The question in response to these insults and threats ought to be, "So, that's how you keep uppity women in line in the Islamic Republic?" "Iranian insults against Bruni 'unacceptable' - France," from BBC News, August 31:
France has said "insults" in the Iranian media aimed at its first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, are unacceptable.
One state-run newspaper denounced her as a prostitute after she publicly criticised Iran for threatening to stone an Iranian woman to death.
Iran urged its media not to insult foreign dignitaries.
But Kayhan, the paper which made the original comments, went on to call for Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy's death.
In a statement, the French foreign ministry said: "We are letting the Iranian authorities know that the insults put out by the daily newspaper Kayhan and taken up by Iranian websites regarding several French personalities, including Mrs Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, were unacceptable."
'Deserves death'
Ashtiani faces the death sentence after being convicted by an Iranian court of infidelity towards her husband and complicity in his murder.
On Tuesday, Kayhan, which acts as a mouthpiece for Iran's conservative Islamic leadership, reiterated its attack, adding that the Italian-born French first lady deserved to die for supporting her.
"This Italian prostitute's indignation at Kayhan's report came while she has had illegitimate relationships with different people before and after marrying [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy," Kayhan said.
"Reviewing Carla Bruni's records clearly shows why this immoral woman has supported an Iranian woman who has committed adultery, has contributed to the murdering of her husband and has been sentenced to death, and in fact she herself [Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy] deserves death."
Earlier, a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast, urged the country's media not to insult foreign dignitaries.
"Insulting the officials of other countries and using inappropriate words, this is not approved of by the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Death threats = "inappropriate words." This, from a country that put a fatwa on Salman Rushdie's head for nothing other than "inappropriate words." If nothing else, apparently the equation works both ways.
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Oh, there's is no equality in the equation.
However, my Danish daily newspaper has this letter to the editor today:
"Commenting on the increasingly frequent attacks on Danish Jews by resident Muslims, the Palestinian representative in Denmark Amro Al-Hourani emphasizes that "the harassment and the violent episodes will not stop until Israel withdraw the settlements and remove blockades".
If someone applying the same logic would propose that violence and threats to residents Muslims would take place until Egypt and other Muslim nations brought a halt to the suppression of their Christian minorities, Amro Al-Hourani would hardly hesitate to call the connection a persecution, racism and unfair collective punishment.