Norwegian Foreign Ministry Website, 12 Oct 2012 – Norway is deeply concerned of incoming reports from Iran regarding the imminent implementation of a death warrant against Gholamreza Khosravi Savadjani, Deputy Foreign Minister Gry Larsen says. We have discussed Khosravi Savadjani’s case in our meeting with Iranian officials and once again asked them to stop the execution, he added.
Khosravi has been in Evin Prison since last July. He was imprisoned in the city of Kerman (central Iran) in 2008, and according to his lawyer he has spent over 40 months in solitary confinement. At first, he was condemned to 6 years in prison for supporting the Simaye Azadi television station. However, he was later on condemned to death, a punishment approved by the country’s high court on April 21st of this year. Carrying out this ruling will be equivalent to violating UN international conventions on civil and political rights, to which Iran is a signatory.
“Khosravi’s case is of special concern because this risk exists that he will pay the price of his political beliefs with his life,” Deputy Foreign Minister Larsen says.
Norway has time and again, directly and through official remarks, called on Iranian officials to respect their international human rights obligations.
“October 10th is the international day against capital punishment and our government is active to completely eradicate this method of punishment. This is a global human rights challenge. However, the high number of executions in numerous Middle East countries, including Iran, is of special concern and needs increasing international activities. Therefore, we must continue our protests,” Deputy Foreign Minister Larsen continued.