Dutch freeze official ties with Iran over execution (Roundup)

The Hague, January 29, 2011- The Dutch government on Saturday froze official ties with Tehran after a Dutch-Iranian woman was hanged for alleged cocaine smuggling.
The execution of 46-year-old Sahra Bahrami, a self-declared opponent of the Iranian government, was an ’outrage ’ carried out by a ’barbaric regime,’ Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal said.
Prior to Rosenthal’s comments the Iranian ambassador to the Hague had confirmed that the execution took place on Saturday.
Bahrami had taken part in protests against the regime of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad in December 2009 and was arrested shortly afterwards. The cocaine-smuggling charges were raised only later.