
Iran summons UK diplomat to protest detention of a national
IRNA reported Sunday that the Foreign Ministry summoned the U.K. chargé d'affaires and called the detention of its national, who was not identified, a violation of international law and expressed strong dissatisfaction over what it characterized as politically motivated judicial actions.
The ministry warned the U.K. against further 'unconstructive behavior' that could damage diplomatic relations, IRNA said.
Iran's protest comes as ties between Tehran and London deteriorate.
Three men accused of being Iranian spies faced charges in a London court Saturday that they conducted surveillance on and plotted violence against U.K.-based journalists for an Iranian news outlet. On the day they were arrested two weeks ago, U.K. police took four other Iranian nationals into custody on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act in a separate investigation. They were released from custody Saturday, though counterterror police said that their investigation continues.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Controversial businessman Stephen Vaughan dies as son hails 'best man I've ever known'
Controversial Liverpool businessman Stephen Vaughan has died, his son has announced. The former football club owner's death was announced by his son, of the same name, in a Facebook post. Stephen Vaughan Jr, a former Liverpool reserves player, posted on social media: "Absolutely devastated the best man I've ever known RIP Dad our hero." Vaughan's football legacy is controversial after her bought Chester in 2001 from American Terry Smith and oversaw the club's promotion back to the Football League in 2004. The club ran into financial difficulty and collapsed into administration with debts of £8 million following relegation in 2009 – the same year Mr Vaughan also became the first owner to fail the Football Association's 'fit and proper person' test. READ MORE: Live updates as main road shut after police incident READ MORE: Woman who collapsed in holiday hotel room given devastating news It came after he had six fraud charges involving deception and obtaining high value cars dropped at Liverpool Crown Court in March 2008 while still serving as Chester City owner. They were alleged to have occurred between March, 2005, and March, 2006. The Liverpool-born businessman was also over the years a boxing promoter, a director of rugby league club Widnes Vikings and owner and chairman of Barrow. In late 2009 Mr Vaughan was disqualified from acting as the director of any company for 11 years following his involvement in an alleged £500,000 VAT fraud while he was owner of Widnes Vikings. Posting on Facebook, Liverpool-born former boxer Derry Mathews wrote: "They say he only takes the best and he's taking one of the greatest men ever, my first ever manager who got George out of retirement to train me, thank you for everything Ste people in the boxing world are going miss you. "No one could do a prep talk before a fight like you, you would have me wanting to walk through walls and with you by my side in changing rooms we could beat anyone. Gutted for my mate @stephen_vaughan_85, Pat and all the family on the loss. Goodnight God bless Ste." Mr Vaughan also bought Maltese club Floriana in April 2012 with his son, who captained Chester during his father's ownership and was appointed president soon after. The Vaughan family ended its association with Floriana in February 2014 but continued to have an involvement in Maltese football as sponsors of Mosta and Hibernians. The off-duty policeman died after he was struck in Colquitt Street in the early hours of Friday, December 19. His son's Facebook post was filled with tributes from friends and family, with many simply posting 'RIP' and broken heart emojis, while another said: 'So sorry to hear this sad news Ste, condolences to you and the family'. A second added: 'Condolences to the family Ste! What a gent your dad was!' And a third said: 'So sorry to hear this awful news about your Dad RIP. Sending my deepest sympathy and condolences and prayers to you and all your beautiful family.'
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Man who urged vulnerable woman to kill herself and self-harm given hybrid order
A man who persistently urged a vulnerable woman to kill herself and self-harm during video calls for his own sexual pleasure has been handed a prison sentence of nine years and four months. Tyler Webb, 23, repeatedly told his victim to end her life during weeks of what she called 'calculated psychological violence' because he wanted to watch her die on a video call. The defendant, of King Crescent South in Loughborough, was the first person in the country to be charged with encouraging serious self-harm online under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. He pleaded guilty in May to that charge and a separate charge of encouraging suicide between June 22 and July 11 last year. Handing Webb the hybrid order, meaning he will begin his sentence in hospital until he is deemed fit for prison, at Leicester Crown Court on Friday, Judge Timothy Spencer KC agreed that 'very largely' Webb was motivated by sexual gratification. He said: 'Your persuasion extended over a substantial period of time. The two of you were not in any sort of suicide pact – it was always you hang yourself for my pleasure.' Webb, with long black hair and wearing a blue t-shirt, sat in the dock with his head bowed down and hands clasped over his ears before hiding underneath his chair, where he remained for most of the hearing. He did not respond when asked to confirm his name. Prosecutor Louise Oakley said the woman, who cannot be named, met Webb on a Reddit forum where people shared mental health support, before the pair started video calling on the Telegram app where they would have conversations which were 'dark in nature'. Ms Oakley told the court that when Webb encouraged her to harm herself, 'in (the victim's) words, he loved it. Tyler Webb told her it turned him on'. Telling the court about Webb urging the woman to kill herself, Ms Oakley said: 'He told her he wanted her to do it during a video call so he could watch. He would berate her and say she had nothing to live for and she should die.' The court heard on one occasion Webb watched the woman attempt suicide by hanging, and when it failed he told her to try again. The woman contacted the police on July 3 last year because she feared Webb would encourage someone else to harm themselves after he asked her to 'sacrifice' herself, and he was arrested a week later. In a victim impact statement read aloud to the court by Ms Oakley, the woman wrote: 'I don't want to call this encouraging serious self-harm or suicide, I want to call this what it is – an attempted murder through psychological means. 'What Tyler did was not a mistake, it was calculated psychological violence. He didn't try to kill me with his hands but with his words. 