Japan has lodged a protest with Iran over the detainment of its ambassador to Tehran in April, the Japan Times reported on Sunday.
Ambassador Hiroyasu Kobayashi was detained and questioned by Iranian authorities while he and his wife attended a dinner hosted by an Iranian acquaintance on April 28. Alcohol, which is officially banned in Iran, was served at the dinner, which was also attended by other foreign diplomats.
Authorities stormed the dinner and prevented attendees from leaving or even using their cell phones. The reason for the raid remains unclear.
Kobayashi had a business card with him, but not his Iranian government-issued “diplomatic card.” The business card was ignored and the ambassador was questioned.
The incident could be a violation of diplomatic immunity, which prohibits the arrest or detainment of foreign envoys.
Japanese ambassador to #Iran detained in April- Islamic Republic has never respected diplomatic norms on its soil. https://t.co/yTCUNGdfXK
— Jason Rezaian (@jrezaian) August 21, 2016
In January, media outlets and student groups linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called for protests against the Saudi Arabian embassy after that country executed a prominent Shiite cleric. The protesters set the Saudi diplomatic missions in both Tehran and Mashhad on fire.
According to international law, a nation’s embassy is regarded as “inviolable,” with article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (.pdf) declaring that “the receiving State is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the mission against any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of mission or impairment of its dignity.” Despite this obligation, Iran has failed to protect foreign missions in its territory on at least two occasions prior to the attacks on the Saudi missions.
In November 1979, the American embassy was stormed by Iranian students who took 90 people, including 66 Americans, hostage. Fifty-two of the American hostages were held for 444 days.
In 2006, rioters attacked the Danish embassy with rocks and firebombs after a Danish newspaper published cartoons depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
[Photo: Fars News ]