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“We call on the regime in Iran to refrain from imposing and executing penalties on citizens demonstrating in support of freedom,” Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis stated on Wednesday, following his meeting in Athens with Dutch Minister for Asylum and Migration, as well as Foreign Affairs Minister of the Netherlands, David van Weel, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Gerapetritis has been referring to 26-year-old protester Erfan Soltani, who was detained last week and whose relatives have told BBC Persian he is due to be executed today, Wednesday, January 14.
“ The death penalty imposed on young people, as a consequence of exercising a universal right, is a disgrace that cannot be tolerated by the international community. We call for absolute avoidance of any such action,” the Greek FM stressed.
Gerapetritis noted that “fundamental rights, among them freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, must be respected by all. Use of force in any form, even more so when its result is the loss of human lives, is abhorrent and absolutely condemnable.”
During the meeting, the two ministers had a discussion about NATO, the need to preserve the cohesion of the Alliance, promoting the importance of a system of collective security and deepening cooperation between the Alliance and the European Union.
Gerapetritis pointed out that the weakening of global multilateralism increases insecurity worldwide. As an elected member of the UN Security Council, Greece considers that the United Nations is the appropriate forum for taking the decisions needed to bring about world peace, he said.
“The rules of international law and the principles of the UN charter, especially respect of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, are absolutely not negotiable features of peaceful world order,” he added.