BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 19. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot of hypocrisy after Barrot paid tribute to Mahsa “Jina” Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran four years ago.
In a post on X, Araghchi criticized France’s historical record and accused Paris of refusing to acknowledge what he described as colonial-era crimes.
“1.5 million Algerians were slaughtered by France in their War of Independence,” Araghchi wrote, adding that fewer than one-tenth of those deaths were officially recorded by Paris and that France had not apologized for its colonial actions.
Araghchi also referred to the February 28 strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab, where Iranian officials reported that 156 people were killed, including 120 schoolchildren and 26 female teachers.
The Iranian foreign minister accused Western countries of remaining silent over the incident and said this demonstrated what he described as double standards in addressing human rights issues.
The comments came on the fourth anniversary of Amini’s death. Amini was detained by Iran’s morality police in September 2022 over allegations that she had not properly worn the mandatory hijab.
Amnesty International has said there are credible reports that Amini was tortured and subjected to other forms of ill-treatment before she fell into a coma and died at Kasra Hospital in Tehran on September 16, 2022.
The dispute reflects continuing tensions between Iran and Western governments over human rights issues, historical disputes and regional developments.
