The Dutch government said it was freezing its contacts with Iran, decrying the hanging of an Iranian-Dutch woman in the Islamic republic as an "act committed by a barbarous regime".
"The Netherlands has decided to freeze all contacts with Iran" after obtaining confirmation of Zahra Bahrami's execution from Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands, foreign ministry spokesman Bengt van Loosdrecht told AFP.
"This concerns all official contacts between diplomats and civil servants," he said, adding that Dutch citizens of Iranian background were also advised to stay away from Iran.
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Iran hanged Bahrami, a 46-year-old Iranian-born naturalised Dutch citizen, on Saturday for drug smuggling after initially arresting her for anti-government protests, the Tehran prosecutor's office said.
Her execution brings the total number of people hanged in Iran so far this year to 66 -- on average more than two a day -- according to an AFP tally based on media reports.
Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal "was profoundly shocked by the news, he called it an act committed by a barbarous regime," the spokesman said.
"We didn't expect it at all," van Loosdrecht said, noting Iran's ambassador had "guaranteed" to Dutch authorities on Friday that "all judicial means had not yet been exhausted."
Of the freeze in bilateral contacts, "it will be up to us to decide whether (Iranian officials) can or cannot meet the person they wish to meet," he said.
The Netherlands had been seeking details about Bahrami's case and had accused Iranian authorities of refusing the Dutch embassy access to her because they did not recognise her dual nationality.
But a statement from the Iranian embassy in the Netherlands said the affair was an "internal issue and should have no impact on the mutual relations between the two nations.
"We all regret of the fact that an Iranian citizen has committed a crime that resulted in the capital punishment," said the statement.
Bahrami had been convicted involvement in narcotics trafficking, it added. "She was also a member of an international drug trafficking organization."
The embassy also said she had been travelling using Dutch, Iranian and Spanish passports, all of which had different personal information.
And it confirmed that Iran did not recognise dual nationality for its nationals. That meant her "other nationality did not affect her judicial case in Iran," said the statement.
Born in Iran, Sahra Bahrami had received Dutch citizenship and had lived in the country for several years.
The Dutch government "expresses its sympathy and its condolences" to Bahrami's family, foreign ministry spokesman van Loosdrecht said.
"We're still in contact with her family in Tehran, that's the reason why we wish to keep our ambassador in Tehran," he added.
Dutch citizens of Iranian background are also advised not to travel to Iran "given there are risks of being arrested and the sentences that are pronounced are very severe," he said.
