Iran’s ambassador called inn on the carpet: This is how he answers
Four young men have been executed following the protests against clerical rule in Iran. Iran’s ambassador to Norway claims Western authorities are controlled by “anti-Iranian narratives”.
The past four months have seen a national wave of protests against clerical rule in Iran.
The authorities have blackballed the protesters with bullets, violence and arrests. Saturday morning two young men were executed by hanging in Iran.
Mohammad Hosseini (20) and Mohammad Mehdi Karami (21) were accused of killing a member of the country’s security forces during the protests.
Thus, four people have been executed since the protests started in the wake of the death of Iranian-Kurdish Jina Mahsa Amini September 16.
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the executions at its strongest. Well, the department has requested a meeting with Iran’s ambassador to Norway Alireza Yousefi.
On Monday evening, he defends the country’s punitive measures in an interview with VG.
– In line with laws and regulations
VG has asked the ambassador to explain Iran’s public position on the uprisings in Iran and the proper process afterwards.
Secondly, how they stand in response to UD’s call for a meeting in light of the execution, which has been confirmed.
– The trial of those who were executed is in line with laws and regulations, says Yousefi and points out that the death penalty is legal in Iran, “as it is in many countries”, writes Ambassador Yousefi in an e-mail.
The ambassador replies that the two who were executed on Saturday were given the opportunity to appeal the sentence, but that the appeals court ultimately found them guilty of murdering Ruhollah Ajamian from Iran’s security forces.
In the appeal, the two condemned to death claimed that they were tortured into making false confessions, according to BBC.
– Unfortunately, the narratives of anti-Iranian circles have laid the foundation for the condemnation and the positions of Western authorities and media.
Without specifying who constitutes these circles, he claims that they have deliberately spread false facts in the case.
– During this period, various documents have been sent to Western media and authorities, but nothing has been published because the mere anti-Iranian narrative must be published where the Iranian ambassador has been published.
He has sent VG and video clips to Iranian authorities showing protesters committing violence against a public official.
– How do you respond to Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark’s criticism of the legal policy?
– Summoning Iranian ambassadors to the foreign affairs departments of individual countries is not the right move, but it provides an opportunity to clarify the current realities in Iran.
Last week, Denmark and the Netherlands also called the Iranian ambassadors to the carpet.
The executions have met with strong condemnation from the UN and a number of European countries. The US has called the trial a farce.
17 death sentences
On Monday morning, the news came that there are three new death sentences against protesters, which means that a total of 17 people have been sentenced to death after the wave of protests started in mid-September.
Four of them have been executed, and more are expected since the sentences against them have been upheld by the Supreme Court and can no longer be appealed, reports NTB.
The protests in Iran are considered the biggest uprising since the Islamic revolution in 1979, when the clerical regime seized power.
At the weekend, demonstrations flared up in 17 cities, greater than in a month, according to the think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
NUPI researcher and Middle East expert Kjetil Selvik says the executions have functions.
– They must spread fear among people who protest against the regime, but the execution is also a message to their own supporters that the regime must seriously protect them.