OSLO, Kurrent News: Norway has asked an Iranian diplomat to leave the country, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, adding that the move came after Tehran last week requested the departure of a Norwegian diplomat.
“The foreign ministry has ... requested that an Iranian diplomat leave Norway,” it said in a statement without identifying the person in question.
Tehran had summoned the Norwegian ambassador in Iran on February 24, the ministry said, to protest the Scandinavian country’s decision to grant Iran’s former consul general in Oslo political asylum.
Mohammed Raza Heydari was granted asylum in Norway last month after he quit his job to protest the Iranian government’s violent repression of opposition demonstrators.
“In the same meeting, Iranian authorities asked that a Norwegian diplomat leave Iran. This was justified by the decision to grant Heydari asylum in Norway,” it said.
In early January, the diplomat announced he had resigned from his position after Tehran’s crackdown on opposition demonstrators on December 27 left at least eight people dead and hundreds of others either injured or imprisoned.
Heydari lost his diplomatic passport when he quit and said he was seeking political asylum in order to obtain documents that would allow him to travel freely.
“Norway reacts strongly to the fact that Iranian authorities have asked a Norwegian diplomat to leave Tehran due to an asylum case in Norway.
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