Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was attacked after she signed a petition calling for the release of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him.
Kayhan, an Iranian newspaper, which is under control of the government, called Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy and Isabelle Adjani, the French actress who is campaigning for Ashtina’s release, “prostitutes” in an editorial, while Iranian state television accused the former supermodel of “immorality”.
In an open letter to Miss Ashtiani last week, Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy wrote: “Why shed your blood and deprive your children of their mother? Because you have lived, because you have loved, because you’re a woman, and because you’re an Iranian? Everything within me refuses to accept this”.