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Iran has summoned the ambassadors of Germany and France to protest against the EU's criticism of the execution of an Iranian opposition member.
The reason given by the Foreign Ministry in Tehran was an “unacceptable interference” in Iran's “internal affairs”, as the state news agency Irna reported on Sunday.
The EU and the governments in Berlin and Paris condemned the execution of the Iranian opposition Ruhollah Sam on Saturday.
First, the German ambassador Hans-Udo Muzel was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry.
Later on, France's ambassador to Tehran, Philippe Thiebaud, was summoned.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards reported the arrest of Sam in October 2019, who was recognized as a refugee in France.
The Revolutionary Guards did not provide any information about the place or time of arrest.
Sam was "controlled by the French secret service" and supported by the United States and Israel, the Iranian side said.
Protests classified as "riot"
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Sam was hanged on Saturday morning for his leading role in protests against the government in Tehran in the winter of 2017/18, reported the Iranian state television.
The Iranian leadership classified the protests as "riot".
The European Union condemned the execution of the death penalty "in the strongest", as a spokeswoman for the EU foreign affairs representative Josep Borrell announced on Saturday.
The death penalty should be rejected under all circumstances.
The French Foreign Ministry spoke of a “serious attack on freedom of expression” and a “barbaric act”.
The Federal Government, which currently holds the rotating EU Council Presidency, had sharply criticized the execution of Sam: Berlin was "horrified by the execution," said a spokesman for the Foreign Office.
The death penalty is "a cruel and inhuman form of punishment that we reject under all circumstances."
The federal government is also "shocked by the circumstances under which the conviction took place, especially the previous kidnapping from abroad".
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In front of the German ambassador, the head of department responsible for Europe in the Iranian Foreign Ministry criticized the “indulgence” that prevails in some countries when preparing for “acts of terrorism” in Iran.
Iran in December 2017
Source: pa / abaca / SalamPix / ABACA
At least 25 people were killed in protests in numerous Iranian cities between December 2017 and January 2018.
The demonstrations, which began as protests against the high cost of living, soon took a political turn.
According to Amnesty International, at least 251 people were executed in Iran last year, the second highest number of death sentences in the world.
Most of the executions took place in China.
"The death penalty as a weapon of oppression"
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Amnesty called Sam a "journalist and critic of the regime".
After his conviction, the organization tried to intervene against the use of the death penalty.
She had called on the EU to stand up for Sam with Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It was a "shocking escalation in Iran's use of the death penalty as a weapon of repression," the organization condemned the execution.
The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was also “shocked” on Saturday by the execution of the judgment.
"RSF is outraged by this new crime by the Iranian judiciary," wrote the organization on Twitter.