The Times of London said Ashtiani’s new defense counsel is known only to be a woman practicing law in Tehran. It is not clear if she has deliberately withheld her identity because Ashtiani’s two previous lawyers have both run afoul of the regime. One is in exile; the other is in jail.
Mohammad Mostafai, Ashtiani’s first lawyer, fled the country last year when he and his family were threatened with arrest. His successor, Javid Houtan Kian, has been in prison since October, and The Times said it has been told he has been threatened with the death penalty.
In a letter smuggled out of prison, The Times said Kian alleged he had been tortured in jail, burned with cigarettes on his legs, feet and testicles, and had 12 of his teeth knocked out.
Kian, who was moved from Tehran to the same Tabriz jail where Ashtiani is being held, said that on cold nights he had been dragged into the prison yard, bound by his hands and feet and soaked with water from a fire hose before being taken back to his cell.
There has been no official word from the courts on Ashtiani’s fate. Officials said months ago that her stoning sentence was on hold but that she was liable to be hanged for assisting in the murder of her husband. The hanging sentence was under review, officials said.
It is widely believed that the regime now accepts that to stone Ashtiani would result in an immense international backlash, while many officials believe a hanging will not produce as much of a negative reaction.
In December, Ashtiani took part in a filmed re-enactment of the crime, effectively incriminating herself.