Iran feeling pressure over stoning woman, says Italian FM
Frattini wants talks with counterpart from Tehran
07 September, 13:45
(ANSA) - Rome, September 7 - The pressure being put on
Tehran to spare a woman sentenced to death by stoning is having
an effect, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said
Tuesday, announcing he wanted to meet his Iranian counterpart
for talks.Italy has been at the forefront of international appeals for clemency for Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, with ministers, opposition politicians and prominent personalities such as soccer players and coaches joining the calls.
''I know that a debate on the feasibility of this execution has opened within the Iranian regime,'' Frattini told Italian radio Tuesday.
''There are factors that suggest the great international pressure applied by the Italian government, the European Union and by civil society have had an influence''.
Frattini said he would like to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki face-to-face to further press his arguments, while ruling out the possibility of Europe breaking off diplomatic ties with Tehran if the sentence of the 43-year-old mother-of-two convicted of adultery is carried out.
''You cannot carry out foreign policy like that,'' Frattini replied when asked about the option of a diplomatic boycott.
''Diplomatic relations with Iran are necessary in part in order to achieve outcomes like the sparing of Sakineh's life.
''You don't take decisions like this on the wave of emotion, even the Vatican has said so.
''I'd like to meet my Iranian counterpart. If he came to Rome I'd be pleased to welcome him''. Elements within Italy's centre-left opposition were unimpressed by Frattini's offer of talks with Mottaki, comparing it to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's controversial visit to Rome last month, when he preached Islam to hired hostesses and demanded millions of dollars to keep Europe from ''turning black''.
''Italy is becoming a favourite destination for those who make violating human rights their calling card,'' said Stefano Pedica, a senator with the Italy of Values (IDV) party.
''Frattini speaks of the need for continuing diplomatic relations with Iran, while the Sakineh case is secondary. ''He should report to parliament on the diplomatic relations he intends to entertain with his Iranian counterpart''.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, meanwhile, spoke out against the sentence Tuesday, calling it ''highly damaging to the principles of liberty and the right to life''.
Frattini himself issued a fresh appeal after several government initiatives, including the hanging of a photo of Mohammadi-Ashtiani from the front of the Equal Opportunities Ministry in central Rome.
''Italy and Italians are on the side of life and human rights and they cannot tolerate that these get trampled on in any part of the world and, therefore, that a woman can be stoned to death,'' read a joint statement with Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna.
The statement was posted on an online petition launched by members of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party.
Mohammadi-Ashtiani appeared on Iranian television last month confessing to adultery and to being an accomplice in her husband's murder, although her lawyer said the interview was recorded after she had been tortured.
