BREAKING NEWS

Iranian diplomat says he'll seek asylum in Finland

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 13:50

HELSINKI— An Iranian diplomat who quit his job at his country's embassy in Finland said Monday he will apply for political asylum there.

Hossein Alizadeh said he stepped down as the embassy's No. 2 because of the Iranian government's crackdown on citizens protesting the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last year.

"I cannot accept, tolerate this fraud election. The situation got worse because ... my people are being killed still," Alizadeh told reporters in Helsinki.

He is the second Iranian diplomat in Europe known to have quit to protest the Iranian government's clampdown on dissent. Iranian consular official Mohammed Reza Heydari left his post in Norway in January and was granted political asylum there.

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