A Europe-Iran business forum scheduled to start Monday has been cancelled following protests over the execution of Iran journalist Ruhollah Zam.
Earlier, several European countries, including France and Germany, protested the execution and pulled out of the online EU-funded forum at which both EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javid Zarif were due to speak.
The journalist, who was editor of the Amad News Telegram channel, was convicted in Iran of stirring up dissent during anti-government protests in 2017 and was hanged Saturday. He had been been living in exile in France and was reportedly kidnapped after traveling to Iraq.
France foreign ministry announced on Sunday that “due to the barbaric and unacceptable execution” of Ruhollah Zam, it would not take part in the forum.
In Berlin, a foreign ministry spokesman said that “due to current developments” Iran, Germany and other EU member countries would not participate in the event.
The organizers later said the event had been postponed without mentioning the execution in their statement.
The EU also condemned the execution ‘’in the strongest terms’’ and ‘’recalls once again its irrevocable opposition to the use of capital punishment under any circumstances,’’ an EU spokesperson said.
‘’It is also imperative for the Iranian authorities to uphold the due process rights of accused individuals and to cease the practice of using televised confessions to establish and promote their guilt.’’
The spokesperson for EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell added: ‘’The EU believes that the death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. The European Union calls on Iran to refrain from any future executions and to pursue a consistent policy towards the abolition of the death penalty.’’
Last week, the EU and Iran held the fifth meeting of the High Level political dialogue, a regular exchange between the two parties. During the meeting, the EU External Service (EEAS) ‘’touched upon the importance of human rights and conveyed the intention to hold a human rights dialogue as soon as the situation will allow physical meetins,’’ according to an EEAS statement issued after the meeting.
According to the Berlin-based STOP THE BOMB group, the Islamic Republic holds thousands of opposition members prisoner, including many European and German citizens. It said that there is particular concern for the life of the Swedish-Iranian doctor Ahmad Reza Jalali, who has been sentenced to death.
Iran has summoned the ambassador of Germany, which holds the rotating Council of the EU presidency, over what it described as “interventionist statements” from the EU and German foreign ministry.