Tehran:Iran has summoned the Saudi charge d’affaires to “strongly protest” the execution of a number of Iranian citizens convicted in the kingdom for drug trafficking, media here reported on Tuesday.
Iran’s foreign ministry director for the Gulf region, Ali Reza Enayati, also protested to Hassan Zayed, the Saudi diplomat, that Riyadh was not permitting consular access to detained Iranians.
Enayati accused the kingdom of violating human rights and Islamic teachings, according to the official IRNA news agency and other news outlets in Iran. He said a complaint will be taken before international bodies.
No details were given as to the identities or number of the Iranians killed in Saudi Arabia. Iranian media did not say when Zayed was summoned. Saudi media made no recent mention at all of any executions of Iranians.
Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been criticised by human rights groups for applying the death penalty for a range of crimes including murder, rape and drug trafficking.
Iran, when it arrests foreigners, also does not systematically observe international treaties requiring it to provide them consular access.
On Tuesday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, warned Riyadh of “political and legal ramifications” over the executions.
Mehmanparast, in his weekly presser, accused the Saudi government of making “contradictory statements” since the Iranians were arrested and tried in the kingdom on drugs charges five years ago.
Tehran in April had said that Riyadh had suspended the death sentences against several Iranian nationals convicted for drug trafficking.
Amnesty International late March said there had been a significant increase in judicial killings in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 2011.
It said Iran had executed at least 360 people, three-quarters of them for drugs offences, while Saudi Arabia executed at least 82 in 2011.
