After the verdict, Atefeh wrote to the High Court, saying: "There are medical documents that prove I have weak nerves and soul. In some minutes of the day and night I lose my sanity. During these attacks any kind of positive or negative actions may be done by me. In a society where an insane person can be serially raped or abused it is no wonder that a person like me is the victim of such an ugly act." Ms Sadr says Atefeh's mental state should have invalidated the case.

The day before the execution Atefeh told her aunt she had written three words to the High Court: "Repentance, repentance, repentance." In Iranian law, somebody who repents their crime is granted the right to appeal against their sentence.

A social worker's report says Atefeh's father and brother were heroin addicts and after her mother's death "she sought affection on the streets".

Ms Sadr says it is impossible to verify lurid claims in dissident websites about an improper relationship between girl and judge. "We will never know what happened between Atefeh and the judge because she is dead, he won't tell and she was tried in a closed court."

Obviously, this is an insane ruling. Sentencing retarded teenagers to death for the "crime" of having sex outside of marriage is the act of a barbarous government.

This conclusion leads me to posit an important geopolitical question: Do we really want these Islamic fundamentalist lunatics to possess nuclear weapons? Because if nothing is done, this will cease to be a mere academic question, and instead become a frightening reality.

Bush has won re-election. He now has four more years to deal with this problem. And, sadly, I suspect it cannot be adequately resolved short of military action.