extremely suspect.  In a press release, Amnesty International explained that “televised ‘confessions’ have repeatedly been used by the authorities to incriminate individuals in custody. Many have later retracted these ‘confessions’, stating that they were coerced to make them, sometimes under torture or other ill-treatment.”

We obviously don’t know the circumstances of the videotape, although one of Ashtiani’s lawyers confirmed that it was indeed Ashtiani, saying that she had “suffered insults and degradation and physical torture in order to force her to read the notes they gave her for the television interview.”

Iran has been cracking down on lawyers who take human rights cases, and some speculate that the video could be an attempt to discredit Mostafaei, who is currently engaged in another high-profile case surrounding a teenager who was falsely accused of sodomy but still may be executed.

We can only wait to see how this plays out, and continue protesting forcefully, since international pressure seems to have had a significant impact on the way that Iran moves forward with this case.  You can sign the petition to halt Ashtiani’s imminent execution here.