The Netherlands has frozen contacts with Iran after Tehran hanged an Iranian-Dutch woman for drug smuggling, having initially arrested her for taking part in anti-government protests.
Zahra Bahrami's execution Saturday brings the total number of people hanged in Iran so far this year to 66 -- on average more than two a day -- according to an AFP tally based on media reports. "A drug trafficker named Zahra Bahrami, daughter of Ali, was hanged early on Saturday morning after she was convicted of selling and possessing drugs," the Tehran prosecutor's office said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal "was profoundly shocked by the news, he called it an act committed by a barbarous regime," foreign ministry spokesman Bengt van Loosdrecht told AFP
Note EU-Digest: Even though capital punishment must be condemned as such, it is also to be understood that the possession, trafficking and sale of illegal drugs is a crime in most countries of the world and in some, like Iran, China, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia punishable by death.
For more: AFP: Netherlands freezes ties after Iran hangs Dutch woman
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