Morteza Jami was already called to the Portuguese Foreign Ministry on September 29, 2022.
JOSE SENA GULAO/LUSA
Morteza Jami was already called to the Portuguese Foreign Ministry on September 29, 2022.
JOSE SENA GULAO/LUSA
On Tuesday, the Portuguese government again summoned Iran’s ambassador to Lisbon to convey “the strongest condemnation and rejection” of the execution of two more Iranian citizens following protests that have gripped the country since September.
Iranian Ambassador to Lisbon [Morteza Damanpak Jami] it was today, January 10, they called the Foreign Ministry again. It was transferred to the strongest condemnation and rejection of the Portuguese government for the execution of two other Iranian citizens, Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, who have participated in the ongoing protests in Iran since September,” the ministry, overseen by João Gomes Cravinho, said in a statement.
“The Portuguese government has also expressed deep concern that other Iranian citizens have meanwhile been sentenced to death in that country. Portugal reiterates its unconditional opposition to the use of the death penalty under any circumstances,” the document adds.
Morteza Djami had already been summoned to the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 29 September 2022, the day that the Director General of Foreign Policy (DGPE) of the MNE, Ruy Viñas, condemned Lisbon for the “unnecessary and disproportionate use of force against peaceful demonstrators”.
Lusa has contacted the Iranian embassy in Lisbon for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
With the recall of the ambassador in Lisbon, Portugal joins a significant part of the international community, especially in the West, which has also condemned arrests, death sentences and executions of demonstrators who protest against the theocratic regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The protests and demonstrations were sparked by the death on 16 September 2022 of a young Kurdish man, Mahsa Amini, arrested three days earlier by customs police for alleged misuse of the hijab, the Islamic hijab, thus violating Iran’s strict dress code.
In recent days, the United States, the European Union (EU), and more than a dozen European countries have also called on Iranian ambassadors or charge d’affaires to protest and condemn the repression imposed by the Iranian authorities.
Iran hangs protester in first protest-related execution
There have been 18 death sentences and four executions since the start of the protests in Iran.
In addition, brutal police crackdowns aimed at stopping demonstrations have so far resulted in more than 500 deaths and nearly 20,000 arrests across the country.
Authorities hanged 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari on December 8 for “injuring an Islamic militia (basij) guard with bladed weapons, blocking a street and spreading terror in Tehran.”
Four days later, a second demonstrator, Majid Reza Rahnaward, was convicted murder of two security agents.
Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini were executed last Saturday for the alleged murder of an Islamic militia guard.
The European Union has already approved three packages of sanctions against Iran for executions and repressions of demonstrators.
Countries such as France, Britain, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands also called Iranian ambassadors to their countries.
Source: Observador