Tehran - Saba:
The Saudi ambassador in Tehran has been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and handed a memorandum of strong protest from the Islamic Republic of Iran and the contradiction of the measure taken by his country with the general course of judicial cooperation between the two countries, Director General of the Consular Department of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
These people were sentenced to death several years ago by the Saudi judicial system on charges of smuggling drugs into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and during this period, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made continuous efforts and worked to provide them with consular services and reduce the announced sentence, Mojtaba Shasti Karimi added in remarks carried by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) after Saudi authorities executed six Iranian citizens imprisoned in the kingdom on charges of drug smuggling.
However, executing the death sentence without prior notice to the embassy is unacceptable in any way and violates the rules and standards of international law, including the Consular Relations Agreement, he said.
In this regard, Karimi stated that the Saudi ambassador in Tehran was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was informed within the framework of the Islamic Republic of Iran's strong protest note and the contradiction of this measure taken by his country with the general course of judicial cooperation between the two countries, and the need to provide the necessary clarifications in this regard was emphasized.
He stated that a consular-legal delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is scheduled to head to Riyadh to follow up on the case.
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