Iranians executed in S Arabia ‘deprived of lawyer’

TEHRAN, Nov. 10 (MNA) – Deputy FM for Parliamentary and Consular Affairs has said Saudi Arabia denied having lawyers for three Iranians tried and executed in a Saudi court. Hassan Ghashghavi who was speaking to the press on the sidelines of joint meeting of ambassadors and provincial governors on Monday, said that the court trial traced back to 2011 when Saudi government had announced that it had hauled a ship carrying 500kg of narcotics, arresting 11 onboard, 6 of whom were Pakistani and 5 others were Iranian by nationality; “two of Iranians got a verdict of no guilty by the court; however, the remaining 3 others got a death penalty, which has recently been confirmed by royal edict and all 3 were beheaded,” he told reporters. “Many Iranians are still subject to death in prisons of foreign countries; we have in our prisons foreign nationals who have received death penalty. Beheading a foreign national had drawbacks in foreign policy terms; however, Saudi Arabia and Saudi court failed to observe the principle of good neighborliness,” Ghashghavi said. “On Sunday, Foreign Ministry’s Social Affairs office summoned Saudi chargé d'affaires to voice strong protest over execution of 3 Iranians, to which Saudi official promised communicating the protest to Riyadh,” he added. “Saudi Arabia had refused to cooperate with Iranian side in coordinating for choosing a lawyer for 3 Iranians during trial on the grounds that narcotics crime in Saudi Arabia are dealt as among serious crimes,” he told reporters.