Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat in the UK after the regime executed two more anti-regime protestors.
Tehran hanged two men on Saturday for allegedly killing a member of the security forces during nationwide protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16, drawing condemnation from the EU, the United States and other Western nations.
Ms Amini died in the custody of Iran’s morality police who enforce strict dress codes.
The death of the Kurdish Iranian woman sparked the biggest protests in Iran for years, putting unprecedented pressure on the regime.
The two men executed on Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Karami and Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini, had been convicted of killing a member of the Basij paramilitary force militia. Three others have been sentenced to death in the same case, while 11 received prison sentences.
The United Nations responded to the executions by saying they followed ‘unfair trials based on forced confessions’.
The UK has repeatedly called on the regime to end the use of the death penalty, both publicly and directly with Iranian officials.
Mr Cleverly said: “Today I have summoned the Iranian Chargé d’Affaires to condemn in the strongest possible terms the abhorrent executions we witnessed over the weekend.
“The Iranian regime must end its campaign of brutal repression and start listening to the concerns of its people.”
Stephen Hickey, the Foreign Office’s director for Middle East and North Africa, held the meeting with Mehdi Hosseini Matin.
He stressed the UK’s opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances.
Since Ms Amini’s death, 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.
