MPs want to take Iran to International Court

Freedom Messenger, A majority of MPs want the government to look into the possibility of taking Iran to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to force it to allow Dutch officials to help Dutch nationals who end up in in Iranian jails, magazine Elsevier reports.

MPs voted in favour of a motion to that effect on Tuesday. The debate was triggered by the execution of Zahra Bahrami, who has dual Dutch and Iranian nationality, last weekend.

The Netherlands has since frozen diplomatic relations with Iran and recalled its ambassador.

Al-Mansouri

Another Dutch Iranian national, Abdullah Al-Mansouri, was jailed by Iran for 30 years on terrorism charges in 2009, the NRC points out.

Born in Iran, Al-Mansouri came to the Netherlands as a refugee in 1988 and was an active member of the human rights organisation Amnesty and the local green GroenLinks party.

He was arrested while on a visit to Syria in May 2006 and extradited to Iran.

Terrorists

Iran on Tuesday accused the Netherlands of backing terrorists as the row over the execution intensified.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly news conference the Netherlands is ‘claiming to be civilised’ but at the same time defends the interests of criminals, drugs dealers and terrorists, according to media reports.

The Netherlands is making ‘a human rights issue out of an indefensible drug case and applying political pressure’, AFP quoted him as saying