Iran Decries US Meddlesome Stance on Cop Killer Case
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Foreign Ministry denounced the meddling comments made by US officials about the execution of a rioter convicted of killing three police officers in Tehran, saying the US government is in no position to interfere in the internal judicial processes of other countries.
In a statement on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi condemned the US interfering stances on the execution of Mohammad Salas, a rioter who had driven a bus into a group of police officers during a February mob attack in Tehran.
After Salas was hanged at a correctional facility on June 18 for killing three police forces and wounding a number of others during the February 19 disturbance on Tehran’s Pasdaran Street, the US condemned his execution, trying to link the punishment to the convict’s personal beliefs.
"Salas’s rushed execution is the latest example of the Iranian regime’s disregard for the human rights of its citizens," Heather Nauert, spokeswoman for the US State Department, said in a statement after the execution.
In response, the Iranian spokesman said Salas had a defense attorney in the legal course of trial and was convicted after confessing to his crimes, stressing that his death penalty had nothing to do with his personal beliefs.
Pointing to the US government’s dark record of violating human rights and breaching agreements, Qassemi emphasized that Washington “is in no position to interfere in and misrepresent the internal legal activities of other independent states and distort reality.”
The US government itself “has gained notoriety for breaching plain international commitments and unilaterally withdrawn from many international agreements over the past year,” the spokesman deplored.
Qassemi also hit back at the US government for its president’s “anti-human rights and discriminatory immigration policies,” saying Donald Trump’s “cruel” policy of separating children from their migrant parents and forcing them to stay in camps has drawn condemnation not only from many countries, international organizations and characters, but also from the closest figures to the White House.
The US government has separated some 2,000 migrant children from their parents in the last six weeks, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
The Trump administration’s new immigration policy has prompted a national moral reckoning, with comparisons to Nazi Germany and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, but Trump and his aides have provided few signs that they will change course -despite the pressure, including from allies.
