TEHRAN -- Iran on Saturday summoned the British ambassador to strongly protest “riotous and terrorist” acts against Iranian expatriates attacked at polling stations set up in the UK for the presidential election in the Islamic Republic.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Robert Macaire was summoned over problems caused for Iranian voters in a number of British cities, including London and Birmingham, where videos of a crying female voter being attacked by a group generated a wave of outrage among Iranians.
The British ambassador, Khatibzadeh said, was notified of Iran’s strong protest to the UK for allowing “counterrevolutionary terrorist elements and those opposing democracy” to insult voters and executive personnel.
The envoy was also told that the British government and police have failed to fulfill their duties to ensure security at polling stations for Iranian voters, the spokesman added.
Macarie was reminded that “democracy will be realized at the ballot boxes and not in the moves of a few number of rioters on the streets,” Khatibzadeh said.
Iran also conveyed its strong criticism of “the adventurous and divisive performance of the Persian-language media based in Britain, including BBC Persian and Iran International, which tried to promote a boycott of the election, encourage people to attend street protests and disrupt the process of the election through their programs and their method of covering news reports”, Khatibzadeh said.
“It was also emphasized that such measures that run counter to democracy and which encourage riotous moves will be etched in the memory of Iranian people.”
Iran’s chargé d’affaires and deputy head of the mission to the UK, Mehdi Husseini Matin, said Saturday that three people have been arrested so far after the attack by foreign-backed terrorists on the female Iranian voter in Birmingham.
In a tweet, he said Iran’s mission is in contact with the woman and his family who were injured in the assault, saying the terrorists are still threatening them.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s embassy in London will seriously pursue the case,” the diplomat emphasized.
On Friday, millions of Iranians went to the polls inside the country and abroad to elect a successor to President Hassan Rouhani, who has served two four-year terms.
Some reports said counterrevolutionary elements, who had gathered outside Iranian diplomatic missions in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, attacked the people who had turned out for the vote.
In post on its Twitter account

late Friday, the Iranian Judiciary’s High Council for Human Rights censured the Commonwealth member states such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand for failing to provide security for the Iranians voting in the presidential election at the embassies of their host countries.
“Today, the Iranians residents of Britain, Australia and New Zealand, who went to the polls to determine their own fate, were harassed and attacked despite police presence. These countries, along with Canada which deprived half a million Iranians from the elections, are all taking cue from the royal office,” the tweet read, referring to the Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II lives.
Canada’s government also did not allow the setting up of polling stations in the country in order for Iranian expats to participate in the election, in breach of international norms.