'He had no turmoil while torturing me. He told me that my only value was in dying for his entertainment. 'I'm alive, but the life I have left is altered forever. My life is ruined – my mind and body have been severely damaged.' Ms Oakley told the court: '(Webb's) user profile on Reddit was identified as u/EmpathicNarcissist and a review of the account revealed numerous anime or gaming characters in various erotic poses with fatal injuries. All of the characters were female.' The prosecutor said the fact Webb refused to turn on his own camera during his video calls with the woman suggests he had insight that 'what he was doing was wrong and he was in effect looking out for himself, not her'. Ms Oakley told the court: 'We submit his offending involved pre-meditation, persistence and extensive encouragement and advice. He pressurised her and was at times unpleasant. 'Importantly, it appears he was sexually motivated and genuinely wanted to see her die. He knew her vulnerabilities, her previous traumas and knew she had previously attempted suicide.' Defence barrister Joey Kwong said Webb was in a 'dark time' with his mental health and 'wrongly he adopted such warped behaviour and distorted thinking' from material he saw online. The court heard that the defendant has been diagnosed with mental health disorders including autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and anxiety and depressive disorders, which have a 'significant impact on his life'. Dr Ajith Gurusinghe, a treating clinician for Webb who has been in hospital because he is 'unable to cope in the prison regime', told the court the defendant has 'shown some remorse but not completely'. Webb was also made subject of a restraining order during the hearing. Detective Constable Lauren Hampton, of Leicestershire Police, said: 'This case is not only truly shocking but also deeply concerning. 'Webb preyed upon a vulnerable woman at a time when she was reaching out to people in an online forum for help and support. 'He quickly gained her trust and then he began with his barrage of vile requests – all the time knowing that what he was telling her to do could result in her ending her own life. Thankfully, this did not happen, and the victim was able to report what had happened.' Alex Johnson, a specialist crown prosecutor in the Special Crime Division of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'Tyler Webb contacted a vulnerable woman online and encouraged her to commit serious self-harm and to end her life by hanging. 'He knew she was vulnerable and would act on his requests but went ahead with his persistent requests knowing she may well die. 'Fortunately, his repeated and insistent suggestions did not result in a death.' – The Samaritans can be contacted anonymously on 116123 or email jo@
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Judgment due in Palestine Action court bid for temporary block on terror ban
A High Court judge will give a decision on whether to grant a temporary block on banning Palestine Action as a terror group on Friday. Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, is asking the court to temporarily block the Government from banning the group as a terrorist organisation before a potential legal challenge against the decision to proscribe it under the Terrorism Act 2000. The move is to come into force at midnight after being approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords earlier this week, and would make membership and support for the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The Home Office is opposing bids to delay the ban from becoming law, and the potential launch of a legal challenge against the decision. At the end of a hearing on Friday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said he 'realistically' planned to give his decision after 5.30pm. Lawyers for Ms Ammori said that if the temporary block was not granted, a bid to appeal against that decision could be made on Friday evening. During the hearing, Raza Husain KC, for Ms Ammori, told the London court that this would be the first time a 'direct action civil disobedience group, which does not advocate for violence, has been sought to be proscribed as terrorists'. He added that his client had been 'inspired' by a long history of direct action in the UK, 'from the suffragettes to anti-apartheid activists, to Iraq war activists'. Quoting Ms Ammori, the barrister said that the group had 'never encouraged harm to any person at all' and that its goal 'is to put ourselves in the way of the military machine'. He continued: 'We ask you, in the first instance, to suspend until July 21 what we say is an ill-considered, discriminatory and authoritarian abuse of statutory power which is alien to the basic tradition of the common law and is contrary to the Human Rights Act.' The hearing later in July is expected to deal with whether Ms Ammori can bring a High Court challenge over the planned proscription. Mr Husain later said that to proscribe an organisation, the Home Secretary 'has got to believe that the organisation is concerned in terrorism'. Some 81 organisations are already proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Hamas, al Qaida and National Action. Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC, also representing Ms Ammori, told the court that if the ban came into effect the harm would be 'far-reaching', could cause 'irreparable harm to large numbers of members of the public', including causing some to 'self-censor'. The barrister named Normal People author Sally Rooney, who lives abroad and 'fears the ramifications for her, for her work, for her books, for her programmes' if she shows support for Palestine Action. 'Is the Prime Minister going to denounce her, an Irish artist, as a supporter of a proscribed organisation?' 'Will that have ramifications for her with the BBC, etc?' Ms Ni Ghralaigh asked. Ben Watson KC, for the Home Office, told the High Court there was an 'insuperable hurdle' in the bid to temporarily block the ban of Palestine Action. The barrister also said that if a temporary block was granted, it would be a 'serious disfigurement of the statutory regime'. He said Palestine Action could challenge the Home Secretary's decision at the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission, a specialist tribunal, rather than at the High Court. Friday's hearing comes after an estimated £7 million worth of damage was caused to two Voyager planes at RAF Brize Norton on June 20, in an action claimed by Palestine Action. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on June 23, saying that the vandalism of the two planes was 'disgraceful' and that the group had a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage'. Mr Justice Chamberlain said that an assessment on whether to ban the group had been made as early as March, and 'preceded' the incident at RAF Brize Norton. Four people were charged in connection with the incident.