UK summons Iranian charge d'affaires following latest executions

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ISTANBUL (AA) - British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Monday summoned the Iranian charge d'affaires following latest executions of anti-regime protesters.

"Today I have summoned the Iranian Charge d’Affaires to condemn in the strongest possible terms the abhorrent executions we witnessed over the weekend," Cleverly said in a statement.

"The Iranian regime must end its campaign of brutal repression and start listening to the concerns of its people," he added.

Reiterating his country's opposition to the death penalty in "all circumstances," Cleverly said that since the death of Mahsa Amini, the UK has imposed "more than 40 human rights sanctions including on leading political, judicial and security officials in Iran, for their role in serious human rights violations."

Mohammad Mahdi Karami, 22, and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, 39, were executed by the Iranian authorities over the weekend in a case related to the killing of a paramilitary Basiji trooper in late November.

Nationwide protests erupted in mid-September after the death of 22-year-old Amini, arrested by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women.

Since the protests started, the US and EU imposed additional sanctions on Iran for its brutal treatment of demonstrators and its decision to send hundreds of drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine.

In November, Germany pressed for a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council that voted to condemn the clampdown and create an independent fact-finding mission.