Spain demands apology from Iran for diplomat’s arrest
By IANSWednesday, February 16, 2011
Madrid, Feb 16 (IANS/EFE) Spain will call home its ambassador in Iran for consultations if the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad does not give an explanation or apologise for the arrest of a Spanish diplomat in Tehran, a minister said.
Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez has asked Iranian authorities to give a “satisfactory” response and to explain why chief consular official Ignacio Perez-Cambra was held under arrest for four hours Monday.
If no such response from Tehran is forthcoming, the minister Tuesday said that she would call home the Spanish envoy.
Jimenez said Iran violated the Vienna Convention - which regulates diplomatic relations - by arresting a Spanish diplomat without telling him why.
The foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador in Madrid, Morteza Saffari Natanzi, to explain the diplomat’s detention.
Perez-Cambra was arrested by six men in plain clothes at the entrance to the Spanish embassy in the Iranian capital. The diplomat was held at a police station and then released.
The Spanish foreign ministry also announced it had suspended an upcoming visit to Madrid by a senior Iranian diplomat.
–IANS/EFE
