Carla Bruni branded 'marriage breaking prostitute' by Iran after she campaigns for woman threatened with stoning

Carla Bruni branded 'marriage breaking prostitute' by Iran after she campaigns for woman threatened with stoning - Carla Bruni came under vicious attack from Iran yesterday after she publicly criticised its threat to stone an adulteress to death.

The wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy was described as a 'prostitute' and a 'marriage breaker'.

And she was accused of intervening in the case to 'cover up her own extra-marital relations'.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who became President Nicolas Sarkozy¿s third wife two years ago, has signed a petition calling for Sakineh¿s release

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtian is accused of cheating on her husband and then helping to kill him, and is now facing capital punishment for her crimes

France's First Lady reaped the whirlwind after backing a campaign to save the life of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two accused of cheating on her husband then helping to kill him.

Miss Bruni, 42, who became Sarkozy's third wife two years ago, signed a petition calling for her to be freed.

The former supermodel said: 'I just can't see what good could come out of this macabre ceremony, whatever the judicial reasons put forward to justify it.'

Kayhan, a daily newspaper which acts as a mouthpiece for Iran's rigorous Islamic regime, accused Miss Bruni of being a hypocrite.

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

Entitled 'French prostitutes join the human rights protest', it also singled out the actress Isabelle Adjani, who has joined the clamour for Sakineh's release.

And it referred to rumours linking Miss Bruni to Benjamin Biolay, a French singer whom she was said to be seeing behind her husband's back.

A protester, dressed with a costume to depict a woman stoned to death in Iran, participates in a demonstration in Paris yesterday over the death sentence against Mrs Mohammadi Ashtiani

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.

'Corrupt': Isabelle Adjani

'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.'

Iranian state television also attacked Miss Bruni for her support for Sakineh, saying she was using it to try to justify her own immorality.

The report said Miss Bruni was once 'a model known for her extramarital relations. It is probable that with this expression of solidarity she wanted to cover up her own extra-marital relations.'

The Elysee Palace had no formal reaction to the vicious slurs in the Iranian media, but an insider said the First Lady was 'deeply shocked' by the personal attack.

Miss Bruni had an affair with Mick Jagger while he was still with Jerry Hall, the mother of four of his children. She also cheated on Jean-Paul Enthoven, her live-in lover, with his philosopher son Raphael. She had a child with Enthoven junior and this destroyed his marriage to Justine Levy, daughter of Bernard-Henri Levy, another Paris philosopher.

'Known for her extra-marital relations': Carla Bruni

This led Miss Levy to write a novel featuring a character based on Miss Bruni, described as 'a praying mantis' and 'a leech of a woman with a Terminator smile'.

Just before marrying the president, Miss Bruni gave an interview to Madame Figaro magazine saying 'monogamy bores me'.

She was severely embarrassed when numerous nude photographs of her emerged soon after her wedding.

Despite this, she has vehemently denied being a marriage wrecker, and said she had nothing to do with Sarkozy splitting up with his second-wife, Cecilia. Iran says it has yet to take a final decision on the stoning of Sakineh.

France stepped up diplomatic pressure on Friday by urging the EU to adopt new sanctions against Iran if she is put to death.

Bernard Kouchner, France's foreign minister, wrote to the EU's foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, calling for a joint warning to Iran by all 27 member states not to carry out the sentence.

In response, she said: 'The moment has come for the European Union to collectively express its rejection of practices of another age.'

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said: 'The West must know that we cannot release criminals. Imagine if Western countries freed all criminals. There would be no order in society.' ( dailymail.co.uk )