Iran summons British, German envoys for 'meddling' after 1st execution

By Syed Zafar Mehdi

TEHRAN, Iran (AA) – Iran has summoned the British and German ambassadors to protest “meddling” amid months-long protests in the country.

In a Saturday statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said it summoned Simon Shercliffe to protest what it called "meddlesome" remarks by top British officials about "internal affairs" of the country and support for "acts of terror and unrest" in Iran.

The ministry also took strong umbrage to the latest sanctions by the British government against some Iranian citizens, the statement added.

The move came after the British foreign secretary expressed "outrage" over the execution of Mohsen Shikari, an Iranian protester who was sent to gallows on Thursday more than two weeks after being handed the death penalty by a court in Tehran.

According to the judiciary-affiliated Mizan News Agency, Shikari “threatened citizens with a cold weapon and injured a security guard during protests" in the Sattar Khan neighborhood of Tehran.

“The world cannot turn a blind eye to the abhorrent violence committed by the Iranian regime against its own people,” James Cleverly wrote on Twitter, adding that the UK is "opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances".

On Friday, Iran's chargé d'affaires in London, Mehdi Hosseini Matin, was summoned by the British Foreign Office and some Iranian judges and prison officials were also sanctioned.

Shercliffe, according to the foreign ministry statement, was told that Iran "reserves the right to take countermeasures" in response to the latest round of sanctions by the UK.

Iran has been rocked by sweeping protests in recent months since the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police.

So far, 11 people have been sentenced to death over the months-long unrest, with Shikari being the first to be executed.

The execution drew condemnations from many Western countries, including the US, the UK, Germany France and Canada.

Late on Friday, the German ambassador in Tehran was also summoned by the foreign ministry for "interventionist statements" by German authorities and "support for chaos, disorder, and instability in Iran", the ministry statement noted.

It came after Germany's deputy government spokesperson Christiane Hoffman said Berlin "condemns in the strongest possible terms" the Iranian protester's execution.

In a separate statement, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Iranian government's "contempt for human life is boundless", calling Shikari's execution a "perfidious summary trial".