London — Celebrities including Robert Redford, Robert De Niro, and Sting have called on Iran to release a woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.
In an open letter published Monday, more than 80 actors, artists, musicians, academics and politicians said that "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has suffered enough."
Signatories include actor Colin Firth, artist Damien Hirst, Nobel literature laureates Wole Soyinka and V.S. Naipaul, British opposition leader Ed Miliband and former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner. They say Ashtiani has already spent five years in prison and received 99 lashes.
They called on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release her along with her son and lawyer, who are also imprisoned.
The letter was published on the front page of The Times of London newspaper.
Ashtiani, 43, was convicted in 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the murder of her husband the year before...
In an open letter published Monday, more than 80 actors, artists, musicians, academics and politicians said that "Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani has suffered enough."
Signatories include actor Colin Firth, artist Damien Hirst, Nobel literature laureates Wole Soyinka and V.S. Naipaul, British opposition leader Ed Miliband and former French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner. They say Ashtiani has already spent five years in prison and received 99 lashes.
They called on Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to release her along with her son and lawyer, who are also imprisoned.
The letter was published on the front page of The Times of London newspaper.
Ashtiani, 43, was convicted in 2006 of having an "illicit relationship" with two men after the murder of her husband the year before...
- 12/13/2010
- by AP
- Huffington Post
The apologists for the film director, like those for Raoul Moat, are guilty of putting loyalty before humanity
Time to move on. Roman Polanski is free and his detractors are duly convicted, as the French writer Agnès Poirier ruled, of hysteria, prurience and "rampant moral McCarthyism". As if that were not enough encouragement to conclude almost a year's discussion of his fate, the vacancy for a controversial criminal was promptly filled by the late sociopath, Raoul Moat.
It enlivened the argument, in Moat's case, that many of his supporters are, themselves, so wildly unappealing. It would have been hard to disagree with the prime minister's rebuke to Facebook fans, had not his own contribution – "full stop, end of story" – so closely echoed the style of the "Moat you legend!" page. What next, one wonders, from the great orator – "simples"? Perhaps Cameron's very intervention explains why "Moaty" was soon being commemorated...
Time to move on. Roman Polanski is free and his detractors are duly convicted, as the French writer Agnès Poirier ruled, of hysteria, prurience and "rampant moral McCarthyism". As if that were not enough encouragement to conclude almost a year's discussion of his fate, the vacancy for a controversial criminal was promptly filled by the late sociopath, Raoul Moat.
It enlivened the argument, in Moat's case, that many of his supporters are, themselves, so wildly unappealing. It would have been hard to disagree with the prime minister's rebuke to Facebook fans, had not his own contribution – "full stop, end of story" – so closely echoed the style of the "Moat you legend!" page. What next, one wonders, from the great orator – "simples"? Perhaps Cameron's very intervention explains why "Moaty" was soon being commemorated...
- 7/19/2010
- by Catherine Bennett
- The Guardian - Film News
French filmmaker Severin Blanchet has been killed in a suicide attack by insurgents on a hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan.
The documentary filmmaker, who was training young Afghans at the French film school Ateliers Varan, was killed on Friday at the Park Residence, a popular guesthouse for foreigners, reports the New York Times. He was 66.
According to police officials, at least 18 people, including French, Italian, Afghan and many Indian nationals, were killed in suicide and car bomb attacks on two guesthouses in the capital.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner paid tribute to the filmmaker on Friday, saying: "I salute the memory of our compatriot Severin Blanchet. He was a privileged partner in French cultural action in Afghanistan. We will pursue with determination the work that he had started with such generosity and solidarity."...
The documentary filmmaker, who was training young Afghans at the French film school Ateliers Varan, was killed on Friday at the Park Residence, a popular guesthouse for foreigners, reports the New York Times. He was 66.
