European statements in condemnation of Iran’s execution of 27-year-old wrestler Navid Afkari have been met with a barrage of fire from the country’s hard-liners who typically view such criticism as interference in the Islamic Republic’s affairs.

Javan, the ultraconservative daily affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), took particular aim at Hans-Udo Muzel, Germany’s ambassador in Tehran, after the latter posted a chain of tweets in Persian, relaying his government’s message against the Islamic Republic’s “attempt to silence opposing voices.”

The paper called on Iran’s Foreign Ministry to immediately expel “the spy,” a label it also applied to all other Western ambassadors on missions in Iran. Javan highlighted what it called a campaign by “the Western propaganda machine” that sought to “politicize the execution.” It also attacked “the terrorist US president” Donald Trump who shed “crocodile tears” for the convict.

Afkari was arrested following a 2018 anti-government protest over livelihood grievances. He was later convicted of “waging war against God,” a charge that Iranian prosecutors have leveled against a large number of dissidents in the past. Afkari was also found guilty of stabbing a public employee to death.