Iran shies away from Carla Bruni-Sarkozy insult

Calcutta News.Net
Tuesday 31st August, 2010

Iran has been trying to distance itself from remarks by a hard-line newspaper, which called France’s first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, a "prostitute."

The description was used in a newspaper story in the Kayhan Daily, which objected to Ms Bruni-Sarkozy’s condemnation of the stoning sentence against an Iranian woman convicted of adultery.

Kayhan’s attack on Bruni-Sarkozy included examples of Ms Bruni-Sarkozy’s relationships before she married French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The newspaper said those relationships qualified as adultery under Iranian Islamic law in which she would have faced death for sex out of wedlock.

Kayhan called her “the Italian prostitute” due to her alleged affairs with several celebrities, including Mick Jagger, Kevin Costner and Donald Trump.

The French Foreign Ministry said it found the comments unacceptable and had brought the matter up with the Iranians through the normal diplomatic channels.

Bruni-Sarkozy raised the issue of the stoning sentence against Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani at the same time as a demonstration in which about 300 people from rights organizations demonstrated in Paris to urge Iran to lift the death sentence.

Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, could still face execution by stoning or hanging after a final review of her case.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry later said the insult to foreign dignitaries like Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is "incorrect and not sanctioned by the government."

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