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Iranian woman on stoning death row makes TV confession

Iran Materials 12 August 2010 15:17 (UTC +04:00)
An Iranian woman claiming to be Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death by stoning, has confessed on Iranian state television, state media reported Thursday
Iranian woman on stoning death row makes TV confession

An Iranian woman claiming to be Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, sentenced to death by stoning, has confessed on Iranian state television, state media reported Thursday dpa reported

   The woman, whose face was blurred and remarks translated from Azeri - the Turkish language spoken in the Iranian Azerbaijan region - into Farsi, confirmed the version of her crimes put forward by the Iranian judiciary.

   She said Wednesday night on state television that she not only had a sexual liaison with her husband's cousin but also helped him to kill her spouse.

   Iran avails itself of televised confessions for political prisoners, a method which has met not only with harsh international criticism but also local opposition.

   In this case the confession was believed to aim at defusing international condemnation of the sentence and making mitigating promises.

   According to Iran's judiciary, the 43-year-old was not only convicted of adultery but also of brutally killing her husband in 2006.

   The woman said that she only caused her husband to lose consciousness and the killing was carried out by his cousin, although with her approval.

   The sentence against Mohammadi Ashtiani provoked an international outcry, with Western countries and human rights organizations calling on Iran to revise it.

   She also condemned her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei for having made her case public, saying now everyone knew about her and that she would forever have to live in shame.

   Mostafaei has in the meantime applied for asylum in Norway after an arrest warrant was reportedly issued against him.

   State prosecutor Jafar Dowlatabadi denied that there was a warrant out against Mostafaei, saying he was a swindler who escaped the country and requested asylum abroad because of financial misuse charges against him.

   The British Guardian newspaper quoted another of her lawyers, Houtan Kian, as saying that the woman had been tortured for two days at Tabriz prison before the televised confession.

   "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.

   Human rights organizations condemned the alleged confession.

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