NOT free: Iran dashes hopes that woman sentenced to be stoned to death for adultery has been released

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:40 AM on 10th December 2010

• Comments (21)
• Add to My Stories

• Pictures of her with son at home sparked worldwide delight
• But they were part of a state documentary confessing to her crimes

An Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning has not been freed, state television said on Friday, quashing a rumour that brought joy to human rights campaigners around the world.

Press TV said on its website that 'contrary to a vast publicity campaign by Western media that confessed murderer Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has been released', she was still in custody.

The Iranian English language news channel confirmed that an interview it did with Ashtiani -- the apparent source of the rumour -- was filmed at her home.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani seen talking with her son Sajjad Ghaderzadeh

But instead of showing her freedom, the documentary shows Ashtiani at home describing the murder of her husband, a crime for which she could be hanged. The programme will be aired at midnight (2030 GMT) on Friday.

'Press TV ... arranged with Iran's judicial authorities to follow Ashtiani to her house to produce a visual recount of the crime at the murder scene,' the television channel said.

The TV said the 43-year-old mother, who remains in prison in the city of Tabriz in, was accompanied by her son, Sajjad Qadezadeh, to her home for the filming.

Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of having an 'illicit relationship' with two men after the murder of her husband the year before and was sentenced at that time to 99 lashes.

Later that year, she was also convicted of adultery and sentenced to be stoned, even though she retracted a confession that she says was made under duress.

Miss Ashtiani wipes away tears

Ashtiani's sentence to be stoned for adultery -- the only crime which carries that penalty under Iran's Islamic sharia law -- was suspended after an international outcry by both Western countries and some others that have warm relations with Iran.Jubillant campaigners were claiming victory in the early hour Friday morning after an international outcry over the case.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini hailed the false report of release as ‘a great day for human rights.
Last week Iran went ahead with the execution of a woman convicted of murdering the wife of a national football star, ignoring the protests of groups like Amnesty International.

But there were growing signs over recent weeks that Tehran was considering sparing the life of Miss Ashtiani, 43, following protests in London, Rome and Washington.

Celebrities including British stars Colin Firth and Emma Thompson have also backed calls for her release and Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt condemned the stoning laws as ‘medieval.’

Home at last: Miss Ashtiani, 43, in the doorway of her house in Osku, northwestern Iran. It was here that her husband was murdered. She began a relationship after his death and was then charged with murder and adultery

Looking around: Miss Ashtiani and Mr Ghaderzadeh look around the walled garden of her home

Khadijeh Shahla Jahed was hanged despite repeatedly retracted the confession during her trial (above, in 2004)

Miss Ashtiani has been in prison since 2006.

Miss Ashtiani’s lawyer, Javid Houtan Kian, was arrested in the northwestern city of Tabriz in September along with two Germans who were conducting an interview with her son.
The Germans, who entered Iran on tourist visas and worked for the Bild am Sonntag Sunday newspaper, are accused of spying.

Rejecting the international outcry over the death sentence, the head of Iran's High Human Rights Council drew parallels between her case and that of Teresa Lewis, a 41-year-old American grandmother who was executed in the United States in late September for murder.

‘Our judiciary made a lot of efforts in reviewing the case and we think there is a good chance her life could be saved,’ Mohammed Javad Larijani told Iran's English-language Press TV in November.

Iran executed 388 people last year, more than any other country apart from China. Ten Iranian women and four men are still on death row awaiting execution by stoning.