Tehran protests the execution of 3 Iranians in Saudi

Iran on Sunday summoned the Saudi charge d’affairs to protest the execution of three Iranians who had been convicted of smuggling drugs, according to the official Iranian news agency.

The agency quoted a senior Iranian diplomat as saying Iran “strongly protests” the executions.

He called on Saudi Arabia to respect international conventions such as the 1963 Vienna Convention.

The three were arrested when they were “smuggling a large quantity of hashish into the Kingdom by the sea,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the Minister of Interior as saying.

The General Court convicted the three Iranians and “the sentence was endorsed by Appeal and Supreme Courts; and a royal order was issued to execute the sentences,” SPA added.

The sentence was carried out on Sunday in the eastern city of Dammam.

This brings to 145 the number of death sentences carried out in Saudi in 2015, compared to 87 in 2014, according to AFP.