Paris:
The son of an Iranian woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery said Monday that he fears she will be executed shortly after this week's end to the Muslim holy month of Ramzan.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's 22-year-old son Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani was speaking by telephone to a news conference organised in Paris by the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
"Ramzan is coming to an end and, according to Islamic law, executions can resume," the young man warned. The Islamic calendar varies a little around the world, but Ramzan is due to come to an end everywhere this week.
However, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Iranian authorities had told Italy's ambassador that "no decision has been taken" over Mohammadi Ashtiani's fate and that he had "invited" his Iranian counterpart to Rome to discuss the case.
"Our ambassador met with Iranian authorities who told us that no decision has been taken yet," Italian news agency ANSA quoted Frattini saying on Italian radio.
Sajjad said he had had no contact with his 43-year-old mother since her August 11 televised "confession", which her lawyers believe was coerced from her by Iranian authorities.
"Weekly visits have been halted. We heard that she had received 99 lashes in prison," the young Iranian said, speaking to Levy and assembled reporters in Persian through a French translator.
Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to death for adultery and has since also received a 10-year jail term for participating in her husband's murder.
Her case has generated a worldwide uproar, with international governments and human rights bodies denouncing stonings as barbaric, and some questioning whether she received a fair trial.
"This woman faces the most barbaric of executions in the coming days," warned Levy, a prominent French intellectual and media star who has gathered a petition of 80,000 names calling for her release.
"We have sworn to remain mobilised for as long as justice has not been done, that's to say for as long as Sakineh has not been pardoned and freed," he added.
In Strasbourg, members of the European Parliament gave their unanimous support to Mohammadi-Ashtiani and EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacien Ciolos decried stoning as an "inhuman practice from another time", speaking on behalf of the European Commission.
Sakineh's son expressed confidence that international pressure would help and called for the support of Turkey and Brazil, who have friendly relations with Iran.
Shahnaz Gholami, a female journalist who in 2008 was held for several months in the same prison as Sakineh in the northern city of Tabriz, said she was with Sakineh at the moment she was sentenced.
"Sakineh speaks a Turkish dialect and did not understand her conviction which was spoken in Persian with the word for stoning in Arabic. She signed her conviction without understanding it," said Gholami at the gathering in Paris.
"The director of the prison explained to her that she had been sentenced to be stoned."
Gholami added,"Sakineh is the symbol of all the women who are tortured and assaulted in prison in Iran. I hope international support, as well as obtaining Sakineh's liberation, will open the way to a change in this situation."
Mina Ahadi, head of an international campaign against stoning, said her organisation listed 150 stonings of people in Iran over 30 years.
"Stoning is a political act to frighten women in Iran," she said.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani's 22-year-old son Sajjad Mohammadi Ashtiani was speaking by telephone to a news conference organised in Paris by the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
"Ramzan is coming to an end and, according to Islamic law, executions can resume," the young man warned. The Islamic calendar varies a little around the world, but Ramzan is due to come to an end everywhere this week.
However, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Iranian authorities had told Italy's ambassador that "no decision has been taken" over Mohammadi Ashtiani's fate and that he had "invited" his Iranian counterpart to Rome to discuss the case.
"Our ambassador met with Iranian authorities who told us that no decision has been taken yet," Italian news agency ANSA quoted Frattini saying on Italian radio.
Sajjad said he had had no contact with his 43-year-old mother since her August 11 televised "confession", which her lawyers believe was coerced from her by Iranian authorities.
"Weekly visits have been halted. We heard that she had received 99 lashes in prison," the young Iranian said, speaking to Levy and assembled reporters in Persian through a French translator.
Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to death for adultery and has since also received a 10-year jail term for participating in her husband's murder.
Her case has generated a worldwide uproar, with international governments and human rights bodies denouncing stonings as barbaric, and some questioning whether she received a fair trial.
"This woman faces the most barbaric of executions in the coming days," warned Levy, a prominent French intellectual and media star who has gathered a petition of 80,000 names calling for her release.
"We have sworn to remain mobilised for as long as justice has not been done, that's to say for as long as Sakineh has not been pardoned and freed," he added.
In Strasbourg, members of the European Parliament gave their unanimous support to Mohammadi-Ashtiani and EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacien Ciolos decried stoning as an "inhuman practice from another time", speaking on behalf of the European Commission.
Sakineh's son expressed confidence that international pressure would help and called for the support of Turkey and Brazil, who have friendly relations with Iran.
Shahnaz Gholami, a female journalist who in 2008 was held for several months in the same prison as Sakineh in the northern city of Tabriz, said she was with Sakineh at the moment she was sentenced.
"Sakineh speaks a Turkish dialect and did not understand her conviction which was spoken in Persian with the word for stoning in Arabic. She signed her conviction without understanding it," said Gholami at the gathering in Paris.
"The director of the prison explained to her that she had been sentenced to be stoned."
Gholami added,"Sakineh is the symbol of all the women who are tortured and assaulted in prison in Iran. I hope international support, as well as obtaining Sakineh's liberation, will open the way to a change in this situation."
Mina Ahadi, head of an international campaign against stoning, said her organisation listed 150 stonings of people in Iran over 30 years.
"Stoning is a political act to frighten women in Iran," she said.
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