08-03-2010

Conectas Direitos Humanos repudiates the capital sentence by stoning of Iranian citizen, Sakineh Ashtiani, charged with adultery, and also supports all the efforts to preserve her life and physical integrity.

However, when President Lula says: "If this woman is causing discomfort we could willingly receive her in Brazil", he perverts the position of the victim and closes his eyes to the systematic human rights violations that the Iranian government perpetrates against citizens in Iran.

Unfortunately, Ashtiani's situation is not one of a kind or an isolated case. In 2005, the UN has noted the existence of 200 women condemned to death for crimes against morality, such as adultery, in Iran. Since 1989, the UN General Assembly has through annual resolutions shed light on the systematic human rights violations committed by the Iranian government against its citizens in all areas of rights, including civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights.

Any position of the Brazilian government in relation to Iran must include the explicit condemnation of the human rights violations committed by the Iranian government. In constitutional terms, the issue of human rights must be a significant factor in Brazil's international relations.

We regret that the Brazilian government wasted an important opportunity to use its international prestige and its capacity for dialogue to unconditionally defend universally-guaranteed human rights, rights that Brazilians enjoy at home, but many, including the Iranian people, still are denied.

São Paulo, August 3rd, 2010.