Iran summons British envoy over his social media post calling for release of detained journalists
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Britain’s envoy to Tehran to protest his posts on social media calling for the government to release all people ''arbitrarily detained” in Iran, including journalists, the state-run news agency reported.
The IRNA news agency said British Ambassador Simon Shercliff was summoned for posting on Tuesday what the ministry described as “interfering remarks” on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The posting came as Iran marked Journalists Day, commemorating the death of Mohammad Saremi, an Iranian journalist who worked for IRNA, and eight other Iranians killed by the Taliban on Aug. 8, 1998 in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan.
Shercliff noted the commemoration and said: “We pay tribute to all journalists prevented from doing their jobs and facing threats to their safety.”
Japan raises concerns over Iran’s nuclear enrichment and drone supplies to Russia for Ukraine war
Iran opens registration for candidates in next year’s parliament election, the first since protests
White House says top Russian official pitched North Korea on increasing sale of munitions to Moscow
“We reiterate our call for Iran to release all arbitrarily detained individuals, including journalists,” the British envoy added.
Iran often summons foreign envoys to protest their remarks. There was no immediate comment from the U.K. Embassy.
Iran has detained nearly 20,000 people during nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody last September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman held by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.
The protests escalated into calls for the overthrow of the ruling clerics, marking one of the biggest challenges to their four-decade rule since the 1979 Islamic Revolution
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Iran ranked as the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2022. Overall, authorities are known to have detained at least 95 journalists in the wake of the protests following Amini’s death.
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
