Maybe instead of Lolita, someone should have read Voltaire.
France's First Lady, Carla Brunni, condemned the sentence to stone to death Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani  for adultery.
(read the Rediff article here)
For her condemnation, Iran's hardline daily Kayhan, now says Brunni should be stoned (for daring to criticize the establishment).
The reaction seems so childish - the idea that someone voicing an opinion or a fact should be stoned and the act of being stoned some how proves their statement wrong and the government's statement correct.
Killing Carla Brunni won't make her words go away; they will just come from someone else. Killing her won't remove the ideas of personal liberty which she espouses; others hold those beliefs as well.
What rings true with me, is Voltaire's belief that you defend the right to free speech, even when you disagree (or despise the content). This is one of the cornerstones of liberty, it makes those of us lucky enough to live in a free society, truly free. There is nothing to be feared from open discourse and the voicing of dissent.
It may not change the direction of the government - it may have no effect at all - but there is a fundamental maturity in a government which acknowledges the individual's voice.