Iranian state TV airs purported confession by woman who faced death by stoning for adultery

Iran claims woman facing death has confessed

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state television broadcast a purported confession by a woman who had faced death by stoning for adultery, a case that has drawn U.S. concern, an offer of asylum from Brazil and international protests.

Human Rights Watch says Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, was first convicted in May 2006 of having an “illicit relationship” with two men following the death of her husband and was sentenced by a court to 99 lashes. Later that year she was also convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, even though she retracted a confession which she claims was made under duress.

Iran last month lifted the stoning sentence for the time being after global outrage over the brutality of the punishment. Ashtiani has also been charged with murder and she could still face execution by hanging for adultery and other offenses.

Iranian officials said publicly earlier this month that Ashtiani had been charged with murder, although it was not clear when that occurred.

The outcry over the death sentence is the latest source of friction between Iran and the international community, with the United States, Britain and human rights groups all urging Tehran to stay the execution. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Iran this week to release all political prisoners and expressed alarm about several specific detainees, including Ashtiani. Brazil offered asylum to the mother of two.

The broadcast of the purported confession late Wednesday was seen as an effort by Iran to ward off international pressures and possibly to draw attention to the murder allegation, a crime that is punishable by death in the U.S. and other countries as well.

The woman identified as Ashtiani said in the broadcast she was an unwitting accomplice to her husband’s murder. Her face was blurred and her words voiced over and a woman who was not seen translated the words into Farsi from Azeri Turkish, which is spoken in parts of Iran.

“I established telephone contacts with a man in 2005,” she said. “He deceived me by his language. … He told me ‘let’s kill your husband.’ I could not believe at all that my husband would be killed. I thought he was joking. … Later I learned that killing was his profession.” She said the man, whom she did not identify, brought electrical devices, wire and gloves to her house and electrocuted her husband while she watched.

Malek Ajdar Sharifi, a senior judiciary official, was quoted by state TV as part of the same report as alleging that Ashtiani had given her husband an injection that left him unconscious, then the man attached electrical devices to his neck and killed him.

Sharifi also said Ashtiani sent her children out of the house to clear the way for her husband’s murder.

In the interview, the woman also criticized her lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, for publicizing her case.

“Why did he televise the case? Why did he discredit me before my family members and relatives who didn’t know I’m in jail?” she said. “Now, I have complaint against him.”

Mostafaei maintained a blog that sparked a worldwide campaign to free his client. In July, Iranian authorities said they would not carry out the stoning sentence for the time being. The lawyer fled to Norway, where he has applied for asylum.

Stoning was widely imposed in the years following the 1979 Islamic revolution, and even though Iran’s judiciary still regularly hands down such sentences, they are often converted to other punishments.

The last known stoning was carried out in 2007, although the government rarely confirms that such punishments have been meted out.

Under Islamic rulings, a man is usually buried up to his waist, while a woman is buried up to her chest with her hands also buried. Those carrying out the verdict then throw stones until the condemned dies.

Ashtiani’s stoning was approved by the country’s Supreme Court, but the law could allow the judiciary head to order another trial or appeal for a pardon from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters.