London, England (CNN) — In a room thousands of miles from her prison cell in northeastern Iran, the fear that has gripped Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani for years was clear and almost palpable.
“The day I was given the stoning sentence, it was as if I fell into a deep hole and I lost consciousness,” said a human rights advocate, reading aloud from a letter attributed to Ashtiani. “Many nights, before sleeping, I think to myself how can anybody be prepared to throw stones at me; to aim at my face and hands? Why?”
