France and Germany summon Iranian diplomats to protest new executions in Iran

9 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The governments of France and Germany have summoned Iranian diplomats on Monday to protest the execution of three prisoners accused of killing several police officers during the anti-government protests that have taken place in the country since last September.

The French Foreign Ministry has explained on its official Twitter profile that it has summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires, Seyed Hosein Samimifar, to convey to him its “strongest condemnation of the executions and repression in Iran.”

France has also expressed in a statement its “constant opposition to the death penalty, in all places and in all circumstances”, as well as its “commitment to the universal abolition of this unjust and inhuman punishment”.

In this way, the French Foreign Ministry has explained that these “appalling” executions are added to “the many other serious and unacceptable violations of fundamental rights and freedoms committed by the Iranian authorities”, for which they have asked Tehran to put stop these actions.

For her part, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, has summoned the Iranian ambassador in Berlin, Mahmud Farazandeh, to express to him “that the brutal repression” against the population, as well as the latest executions “will not remain without consequences”.

The German government has also condemned “in the strongest possible terms the Iranian regime’s continued use of the death penalty as a means of repression.” “We ask Iran to promptly release all those unjustly imprisoned,” said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, according to DPA.

Finally, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt also condemned the new executions on Saturday and urged the authorities to “respond to the protests with meaningful reforms and immediately stop the executions.”

These new sentences, which can still be appealed, bring to 17 the total number of people who have been sentenced to death in connection with the protests, which began more than three months ago after the death of the young Mahsa Amini.