Iran Prez flays hardline daily for calling Bruni ‘prostitute’

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come down heavily on a hardline daily which called Carla Bruni a "prostitute".

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come down heavily on a hardline daily which called Carla Bruni a “prostitute”,saying such an insult was “contrary to Islam” and “a crime worse than a crime”.

“Certain things happen in our media which I do not believe in at all. For example,can a publication attribute a trait to the wife of a European president?” he was quoted as saying by the state-run newspaper ‘Iran’ in a clear reference to the glamorous French First Lady.

“What kind of Islam allows that?. Such insults were contrary to religion and a crime worse than a crime. If there really is justice,the perpetrators should be prosecuted,” the Iranian President said.

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Last month,’Kayhan’,a vernacular daily newspaper which acts as a mouthpiece for Iran’s rigorous Islamic regime,branded Bruni a “prostitute” after the former Italian model criticised a Tehran court ruling of stoning a 43-year-old Iranian woman to death for adultery.

An editorial in the newspaper pointed to her chequered love life,which has included numerous affairs with high-profile celebrities.

It read: “Recently,Carla Bruni,the infamous wife of Nicolas Sarkozy,and Isabelle Adjani,the morally corrupt French actress,expressed support for Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani. Bruni managed to break up Sarkozy’s marriage and become France’s First Lady,yet recently there’s been news about her having an affair with a singer.”

France had lodged an official complaint over the editorial and the Iranian Foreign Ministry distanced itself from the harsh insults against Bruni.