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'Crocodile tears' over Mahsa Amini: Iran calls out France for silence on Minab school bombing
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi targeted his French counterpart Jean-Nool Barrot after he marked the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death.
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Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has accused France of shedding “crocodile tears” over the 2022 death of Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini while staying silent over the US strike on an elementary school in Minab.
This came ahead of Tehran sealing a French language centre affiliated with the embassy in the capital on Sunday. In response, the Emmanuel Macron administration said it would summon Iran's ambassador and take appropriate measures, Reuters reported.
A day prior, Araghchi targeted French foreign minister Jean-Nool Barrot after he marked the anniversary of Amini’s death. The 22-year-old woman died in police custody on September 16, 2022, after being detained in Iran over allegations of not wearing the hijab in line with government rules. Her death led to massive protests in Iran.
Araghchi on Saturday accused France of hypocrisy, citing its colonial-era violence in Algeria and Paris’ “silence” over the killing of Iranian schoolkids in Minab during the US-Israeli war on Iran.
“1.5mn Algerians were slaughtered by France in their War of Independence,” Araghchi said on X.
He added that fewer than one-tenth of them had been recorded by Paris and accused France of refusing to apologise for its colonial crimes. “Stop your crocodile tears [Jean-Nool Barrot],” Araghchi said. “Your silence when the US massacred our schoolkids said it all.”
Why Araghchi mentioned Algeria
Araghchi’s reference to Algeria goes back to France’s 132-year colonial rule over the country and the Algerian War of Independence.
The war lasted from 1954 to 1962. France deployed lakhs of troops to fight the National Liberation Front, or FLN, which sought independence. The war reportedly involved guerrilla warfare, bombings, torture, assassinations and violence against Algerian civilians.
The war ended with the Evian agreement in March 1962 and Algeria’s independence later that year.
Over 5.6 million Algerians were killed during the French occupation of Algeria between 1830 and 1962, when the country gained independence, the presidency said earlier.
In May 1945, French forces were reported to have violently suppressed demonstrations in Setif, Guelma and Kherrata. Algerian government puts the death toll at over 45,000.
During the war, French forces were also accused of arbitrary detention, forced displacement, disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Historical records document the use of electric shocks, mock drowning, beatings and sexual violence during interrogations, particularly during the Battle of Algiers. History.com reports more than 100,000 Muslim deaths during that time.
France has acknowledged parts of its past but has not issued the formal apology demanded by Algeria for colonial-era crimes. In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron called colonialism in Algeria as a “crime against humanity”, but stopped short of a state apology.
The 'schoolkids' reference: what happened in Iran?
On February 28, US-Israeli strikes on Iran killed over 150 people at the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School in Minab. This included 123 children, according to a UN fact-finding mission.
Faulty intelligence, outdated imagery and heavy reliance on AI contributed to the US strike on the elementary school, a Pentagon investigation later found.
The UN report said there were reasonable grounds to believe that the Donald Trump administration committed war crimes in strikes on the school and a sports facility. It found that the school was a civilian site and said the US failed to adequately verify its target.
Why Iran shut the French language centre
Iranian authorities on Sunday sealed the Centre for French Language in Tehran after a judicial order. They accused it of operating without a licence and conducting activities beyond language teaching, Reuters reported.
Tehran alleged that the centre identified people, built networks and helped skilled Iranians leave the country. France rejected the accusations and said the closure was an attack on its cultural presence in Iran.
The dispute follows the July detention of two French embassy staff in Tehran. France said one was assaulted and diplomatic protections were violated.
Iran denied the allegations and said the two were questioned over a meeting linked to national-security investigations. France later expelled two Iranian diplomats in retaliation.
