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Iran

Answer

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London and our embassy in Tehran maintain contact with a wide range of Iranians in many different fields. We are seriously concerned about human rights and political freedoms in Iran. Ministers and officials raise our concerns frequently with the Iranian authorities. We also take action through the EU, and in United Nations fora. We maintain a dialogue with those inside and outside the Iranian Government who are working to support reform and the rule of law. As my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said in a speech at the International Institute of Strategic Studies on 13 March,"We will not take sides in Iran's internal political debates—these are for Iranians to resolve and they are perfectly capable of doing so themselves. Given their history, Iranians are understandably sensitive about any hint of outside interference. But this does not mean that we should stop standing up for principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms which we hold dear to ourselves and which so many Iranians aspire to: freedom of speech; transparent, genuinely democratic and accountable government; respect for the rights of minorities and women; an independent judiciary””."Ministers and officials have no contact with an organisation proscribed under the Terrorism Act, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which purports to be a democratic opposition movement, nor with the National Council for the Resistance of Iran, a group with which it has close links. The MEK has been responsible for numerous attacks resulting in many deaths. Its claims to be a democratic party are hard to square with a history of violence and its authoritarian nature, and it has virtually no support inside Iran.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

444 c82W;444 c82W; 52185

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Politics and government Iran

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk