Tehran summons British envoy over supporting dissident
TEHRAN – Iran on Monday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran for having criticized Iran's human right's record on the embassy's official website and having supported an Iranian dissident, DPA reported.
British ambassador Simon Gass had earlier this week criticized Iran's human right's record and demanded the release of female dissident, human rights activist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.
She has been jailed since September on what Gass termed "nebulous charges of 'acting against national security'."
The foreign ministry called on Gass to refrain in the future from "remarks outside the correct diplomatic framework," the ISNA news agency reported.
The ministry also protested the violent confrontation between British police and students at a demonstration over the tuition fees in London last week.
While harshly criticizing the British envoy in Tehran, several Iranian parliament deputies also called for a downgrading of diplomatic relations with London and some even demanded the ambassador's expulsion for interfering in internal affairs.
Earlier this year, the foreign ministry ministry rejected demands by the parliament to sever all diplomatic ties with Britain.
Lawmakers say Britain is opposed to Iran's civil nuclear programmes and played a role in the protests that followed last year's re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.