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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| EU ties Iran relations to treatment of protestors |
| 2009-07-28 |
| The EU's External Relations Council will formulate the block's policy toward Iran based on the Iranian government's treatment of protesters. Pointing to the treatment of those who protested against the official election results, Germany's Minister of State for Europe, Guenter Gloser, said before the monthly meeting Monday "we will now be talking about options for action if the situation does not improve." "The current development fills us with great concern," said Gloser. "People who express their views are imprisoned, reporting is heavily restricted, and opposition [members], human rights activists as well as journalists are detained." The EU's External Relations Council is usually made up of the Member States' foreign ministers. However, in this case, the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be represented by Guenter Gloser. The council will meet on Monday in Brussels, Belgium, and will be headed by Swedish Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. Also speaking ahead of the meeting, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner urged the release of a French citizen from an Iranian prison, reported EU Business. Clotilde Reiss, a French teacher at the Isfahan University of Technology, has been detained for almost a month in Tehran's Evin prison, on suspicion of spying. The French government has flatly rejected the allegations. "She must be freed in the next few days," Kouchner said. Following the disputed June 12 presidential election, which returned incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to office with almost two-thirds of the votes, two of the three opposition candidates dismissed the official results as "fraudulent" and demanded a re-run, and many of their supporters took to the streets in support of their demands. The violence in the Iranian capital resulted in a number of deaths and some of the detainees of the unrest also died in custody, drawing harsh criticism from Iranian officials and public. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 The EU is like a bulldog. A very old, blind, arthritic, toothless bulldog. Woof? |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-07-28 19:47 |
| #1 The fecklessness of the EUros in their relations with Iran never cease to amaze me. They've never gotten anything before, so what's their answer? Double secret probation! |
| Posted by: Spot 2009-07-28 08:11 |