TEHRAN -- Iran’s top human rights official has rebuked EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell for his meddlesome comments over a death sentence handed to the ringleader of a U.S.-based terrorist group.
Kazem Gharibabadi, secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights and the Judiciary chief’s deputy for international affairs, said in a tweet that Borrell’s comments exposed the true face of Europe as opposed to its ostensible support for human rights.
The remarks came a day after Borrell said the bloc “strongly condemns” the death penalty given to jailed German-Iranian citizen Jamshid Sharmahd.
The EU foreign policy chief also called on Tehran to “refrain from executing the death penalty” and repeal Sharmahd’s sentence.
“They provided safe haven and supported an Iranian terrorist in Europe and the United States. Now that he has fallen in the clutches of justice, instead of condemning his terrorist actions and distancing themselves from terrorism, they are still defending the terrorist and the rights of the victims have no place with them!” Gharibabadi wrote, referring to Western countries.
Iran’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty for Sharmahd after the top court had found “no reason or evidence” to reverse the ruling for the terrorist ringleader.
In February, the Iranian Judiciary sentenced the German-Iranian citizen to death on charges of “corruption on earth” by planning and orchestrating a series of terrorist acts against the Islamic Republic.
Sharmahd, a U.S. resident, was the ringleader of the Tondar (Thunder) terrorist outfit. He was accused of planning a series of attacks, including a 2008 attack against a religious congregation center in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, Fars Province, which killed 14 people and wounded hundreds.
Sharmahd and his Tondar group were also behind a 2010 terrorist bombing at Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s mausoleum in the Iranian capital, which left several people injured.
The 67-year-old was also accused of working with U.S. intelligence and spying on Iran’s ballistic missile program.