The Danger of Execution Is Still Hanging Over Sakineh's Head

PR 75
September 27, 2010

Mohsen Ejaei, spokesperson of the Judiciary power of the Islamic Republic of Iran, announced today, September 27, 2010, that Sakineh was sentenced to stoning as well as execution [for the fabricated murder charge invented by the regime], and that the punishment for murder [execution, most likely by hanging] takes priority over the punishment for adultery [stoning].

It is necessary to recall that on their recent trip to New York, Ahmadinejad and Mashaai, his Vice-President, had announced that a stoning sentence has never been handed down in Sakineh's case.

We have previously published documents regarding Sakineh's case in Tabriz court that clearly show there was never a trial in which Sakineh was accused of murder. After the pressure created by the international campaign against Sakineh's stoning, the Islamic Republic's judiciary officials stole all relevant documents and case files [regarding the murder of Sakineh's husband] in order to be able to announce that Sakineh has been sentenced to execution [on the fabricated murder charge].

Every time they reiterate Sakineh's punishment, it puts a devastating psychological pressure on Sakineh's children, and consumes them with worry. Sajjad, in a new call to the whole world, has asked for his mother to be saved. We once again emphasize the necessity of a powerful continuation of the international effort to save Sakineh.

The International Committee against Stoning
The International Committee against Stoning

September 27, 2010


From Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
To 27 European Countries:

Greetings to all officials in European countries,

Perhaps I am not in a position to write a letter to 27 European and Western countries, but what can I do? I have no other hope but you, dear ones. I have no more tears to shed. The only thing I have left is a lump in my throat. I only hope that God helps me in writing this letter. I have lost my father, and now this government wants to take our mother from me and my sister for a crime that she has not committed.

You all know that my mother is innocent and has spent five years languishing in a cold black pit. For a moment, I put myself in my mother's place and I imagine myself behind those prison bars, living the nightmare of waiting for death by stones. Imagine it for yourself. Wouldn't life be a horror if, each time you shut your eyes to sleep, you were jolted awake with the slightest sound, fearful of hearing the words: "It is time to dig the hole for Sakineh to be stoned"? Isn't it horrendous that for five years, my sister and I haven't had a peaceful night's rest? The Islamic Republic has taken our breath, and before I lose it, I wanted to write this letter to you, to ask for your help.

I don't care about myself, but I do care for my sister and my mother. I want them to live and be happy. And I sincerely tell the Islamic Republic: if you have some need for retribution, bring it down on me! Arrest me, and free my mother so that she can hold my sister to her bosom. The truth is that I have not lost all my hope yet, as long as you politicians, you the mass media, you the humanitarians, you all the people of the world, and our lawyer, Mr. Houtan Kian, are still behind us. Yet I fear the day when the telephone rings only to hear a voice telling us, "Your mother has been executed." From that moment, the lives of my sister and I would never be the same.

At that moment, I will again put on the same black shirt that I wore when my father died, this time for my mother. I tell you these words from the bottom of our hearts: I want the whole world to rush to our help. I want the 27 European countries to respond to this letter before the Islamic Republic has executed the sentence against our mother. I humbly thank you all.

Sajjad Ghaderzadeh,
Son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani