Eurasia Press & News
Aftenposten, the Norwegian daily reported today that Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the stoning on an Iranian man “inhumane and barbaric.”
The Norwegian daily asks “will it prompt Statoil to stop doing business there?”.
Aftenposten, July 10, 2007:
Norway blasts stoning in Iran, But will it prompt Statoil to stop doing business there?
Norway’s Foreign Ministry called in the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday, to strongly protest Iran’s execution by stoning of a man convicted of adultery.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the stoning “inhumane and barbaric.”
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said he was “deeply upset” by what he called an “inhumane and barbaric method of punishment.”
Støre, who’s supposed to be on summer holiday, said he was deeply worried that the executed man’s female companion Mokarrameh Ebrahimi will suffer the same fate. Støre vowed to work with other countries to pressure Iran into blocking her stoning.
Norway’s embassy in Iran has been ordered to help ensure that international representatives be allowed to visit Ebrahimi in jail.
Norway has long condemned stoning and already had lodged protests with Iranian officials. The Parliament’s foreign relations committee threatened to cancel a long-planned visit to Iran late last month if the threatened stoning took place. It didn’t, and the Norwegian parliamentarians proceeded with the visit to a country where state oil company Statoil does business.
It remained unclear whether the Norwegian Foreign Ministry’s strong criticism of the stoning would have any consequences on Statoil’s business activities in Iran.
Iranian officials ended up allowing the stoning, admitting it took place in a rare confirmation on Tuesday. An Iranian judiciary spokesman said Jafar Kiani was stoned to death last Thursday in Aghchekand village, 200 kilometers west of the capital.
