Stoning lawyer Mohammad Mostafaie pleads

The human rights lawyer forced to flee Iran for defending a woman sentenced to death by stoning has appealed for international pressure to save his client and end his own wife's imprisonment.

Speaking from the Turkish detention center where he is being held while his asylum application is considered, Mohammad Mostafaie said that he feared Turkey could still extradite him to preserve its close relations with the regime in Tehran.

He broke down when asked about his decision to leave behind his wife and seven-year-old daughter, saying that the subject was too painful for him to talk about. He was adamant that he would remain in exile until the rule of law was restored in Iran.

He insisted, however, that he had no regrets about his decision to broadcast the plight of his client, Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, to the world even though it had destroyed his former existence.

"I have no regrets at all. I would do it all over again, even if I'm forced to live outside Iran," he said. "A lawyer is duty-bound to defend his client no matter what. If someone in Iran wants to be a lawyer they have to be prepared to go all the way, even if it means losing their life."

Mostafaie's defense of Mohammadi-Ashtiani, who already endured 99 lashes and five years' imprisonment for alleged adultery, infuriated the regime.

Two weeks ago he went into hiding after a warrant was issued for his arrest, so the authorities took his wife hostage. He fled overland to Turkey, was arrested for entering that country illegally and is now being held in the Kumkapi detention centre in Istanbul while his asylum application is processed.

Mostafaie said he had no idea why he was not allowed to leave Turkey when he had a visa for countries of the EU's Schengen area and Norway offered him residency. Nor did he know why he was being held when other Iranian refugees were allowed to live freely in Turkey while their asylum applications were reviewed.

The lawyer said it was "absolutely vital" that he did not turn himself in to secure his wife's freedom. "They took my wife hostage to get hold of me. If I'd surrendered in that situation they would think they could do that to anyone. They'd go after the families of anyone they wanted to assist them."

In Geneva yesterday, Mossadegh Kahnemoui, a senior Iranian judicial official, told a United Nations human rights committee that Mohammadi-Ashtiani's case was still under review and insisted, despite documentary evidence to the contrary, that she had been convicted of murdering her husband as well as adultery.

(Published by Herald Sun - August 06, 2010)