France has joined the rest of the world in condemning the execution of Alireza Akbari, a former Iranian official with dual nationality who was tried on charges of spying for British intelligence.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned on Saturday Iran’s execution of Iranian-British national Akbari, describing it as a “despicable and barbaric act.”
Macron also expressed his solidarity with Britain and the Iranian people.
The French president’s denunciation followed the French Foreign Ministry issuing a statement in which it condemned “in the strongest terms” Iran authorities for carrying out Akbari’s death sentence.
The Ministry also expressed its “solidarity” with Britain.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Paris on Saturday over the execution of Akbari, the ministry said in a statement.
“He was also warned that Iran's repeated violations of international law cannot go unanswered, particularly with regard to the treatment of foreign nationals whom it arbitrarily detains,” the statement added.
The statement concluded by reaffirming “France's firm opposition to the death penalty in any place and under any circumstances.”
This comes as French-Iranian relations continue to deteriorate, especially after the uproar caused by the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo publishing caricatures of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran announced Thursday the closure of a Tehran-based French research institute in protest against cartoons of its supreme leader.
For his part, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian threatened that “the insulting and indecent act of a French publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political authority will not go without an effective and decisive response.”
While the EU is reviewing the possibility of a fourth basket of sanctions on Iranian authorities due to their bloody suppression of popular protests and the role Tehran is playing in providing Russia with the drones used in the war on Ukraine, recent developments will likely prompt Paris to proceed with considerations for blacklisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.
