Iran Protests To Britain Over London Human Rights Tribunal

At his press conference Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Tehran had expressed “serious protests” to the UK over London acting as a “hub” for foreign media hostile to Iran.

The spokesman said the tribunal, which is meeting with selected media, was a “theatrical show.”

The tribunal − also known as Aban Tribunal after the Iranian calendar month of Aban of 2019 protests over fuel increases −sat from Friday to Sunday. It has ‘indicted’ 160 Iranian officials with “crimes against humanity.”

But while the tribunals’ ‘verdicts’ are symbolic, some organizers have said a file has been sent to the International Criminal Court and have called for international sanctions against named individuals.

When in London to meet British officials in November, deputy Iranian foreign minister Ali Bagheri-Kani said the tribunal’s activities in London could jeopardize progress in Vienna, where he leads Iranian negotiators meeting world powers, including the UK, trying to revive the 2015 international agreement limiting Tehran’s nuclear program.

During the November 2019 protests, following a fuel price increase designed to ease a fiscal deficit, Amnesty International documented the killing by security forces of over 300 people.