Swiss ambassadors with headscarves to the regime: protest movement in Iran encountered bad mood and freezing cold – 6 points for Putin’s mega show in the stadium

The photo shows Ambassador Maya Tissafi, head of the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), in front of an Iranian flag. Opposite her is Ali Asghar Kaji, adviser to the Iranian foreign minister. The diplomat wears a headscarf, the two smile. The atmosphere seems relaxed.

The Iranian state agency IRNA published the photo on February 19. In a short article she writes that Switzerland and Iran have discussed developments in Yemen and Syria. Among other things, Iran has called for more support from the international community in helping the victims of the earthquake in Syria.

That the human rights dialogue, which Swiss diplomacy likes to emphasize, also took place during the visit to Tehran, is not mentioned in the article. The FDFA confirms this only upon request. However, the photo does not come from the human rights dialogue, but from a second meeting about, among other things, the situation in Syria.

Nevertheless, the Irna report caused a stir in circles critical of the regime in Switzerland. Center National Councilor Marianne Binder of the parliamentary group “For Human Rights in Iran” recalls the protests that the regime has violently suppressed in recent months. They broke out after the death of 22-year-old Jina Amini in September. She was arrested for not wearing her headscarf correctly and died in police custody. The protests have claimed countless lives. Protesters were arrested, dozens sentenced to death and several executed.

“The Iranian regime tramples on human rights and despises Switzerland when it talks to us about human rights and has them executed, tortured and raped at the same time,” says Binder. She does not see why “a free Swiss diplomat hangs around in a veil and also allows himself to be photographed”. That such an image would be exploited by the regime was “obvious” and a completely wrong signal to “the courageous women and men who take off the veil and protest against the moral police and the Revolutionary Guards”.

In fact, official Switzerland is currently repeatedly faced with such criticism. The “Blick” reported on Thursday about a visit by the Swiss ambassador to Iran, Nadine Olivieri Lozano, to the holy shrine of Fatima Masuma in the city of Qom, the country’s religious power center. She also wore a headscarf. And on February 11, circles critical of the regime sparked outrage when federal president Alain Berset officially congratulated the fundamentalist government in Tehran on the 40th anniversary of the revolution.

The subject has occupied Swiss foreign policy since Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey wore a headscarf during her visit to Tehran in 2008. The reason for wearing the headscarf at the time was that it was part of the protocol in Iran and that anyone who visited the country had to adapt.

In an interview with this newspaper, Ambassador Tissafi gave her first public comment on her visit, the human rights dialogue and the headscarf issue. “Wearing a headscarf is the law in Iran. As diplomats, we must abide by the laws of the host country, just as we expect the representatives of other countries in Bern and Geneva to do so.”

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Head of department Tissafi is particularly disturbed by the heavy criticism of Ambassador Olivieri Lozano and her visit to Qom. Bern made a conscious choice to fill the post in Iran in favor of a woman, also as a signal to the mullahs: “There are only five ambassadors in Tehran, one of whom is Swiss.” If they now demand that she no longer shows herself with a headscarf, she must be replaced by a man. “That also bothers me from a feminist point of view,” says Tissafi.

As for the talks in Tehran, she takes the position that it is “always better to have a political dialogue than to break it off”. Western countries and the UN also expressly appreciate Switzerland’s efforts in Tehran. And as far as the human rights situation is concerned, few Western institutions can take their criticisms directly to the regime’s representatives.

In particular, Tissafi and her delegation provided the Iranian authorities with a list of death row inmates whose sentences should be commuted or revoked. “We condemned the Iranian government’s violent response to the current protests and called for respect for human rights,” Tissafi said. “And once again we have called for an end to the executions of people who peacefully participated in demonstrations.” The right to a fair trial and the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly must be respected.

“People listened to us carefully, took the list and asked questions in individual cases,” says Tissafi. “We have been promised to take a closer look at the list.” In the past, in certain cases, which Switzerland had campaigned for together with other countries and organisations, the death penalty had been abolished and converted to imprisonment. “The dialogue is not ineffective,” concludes Tissafi. In addition, she counts on a long-term effect in contact with the regime in Tehran: “Constant dripping wears out the stone.” (bzbasel.ch)