September 1, 2010

Editor-in-Chief of Kayhan, Hossein Shariatmadari

In recent days, Kayhan, the Iranian daily newspaper which is a media arm of the Iranian Supreme Leader,  Seyyed Ali Khamenei published an editorial by the editor-in-chief, Hossein Shariatmadari where he called Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the first lady of France a whore for penning a letter in support of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, the Iranian woman who is sentenced to death by stoning. The editorial was not only diplomatically scandalous but also epitomized the pervasive misogyny of the Iranian regime’s elite.

Then in a limp and insincere attempt to walk back the slanderous remark, Ramin Mehmanparast, the spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry said: “The Islamic Republic of Iran is not in favor of insulting officials of other countries.” But of course this fell on deaf ears because hours after this half-hearted appeal to the ‘nation’s media’, Shariatmadari followed his first rant with another, this time saying that Bruni-Sarkozy deserves to die!

So in an attempt to support the First lady of France, Planet Iran calls upon all our fellow Iranians as well as non-Iranians around the world, to contact Madame Bruni-Sarkozy’s office in Paris to thank her for her humanity in supporting Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani and her grace in the face of such vulgarity.

Madame Bruni-Sarkozy’s office telephone number is: France country code 33/Paris city code 1/4292-8524. Her office is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Paris time.