European Parliament website, February 10, 2010-02-11

Press release
MEPs deplore Iran’s playing for time on nuclear issue
 
External relations – 10-02-2010 – 13:03
 
Iran should “restore the transparency of its nuclear programme”, say MEPs in a resolution adopted on Wednesday. Parliament deplores militia demonstrations outside EU embassies in Tehran and wants the EU to impose an export ban on surveillance technologies that could help Tehran to persecute Iranian dissidents.
MEPs deplored the Iranian government’s latest rejection of a compromise over the nuclear issue. In a resolution adopted on Wednesday by a show of hands, Parliament said that Tehran “was apparently seeking to use this issue both as a means of distracting attention from the crisis within the country and as tactics to win time”.

Parliament acknowledged Iran’s right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but insisted that Tehran should “restore the transparency of its nuclear programme”. MEPs want to see “a negotiated long-term solution” to the issue.

Militia demonstrations outside EU embassies

MEPs were concerned that demonstrations held outside EU embassies in Tehran on 9 February had reportedly been orchestrated by the Basij militia, and called on the Iranian authorities to guarantee the safety of diplomatic missions.

The resolution deplored the cancellation by Tehran of a scheduled European Parliament delegation visit in January this year. Parliament expressed its hope that the Iranian side would review its position on direct contacts.

Right of assembly and freedom of expression

MEPs “wholeheartedly supported the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people”, called for the immediate release of detained peaceful demonstrators, and demanded that the right of assembly and freedom of expression be fully respected by the government. 

Parliament condemned “the Iranian authorities’ efforts to censor the print media and to jam radio, television and the internet, such as the BBC”, and welcomed the progress on the already launched project on European news in Farsi.

Ban surveillance technology exports

The resolution “strongly criticizes international companies, and notably Nokia/Siemens, for providing the Iranian authorities with the necessary censorship and surveillance technology, thus being instrumental to persecution and arrests of Iranian dissidents”. Parliament called on the EU institutions immediately to “ban the export of surveillance technology by European companies to governments and countries such as Iran”.

Finally, MEPs strongly condemned death sentences and executions in Iran and called for the abolition of the death penalty.