Human rights campaigners condemned an Iranian television programme, due to air tonight, which shows Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a woman sentenced to death by stoning, at her home apparently discussing her part in the murder of her husband.
Despite speculation that she had been released, Iran's state news agency confirmed that Mohammadi Ashtiani remains in prison.
Photographs of her at home in Osku, released by Press TV last night, prompted hopes that she had been freed. But they were dashed when the state English language channel said she had been taken home to make a television programme about her alleged crime.
In a report on its website, Press TV said Mohammadi Ashtiani had accompanied a film crew to her house "to recount details of the killing of her husband at the crime scene".
The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, and Maureen Harper, the wife of the Canadian prime minister, were among those who had welcomed the unconfirmed reports of Mohammadi Ashtiani's release. Based on the photographs, several newspapers around the world also wrongly reported that she had been freed.
In the complete version of the programme, Mohammadi Ashtiani, a mother of two, says: "We planned to kill my husband."
The channel said earlier today: "Contrary to a vast publicity campaign by western media that confessed murderer Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been released, a broadcast production team with the Iran-based Press TV has arranged with Iran's judicial authorities to follow Ashtiani to her house to produce a visual recount of the crime at the murder scene."
Mousa Khalil-Elahi, a judiciary official in Tabriz, confirmed to Iran's state news agency, IRNA, that Mohammadi Ashtiani had not been freed. Khalil-Elahi was quoted by IRNA as saying: "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is in prison and the reports about her release are false … There's no development in her case and she is still kept in Tabriz prison. She is in good health."
However, Khalil-Elahi did not explain how Press TV had received the permission to take Mohammadi Ashtiani back to her home to record a programme in which she "confessed" to her crimes.
Mohammadi Ashtiani has already appeared on state TV three times, but activists say her apparent confessions have been coerced.
Clare Bracey of Amnesty said: "International standards for fair trial, to which Iran is a state party, guarantee the right not to be forced to incriminate oneself or to confess guilt. The judiciary is in charge of this case and would have to have given permission for such an interview to take place. To organise 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."
She added: "That judicial review [for Mohammadi Ashtiani] is further hampered by the fact that Sakineh's son and lawyer have been detained. If Sajad Qaderzadeh and Javid Houtan Kian are being held solely for peacefully highlighting Sakineh's case, they should be released immediately and unconditionally."
Mohammadi Ashtiani's son Sajad was arrested in October along with her lawyer, Houtan Kian, and two German journalists who were detained after trying to interview her family.
Mina Ahadi of the International Committee against Stoning (Icas) also condemned the programme, saying: "Press TV is acting as if it is the intelligence service of Iran. It has forced a woman to confess against herself on TV."
Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of conducting an illicit relationship outside marriage. She was given a sentence of 99 lashes, but her case was reopened when a court in Tabriz suspected her of murdering her husband. She was acquitted, 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.
Embarrassed by international condemnation of the stoning sentence, Iran has tried to distract attention from Mohammadi Ashtiani's initial charge of adultery by introducing new charges against her and portraying her as a murderer who killed her husband.
Press TV said the programme would "shed light on the highways and byways of the murder account".
Iran rarely carries out stonings. It executed 388 people last year, more than any other country apart from China, according to Amnesty International. Most were hanged. 10 Iranian women and four men are on death row awaiting execution by stoning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/10/iran-sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani
Despite speculation that she had been released, Iran's state news agency confirmed that Mohammadi Ashtiani remains in prison.
Photographs of her at home in Osku, released by Press TV last night, prompted hopes that she had been freed. But they were dashed when the state English language channel said she had been taken home to make a television programme about her alleged crime.
In a report on its website, Press TV said Mohammadi Ashtiani had accompanied a film crew to her house "to recount details of the killing of her husband at the crime scene".
The Italian foreign minister, Franco Frattini, and Maureen Harper, the wife of the Canadian prime minister, were among those who had welcomed the unconfirmed reports of Mohammadi Ashtiani's release. Based on the photographs, several newspapers around the world also wrongly reported that she had been freed.
In the complete version of the programme, Mohammadi Ashtiani, a mother of two, says: "We planned to kill my husband."
The channel said earlier today: "Contrary to a vast publicity campaign by western media that confessed murderer Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been released, a broadcast production team with the Iran-based Press TV has arranged with Iran's judicial authorities to follow Ashtiani to her house to produce a visual recount of the crime at the murder scene."
Mousa Khalil-Elahi, a judiciary official in Tabriz, confirmed to Iran's state news agency, IRNA, that Mohammadi Ashtiani had not been freed. Khalil-Elahi was quoted by IRNA as saying: "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is in prison and the reports about her release are false … There's no development in her case and she is still kept in Tabriz prison. She is in good health."
However, Khalil-Elahi did not explain how Press TV had received the permission to take Mohammadi Ashtiani back to her home to record a programme in which she "confessed" to her crimes.
Mohammadi Ashtiani has already appeared on state TV three times, but activists say her apparent confessions have been coerced.
Clare Bracey of Amnesty said: "International standards for fair trial, to which Iran is a state party, guarantee the right not to be forced to incriminate oneself or to confess guilt. The judiciary is in charge of this case and would have to have given permission for such an interview to take place. To organise 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."
She added: "That judicial review [for Mohammadi Ashtiani] is further hampered by the fact that Sakineh's son and lawyer have been detained. If Sajad Qaderzadeh and Javid Houtan Kian are being held solely for peacefully highlighting Sakineh's case, they should be released immediately and unconditionally."
Mohammadi Ashtiani's son Sajad was arrested in October along with her lawyer, Houtan Kian, and two German journalists who were detained after trying to interview her family.
Mina Ahadi of the International Committee against Stoning (Icas) also condemned the programme, saying: "Press TV is acting as if it is the intelligence service of Iran. It has forced a woman to confess against herself on TV."
Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in May 2006 of conducting an illicit relationship outside marriage. She was given a sentence of 99 lashes, but her case was reopened when a court in Tabriz suspected her of murdering her husband. She was acquitted, 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.
Embarrassed by international condemnation of the stoning sentence, Iran has tried to distract attention from Mohammadi Ashtiani's initial charge of adultery by introducing new charges against her and portraying her as a murderer who killed her husband.
Press TV said the programme would "shed light on the highways and byways of the murder account".
Iran rarely carries out stonings. It executed 388 people last year, more than any other country apart from China, according to Amnesty International. Most were hanged. 10 Iranian women and four men are on death row awaiting execution by stoning.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/10/iran-sakineh-mohammadi-ashtiani