Iran:Don't want to meddle but enough death penalties-Tajani

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 30 - Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Friday Italy didn't want to meddle in Iran's internal affairs but the Islamic Republic should call an end to death penalties being meted out to protesters against the mid-September killing of a young Kurdish-Iranian woman by hijab police.
    "We do not want to sour relations. I have said very clearly that I have no intention of interfering in Iran's internal politics.
    I have not received any member of the internal opposition because I do not want it to be thought that Italy is taking sides," said Tajani said as he left Montecitorio, the parliament building in Rome.
    "We only ask for an end to the death penalty and the violent repression of protesters and that there be a dialogue between the government and the protesters, especially with young people and women,' the Italian foreign minister added.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni on Thursday warned Iran to stop its repression of a wave of protests that started when the young Kurdish woman was killed by hijab police, saying that if it didn't then Italy's position would change.
    What is happening in Iran "for us is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it any longer, we have always had a dialogue approach but, if these repressions" in Iran "should not cease and there is no turning back, Italy's attitude will have to change," the premier said at her year end press conference.
    She said the possible change would have to be the subject of international consultations.
    Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier Tajani on Wednesday told Iran's new ambassador to Italy that death sentences against protesters involved in demonstrations sparked by the the mid-September death in hijab patrol custody of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini must stop, amid reports of police atrocities against women and girls as well as a growing count of executions.
    One of the latest deaths was that of a 14-year-old girl called Masoomeh with severe vaginal injuries, while a 12-year-old girl was repeatedly raped and killed for removing her hijab in school just before Christmas.
    Another recent victim of the Iranian authorities was a 17-year-old boy.
    Meanwhile, the Iranian regime has stepped up executions of protesters.
    On Tuesday a picture of a 25-year-old chess champion not wearing a hijab, Sara Khadim al-Sharia, went viral just as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi launched the umpteenth anathema against protesters saying "we will have no pity".
    Meloni has on several occasions stated that the bloody and brutal crackdown on dissent in the Asian country is unacceptable. (ANSA).