Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani during an interview on Sunday with Iran's state-run Press TV in Tabriz. Photograph: Str/AP

Human rights campaigners condemned an Iranian television programme, aired tonight, which showed Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 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.

Her jailed son also appeared in the programme, in which he played the role of his father in a reconstruction.

Iran's state-run Press TV, said it had been arranged with Iran's judicial authorities to accompany his mother to her house to record her recounting the crime and that she had agreed to do so.

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.

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. Ten Iranian women and four men are on death row awaiting execution by stoning.

Fonte(texto e fotografia) "The Guardian" Sexta-feira 10 de Dezembro de 2010

O uso despudorado dos Media, depois da prévia condenação à morte, será lícito?

A forma, nada ingénua, de exercer pressão sobre a opinião pública, servirá mais algum propósito que não seja o de demonstrar ao ocidente que o povo iraniano quer a condenação?

Não, não são os fanáticos religiosos, a ditadura, mas sim a defesa moral e ética de uma sociedade não corrupta, baseada nos bons princípios do Alcorão que exige o exemplar castigo. A condenada também mais não quer que ser condenada pelos seus actos, também ela exige ser purificada.

A hipocrisia das ditaduras é verdadeiramente horrível!