Foreign affairs minister Uri Rosenthal did not have any direct contact with his Iranian counterpart about the case of the Dutch-ranian woman Zahra Bahrami, who was hanged at the weekend, he told MPs on Thursday.

Rosenthal told MPs ahead of a debate on the case that he had done all he could to prevent the execution.
‘Because we were misled by the Iranian’s sketch of the time frame we did not get as far as the most serious steps, such as personal contact with the Iranian minister or other contacts at a still higher level,’ Rosenthal said in a statement.
The Iranians had indicated to the Netherlands last Friday that the appeal process was not yet over. The next day, the 46-year-old was hanged.
Iranian dissident groups told the Telegraaf on Thursday they had unconfirmed reports Bahrami may have died while being tortured during interrogation.