October 30, 2020
Britain, France and Germany have summoned Iranian ambassadors in a diplomatic protest against the Islamic Republic’s detention of dual nationals.
Britain’s foreign office summoned the Iranian ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, on September 29 to meet senior officials, The Guardian reported. A letter handed to the ambassador seen by the British newspaper said Iran’s policy of arbitrary detention was seriously damaging its international standing.
The Iranian ambassadors in Paris and Berlin were also being summoned. The coordinated protest is the first of its kind by the three countries and comes as concern grows over Iran increasing pressure on dual-national prisoners.
This includes British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who faces another trial on a new charge.
France, meanwhile, is trying to secure the release of French-Iranian academic Fariba Adel-khah who was arrested in 2018. She was moved from Evin prison to a Ministry of Intelligence detention center. After France complained, she was given a furlough like Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The complaints from the three countries are a further indication that the Europeans want to keep the pressure on the Islamic Republic even while they align with Iran against the US on the nuclear agreement.