According to police officials, at least 18 people, including French, Italian, Afghan and many Indian nationals, were killed in suicide and car bomb attacks on two guesthouses in the capital.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner paid tribute to the filmmaker on Friday, saying: "I salute the memory of our compatriot Severin Blanchet. He was a privileged partner in French cultural action in Afghanistan. We will pursue with determination the work that he had started with such generosity and solidarity."...
- 2/27/2010
- WENN
The French government has retracted a public statement of support for Roman Polanski, saying that the 76-year-old "is neither above nor beneath the law". The director is currently being held in Switzerland on a Us arrest warrant over his conviction for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Polanski, who has dual French and Polish citizenship, was detained on Saturday when he flew into the country to pick up a lifetime achievement prize at the Zurich Film Festival. Earlier this week, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner publicly (more)...
- 9/30/2009
- by By Oli Simpson
- Digital Spy
The French government has retracted a public statement of support for Roman Polanski, saying that the 76-year-old director "is neither above nor beneath the law". The director is currently being held in Switzerland on a Us arrest warrant over his conviction for unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. Polanski, who has dual French and Polish citizenship, was detained on Saturday when he flew into the country to pick up a lifetime achievement prize at the Zurich Film Festival. Earlier this week, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner (more)...
- 9/30/2009
- by By Oli Simpson
- Digital Spy
The legendary director Roman Polanski was arrested Saturday in Switzerland, as he arrived to receive an award at the Zurich Film Festival. After hiding out in France for the last 30 years, he now faces extradition to the United States, where he would finally be forced to face the consequences of the 1977 charges against him for raping, sodomizing, and drugging a 13-year-old girl. The French are furious. (So are a few Huffington Post bloggers, I might add.) This fury is infuriating, but not really all that surprising. The French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has been railing against the Swiss for two days, and Nicolas Sarkozy wants "a rapid resolution to the situation which would allow Roman Polanski to rejoin his family as quickly as possible." The intrepid French daily Le Monde has described Polanski's crime as an affaire de...
- 9/28/2009
- by Anna Wainwright
- Huffington Post
Roman Polanski's lawyers vowed to fight his extradition over a 32-year-old child sex case, amid reports they may have sparked his arrest by suggesting that Us prosecutors were not serious about nabbing the famed film director.Support from the movie industry for the 76-year-old Polish-French Oscar winner grew as top film directors declared themselves "astonished" at his arrest in Zurich for the 1977 case."Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision," said a petition organized by Sacd, which represents performance and visual artists.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the case was a "bit sinister" adding he had asked the United States to drop the charges.Polanski case: key dates. Polanski, who achieved global acclaim for movies such as "Rosemary's Baby", "Chinatown" and "The Pianist", was detained...
- 9/28/2009
- Filmicafe
Cologne, Germany -- Roman Polanski has refused to be extradited from Switzerland to the U.S. over a decades-old underage sex case, the lawyer for the Oscar-winning director of "The Pianist" said Monday.
Polanski's French lawyer Herve Temime said in a statement that he would ask Swiss authorities to release the 76-year-old director immediately.
"After that, his defense team will demonstrate the illegal nature of the extradition request he is facing," the statement said.
"He is in a fighting mood and determined to defend himself," Temime told France Info radio, adding his client was stunned by the arrest as he was a regular visitor to Switzerland, with a chalet at the ski resort of Gstaad. In fact, the director was in Switzerland earlier this summer, editing his upcoming feature "The Ghost."
"We have begun by requesting his release, which should be done today in principle," Temime said. "There is no reason in law,...
Polanski's French lawyer Herve Temime said in a statement that he would ask Swiss authorities to release the 76-year-old director immediately.
"After that, his defense team will demonstrate the illegal nature of the extradition request he is facing," the statement said.
"He is in a fighting mood and determined to defend himself," Temime told France Info radio, adding his client was stunned by the arrest as he was a regular visitor to Switzerland, with a chalet at the ski resort of Gstaad. In fact, the director was in Switzerland earlier this summer, editing his upcoming feature "The Ghost."
"We have begun by requesting his release, which should be done today in principle," Temime said. "There is no reason in law,...
- 9/28/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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