Brazil offers asylum to woman condemned to death in Iran

CURITIBA - Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered to give asylum to an Iranian woman condemned to death by stoning for adultery.

Lula said Saturday that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani - whose case has provoked international condemnation - would be welcome in Brazil if her presence in Iran is a problem for “my friend Ahmadinejad”.

“I ask the leader of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to allow Brazil to shelter that woman,” he said during a campaign stop for his Workers’ Party in the southern state of Parana.

Lula said he had learned in his political career to negotiate and “to defend dialogue between nations, in search of world peace”.

Iranian judicial authorities have ordered a delay of execution for the 43-year-old Ashtiani, but insist that they will not be influenced by foreign pressure.

Brazil’s president said earlier last week that he would remain out of the debate, but has been under increasing pressure from a campaign organised through internet social network sites to take a stand on her behalf.