UN Condemns Assassination of Iranian Diplomat in Yemen
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the assassination of Iran’s commercial attaché in Yemen, and voiced concern about the growing number of the terrorist attacks in the Arab country.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in a press briefing on Monday that Ban has expressed his condolences to the Iranian government and the family of Abolqasem Assadi, an Iranian diplomat assassinated in Yemen, over the tragic incident.
The UN chief has also called for the perpetrators of this "crime" to be brought to justice, his spokesman added.
Haq further noted that Ban is concerned that terrorist attacks and hostage-taking have continued in Yemen, and calls for the immediate release of all hostages in the Arab country.
He reiterated that according to the 1979 International Convention, hostage-taking is an offence of grave concern to the international community.
On January 18, Iranian commercial attaché in Yemen, Assadi, was shot dead by unknown gunmen outside the Iranian ambassador’s residence in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.
The assailants first tried to abduct the Iranian diplomat, but when they faced resistance, opened fire on him, shot him four times, and fled the scene immediately.
Assadi died of the gunshot wounds later in the day after undergoing surgery in a hospital in Sana’a.
In a statement issued following the terrorist attack, the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the bloody attack as an “inhumane and terrorist act.”
The statement also noted that such a terrorist attack unveils the violent and extremist nature of the Takfiri (extremist) groups, which have targeted the unity and solidarity in the Islamic Ummah (society).
The foreign ministry, however, stressed that it will exploit all its political and legal potential to pursue the case seriously, in cooperation with the Yemeni officials, in order to prosecute and punish those terrorists behind the assassination of the Iranian diplomat.
