I want to hold my children in my arms. Please help me!

For three years I have been consumed by longing for liberty and the chance to breathe freely. They told me that if I collaborated on a film for Press TV, I would be released. Press TV made its film and went on its way and there was no more talk of my freedom.

They say that my case is in Tehran and must be decided there. I entreat you to ask President Rouhani, a resident of Tehran, whether he has any news of my case. Doesn’t he want to free me so that I might finally travel with my son and embrace freedom once more?

For years and years, every moment of my life has been suffused with pain and suffering and fear and panic and the terror of execution and stoning. I can’t endure such sustained horror and anguish any more.

In New York, ask Rouhani: why won’t you free Sakineh? Tell him that if he means what he says about moderation and friendship, then let him prove it – let him show that he is truly a moderate by freeing people like me. My fate, my experiences and those of my children, and the torment that we have had to endure – these represent an example of how our lives have been disintegrating. I ask all the media that have always been supportive of me to ask Rouhani these questions no matter where they might find him. Why don’t you free Sakineh?

Respectfully,
From an Iranian women who has known suffering,
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani

The International Committee Against Stoning calls on the international press to make public Sakineh’s words and to join in asking Rouhani this question.

The International Committee Against Stoning
25 September 2013