Iranian Daily: France's First Lady a Prostitute Who Deserves Death

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, France's first lady, caught Iran's attention by publicly speaking out against the stoning of a mother for adultery. (Though international outcry spared Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani this punishment, she still awaits execution by hanging.) Angry about her role in forcing Iran's hand to a slightly less extreme human rights abuse, the Kayhan, a state-run newspaper known for its conservativism, called Bruni-Sarkozy a "prostitute" who had "kicked up a human rights fuss."

Certain people wondered: um, did we hear you right? Did something get lost in translation? Why, not at all, responded the daily. In fact, they followed up, because of her "perverted lifestyle" and alleged extramarital affairs, the first lady should suffer the same fate as Ashtiani. In the paper's words: "This shows that in reality she herself deserves death." Yikes. Usually, advocating killing the first lady of another country is not the best idea for a state-run paper.

The Iranian government did suggest that this kind of personal attack was maybe not a great idea, attempting to back away from being included in any blame for the mud-slinging, and advised: "The media can properly criticize the wrong and hostile policies of other countries by refraining from using insulting words." On Salon's Broadsheet, Tracy Clark-Fiory translates this statement as: "Next time, make your murderous ire a little more subtle, dudes." Subtlety was clearly the last thing on the Kayhan's mind in this instance.

I will mention that, though the Iranian paper is using "prostitute" as an insult, there's nothing wrong with being a sex worker. And it's a significant truth that, whether or not the extramarital affairs allegations are true, Bruni-Sarkozy's life would definitely not be acceptable under Iranian law: the former model and pop star has said she becomes "easily bored with monogamy," and has had a number of steamy relationships with famous people such as Mick Jagger. (That makes it sound pretty good to me, though.)

Bruni-Sarkozy, however, deserves to be put to death just as much as a woman accused of adultery in Iran does — which is to say, not at all. Yet, remember, Ashtiani still faces death by hanging, and her children believe that Iranian officials are just waiting for the international community to get distract and forget about her to go ahead with the execution. People around the world need to continue to put the pressure on: respect for cultural differences is one thing; giving violence against women a free pass is entirely another.

Hopefully, going after a popular foreign official in this way will backfire on Iranian conservatives by simply shining a bigger spotlight on the injustice of their laws. As much media attention as the planned stoning of Ashtiani received, calling the French first lady a prostitute will probably garner so much more. The media just can't resist a great headline.

Photo credit: dpcom.fr