The Latest from Iran (31 January): Hatching Freedom
Monday, January 31, 2011 at 6:11
1945 GMT: Execution Watch. Looks like the Iranian authorities are scrambling to justify their sudden execution of Dutch-Iranian national Zahra Bahrami (see separate feature)....
Press TV is claiming it has a video in which Bahrami explains how she concealed cocaine and opium in her house. In the video, Bahrami gives the camera crew a tour of her house, showing them how she concealed drugs in a compartment inside her bed, in cereal boxes and in an electric heater.
The style of the video sounds similar to Press TV's recent "documentary" in which Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose death sentence for adultery has also been condemned internationally, was released from prison to make a "confession" in her home.
The Tehran Prosecutor's Office now claims that, during a search of Bahrami's house, 450 grams of cocaine and 420 grams of opium were uncovered. Previously, Iranian officials said Bahrami was holding a kilogramme of cocaine.