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Catherine Ashton demands Iranian government to halt death sentences against journalists and bloggers

03 February 2012 07:56 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Konul Jafarli â€“ APA. The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton issued a statement on the arrests and death sentences against journalists and bloggers, APA reports. The statement reads: â€œI am extremely worried about the growing harassment and persecution of journalists and internet bloggers in Iran. The right to free speech is an internationally enshrined fundamental human right, which Iran itself has freely signed up to respect and protect. In the past few weeks, security forces have reportedly arrested many journalists, including Sahameddin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki, Hassan Fathi, Farshad Ghorbanpour, Ehsan Houshmand, Fatemeh Kheradmand, Saeed Madani, Shahram Manouchehri, Marzieh Rasouli,
Arash Sadeghi and Mohammad Soleimani Nia. I call on the Iranian authorities to release these journalists and restore their rights to freely communicate their views. I am equally concerned about the continued interference with and censoring of the internet. Iran has gone far beyond filtering access and content: three bloggers Saeed Malekpour, Ahmadreza Hashempour and Vahid Ashghari as well as web developper Mehdi Alizadeh Fakhrabadâ€“ have recently been sentenced to death on charges of â€œspreading corruption on earthâ€ and â€œmoharebâ€ (enmity against God). Civil society organizations have raised serious concerns over the fairness, transparency and speed of the court proceedings. The EU holds a strong and principled position against the death penalty. I repeat my call on Iran to review these sentences, to halt all pending executions and to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty.â€

Catherine Ashton said in a statement that Iran hasn’t provided a response to queries about its nuclear program, despite reminders, European Union foreign policy chief Tuesday. "I have written to Iran’s chief negotiator Dr. Jalili setting out proposals which would allow Iran to draw benefits in the nuclear, political and economic field," Ashton said. "Despite reminders, so far I have received no response to proposals to enter into a confidence building process based on reciprocity and a step-by-step approach." She also said that sanctions on oil are of particular significance because of their effect on the revenues of the Iranian government. Oil exports count for approximately 80% of Iran’s exports and 70% of the government’s revenues, the statement said.