Iranian Arrested after Attacking Tehran Embassy in Copenhagen

Iran embassy in Copenhagen - File Photo/AAWSAT
Iran embassy in Copenhagen - File Photo/AAWSAT
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Iranian Arrested after Attacking Tehran Embassy in Copenhagen

Iran embassy in Copenhagen - File Photo/AAWSAT
Iran embassy in Copenhagen - File Photo/AAWSAT

An Iranian armed with a knife who tried to enter Iran's embassy in Copenhagen was arrested on Friday, Danish police said, as Tehran's mission criticized officers' slow response, claiming targeted the ambassador.

“He entered the embassy, ​​spread terror (…) and damaged the cars in the parking lot,” Iran’s ambassador Asfaneh Nadipour said in a statement, AFP reported.

"A 32-year-old Iranian citizen was arrested Friday morning after having breached the grounds of the Iranian embassy in Copenhagen carrying a knife," Copenhagen police affirmed in a statement on Friday.

The Iranian foreign ministry "strongly criticised" the Danish police response.

"It is regrettable that in the heart of Europe, such an attack can be perpetrated against a woman and ambassador who enjoys diplomatic immunity, and that the police are not at the scene in time," it said in a statement.

The suspect will on Saturday be brought before a judge, who will decide if he should remain in pre-trial detention. The police said the Iranian man is accused of vandalism, violence and an offence against a person protected by diplomatic status.

Iran has faced three weeks of protests since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in custody following her arrest in Tehran by the morality police. There have been rallies worldwide in solidarity with Amini.



UN Expert Urges Probe of Iran 'Atrocity Crimes' in 1980s

(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
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UN Expert Urges Probe of Iran 'Atrocity Crimes' in 1980s

(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)
(FILES) Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Javaid Rehman listens to a statement during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council on the situation in Iran, at the United Nations in Geneva on November 24, 2022. (Photo by VALENTIN FLAURAUD / AFP)

A UN expert called Monday for an international investigation into "atrocity crimes", including genocide, committed in Iran against religious minorities and amid a purge of dissidents in the 1980s.

Javaid Rehman, the UN's independent special rapporteur on the rights situation in Iran, said there should be "no impunity for such gross human rights violations, regardless of when they were committed,” Agence France Presse reported.

"The Iranian regime and its leaders should not be allowed to escape the consequences of their crimes against humanity and genocide," he added.

The expert, whose mandate ends on July 31, said in a statement that the "atrocity crimes" of summary, arbitrary and extra-judicial executions in 1981-1982 and in 1988 "amounted to crimes against humanity of murder and extermination, as well as genocide."