A meeting in Tehran between Baroness Ashton of Upholland and Iranian dissidents has infuriated hardliners, prompting accusations of interference in the country’s affairs.
During her visit to Iran, the EU foreign policy chief met seven leading women’s activists, including Gohar Eshgi, the elderly mother of Sattar Beheshti, a dissident blogger who was arrested for criticising the regime and beaten to death in a Tehran jail in 2012.
Clutching a photo of her son, the frail woman, who is campaigning for his killers to face justice, bent forward to be kissed on the cheek by Lady Ashton. Photographs of their encounter at the Austrian Embassy in Tehran spread online, attracting praise for the EU chief from activists at home and abroad.
Iranian hardliners, many of whom