Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's letter to Iranian woman sentenced to death

A letter from Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, to Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, an Iranian woman who has been sentenced to death by stoning, was published today as part of a campaign to gather similar letters from artists, celebrities and politicians.

Reuters

“Your face, your brain, your soul, transformed into a target for stone throwers… this nightmarish image that revolts us… might become reality,” wrote France’s first lady in the letter that appeared on ‘La règle du jeu’, the site run by philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, who seeks to publish a letter a day to Mohammadi-Ashitani.

The letters are also being published in the daily Libération newspaper, Elle magazine and the US-based Huffington Post.

Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to be stoned to death after being found guilty of adultery and of being implicated in a murder.

“Sakineh, your name has become a symbol for the entire world,” wrote Bruni-Sarkozy, adding that she is proud to live in a country without the death penalty.

She said that Iran must know that it cannot “wash its hands of such a crime”, ending the letter with the promise that her husband, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, “will plead your case relentlessly and that France will not abandon you”.

Friday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said France would do all it could to save Ashiani from what he called “an atrocious death”.

Iran has warned the West to stay out of the affair.