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The most dramatic scene in the new film The Stoning of Soraya M is disturbingly similar to the searing image of 26 year old Neda Agha Soltani bleeding to death on the streets of Tehran last week. The timing couldn’t have been better for this new film based on a true story as related in the 1995 book by Freidoune Sahebjam. While riots against the election results continue in Iran as we speak, The Stoning of Soraya underscores in part the state of women’s rights even today. Exiled Iranian journalist Lila Ghobady wrote a commentary on Commondreams.org to that effect earlier this week, titled “No Matter Who Is President of Iran, They Would Stone Me.” When Freidoune Sahebjam, a French Iranian journalist visited a small village in post-revolutionary Iran, he learned the story of how a wife and mother named Soraya Manoucheri was stoned to death by the men of the village for adultery. Soraya’s husband of many years wanted a divorce so that he could marry a 14 year old girl. When his wife refused, he concocted a plot to accuse her of adultery and had her stoned to death. A woman named Zahra was the primary witness for Sahebjam’s expose and the characters of both Zahra and Soraya are brought to life in the film that opens in theaters tomorrow. The film is made by mostly Iranians, shot almost entirely in Farsi with almost all Iranian actors. Academy award nominee Shohreh Agdashloo, best known for her role in House of Sand and Fog, plays the part of Zahra.

GUEST: Shohreh Agdashloo, Iranian American actor, Academy Award nominee, plays the role of Zahra in The Stoning of Soraya

For more information visit www.thestoning.com.