Middle East

Iran: US, EU criticism of convicts’ execution ‘meddlesome’, ‘ridiculous’

The US State Department on Thursday urged Iran to refrain from carrying out the executions, calling the proceedings "sham trials".

Tehran: The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has dismissed the US and EU criticism against Iran’s execution of three convicts who killed security officers in an armed attack as “meddlesome” and “ridiculous”.

“Instead of intervening in the internal affairs of other countries … Western politicians had better listen to the voices of their own citizens’ protests and meeting their demands,” Nasser Kanaani said in a statement published on the Ministry’s website on Saturday.

“Europe and the US do not have the legal, judicial and moral authority to comment on judicial issues and human rights of other countries,” he noted as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

On November 16, 2022, three men carried out an attack in the Khane Esfahan area of the central Iranian city of Isfahan, killing three security officers and injuring several others, according to the Mizan news agency of the Iranian judiciary.

The three men were charged with crimes, including those referred by Iranian authorities, to violations against Islamic codes and breaches of national security, Mizan said.

In a statement on Friday issued in the wake of the execution, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the EU condemned the execution “in the strongest possible terms,” calling on Iran to “refrain from applying the death penalty and carrying out future executions”.

The US State Department on Thursday urged Iran to refrain from carrying out the executions, calling the proceedings “sham trials”.

“The execution of these men, after what have been widely regarded as sham trials, would be an affront to human rights and basic dignity in Iran and everywhere,” said State Department Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel at a press briefing.

This post was last modified on May 21, 2023 3:23 pm

Share
Indo-Asian News Service

Indo-Asian News Service or IANS is a private Indian news agency. It was founded in 1986 by Indian American publisher Gopal Raju as the "India Abroad News Service" and later renamed. The service reports news, views and analysis from the subcontinent about the country, across a wide range of subjects.

Load more...