guardian.co.uk, Reuters in Amman, Monday 7 February 2011 14.51 GMT
The Netherlands has accused Tehran of not meeting normal standards of civilised behaviour for not allowing relatives to bury a Dutch-Iranian woman executed last month.
Zahra Bahrami was arrested during anti-government protests in Iran in 2009. (Photograph: Getty Images) |
The Netherlands has accused Tehran of not meeting normal standards of civilised behaviour for not allowing relatives to bury a Dutch-Iranian woman executed last month.
The Dutch foreign minister, Uri Rosenthal, said the Dutch ambassador to Tehran was being recalled in protest at the case of 45-year-old Zahra Bahrami, who Iran said it hanged in Tehran on 29 January for drug smuggling.
Bahrami's family has claimed the drug-smuggling charges were fabricated after she was arrested for taking part in anti-government protests in 2009.
Instead of the normal procedure of handing over the body to family members for burial, Bahrami's remains were taken 250 miles from Tehran and interred with no relatives present.
"This is a shocking fact which bears upon the regime which does not meet the normal standards of civilised behaviour towards citizens and foreigners," Rosenthal said, ahead of a meeting with the Jordanian monarch in Amman.
According to postings on Iranian blogs and websites, Bahrami died when she was tortured under interrogation by the Iranian authorities.
Asked about such claims, Rosenthal said: "I am not entering into this now, simply now it's that the next of kin have not been permitted to go through a mourning process which should be allowed to anyone who is losing next of kin."
Dutch television reported after Bahrami's death that she had been convicted in the Netherlands in 2003 for smuggling 16kg of cocaine from the Caribbean.
In the wake of Bahrami's death, relations between the Netherlands and Iran have rapidly deteriorated.
Rosenthal himself has also come under criticism, and admitted in parliament last week: "I also take lessons from these terrible events ... Of course in hindsight more was needed."
The Netherlands froze diplomatic contacts with Iran after Bahrami's death.
Earlier on Monday, a Dutch foreign ministry spokesman said the Dutch ambassador would make a formal protest to the Iranian foreign ministry before returning to The Hague on Thursday for consultations.
Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands was also summoned to the Dutch foreign ministry, he said.
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