THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Dutch foreign minister summoned Iran’s ambassador Saturday over reports that a Dutch-Iranian woman detained after participating in protests against Iran’s disputed presidential election in 2009 was hanged.
The Foreign Ministry was not immediately able to independently confirm reports in Iran that Zahra Bahrami had been executed, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bengt van Loosdrecht said.
Iranian state television reported she was hanged Saturday for possessing and selling drugs. The report said that initially Bahrami was arrested for committing “security crimes,” but it did not say what became of that case.
Protesters took to the streets in 2009 after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, saying the vote was marred by fraud and that opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi was the rightful winner.
Bahrami had been jailed in Iran since December 2009. Dutch diplomats were denied access to her because Iran refused to recognize her Dutch nationality. The Dutch government reportedly hired lawyers to defend her,
Bahrami was born in Iran, but gained Dutch citizenship after moving to the Netherlands.
