Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 385: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress made to date on foot of the imprisonment of a person (details supplied); if he will request the aid of the international community with a view to ensuring that they are accorded family and legal visitations in line with international human rights criteria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37165/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware from my previous reply to him on 16 September, I am familiar with the case of Dr. Tajbakhsh, who was arrested at his home on 9 July in Iran. Our Embassy in Tehran is continuing to follow his case.

Unfortunately, like many of those arrested in the aftermath of the disputed Presidential elections of 12 June, Dr Tajbakhsh's conditions of detention remain unclear. Many hundreds continue to remain in detention in Iran and it is still not clear when, and by what process, these will be released. There appears to be some degree of disarray in the judicial system, with trial dates being set and then re-scheduled and diverging views internally within the regime as to how the protestors should be dealt with. Dr. Tajbakhsh is a US dual citizen and a noted and respected academic who has been accused of being a spy for a western intelligence agency and has had to participate in one of the televised "show trials". He had been arrested before on similar charges. He is therefore a "high-profile" detainee, whose prospects of being released are not helped by the authorities' misrepresentation of the post-election protests as an attempted revolution with international involvement.

While it is regrettable that there has been no progress so far in securing his release, I am encouraged by recent reports that Dr Tajbakhsh may have been allowed some limited access to his family, including occasional brief phone calls and supervised visits. Diplomatic efforts, led by the Swiss Embassy in Tehran which handles US interests, are continuing in an effort to secure Dr. Tajbakhsh's release. I understand that the US representatives also took the opportunity to raise directly the cases of all five of their nationals currently detained in Iran, including Dr Tajbakhsh, at the talks with Iran in Geneva on 1 October. It is now to be hoped that Dr Tajbakhsh's case will benefit from the intensive diplomatic engagement which is continuing between the US and Iran and which, so far, appears constructive. However, there are some worrying reports emerging today that Dr Tajbakhsh may have been sentenced to at least 12 years imprisonment. Our embassy in Tehran is following the matter closely.

The EU has been vocal in its reaction to the deterioration in human rights generally in Iran since the disputed Presidential elections, with a particular focus on the maltreatment of those in detention and the need for due legal process to prevail. Ireland has strongly associated itself with the serious concerns expressed by the EU regarding the recent deterioration in the human rights situation in Iran. Senior officials of my Department have met with the Iranian Ambassador to Ireland on several occasions since the June elections, to convey my strong concerns on these matters to him.

The Deputy can be assured that we will continue to bring these matters, and the case of detainees such as Dr. Tajbakhsh, to the attention of the Iranian authorities. We will also avail of the opportunity to express our concerns about the deterioration of human rights in Iran, both nationally and in an EU context, as we did most recently at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last month.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 386: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the appeal against the guilty verdict handed down to a person (details supplied); the situation regarding their house arrest; and if the human rights record of Burma has been raised. [37196/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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On 11 August, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to a further 18 months in detention. She was found guilty of breaking the terms of her house arrest by virtue of the illegal intrusion of a US national into her compound in May.

She lodged an appeal against this conviction but, not unexpectedly, the appeal was turned down by judges at a divisional court on 2 October. The appeal will now be taken to a higher court. I have no date on which these proceedings will be completed.

As I indicated in a statement on 11 August, and since then in this House, the arrest, trial and conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi on the most spurious of charges further compounds the already bleak situation in Burma, where repression against members of the opposition, the ethnic groups and the population at large continues unabated and human rights and fundamental freedoms are systematically denied. We fear that the sentence indicates the regime's intent to silence Aung San Suu Kyi in the lead-up to the elections they plan to hold next year. These elections will be held on the basis of a discredited new Constitution, which excludes her from running in them.

There have been no changes in the situation regarding Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest while her appeal proceedings are underway, but there have been a number of recent developments in Burma which involve her, which I welcome. In the last two weeks, the junta has facilitated two meetings between Aung San Suu Kyi and the Labour Minister, Aung Kyi, who is the official liaison officer between her and the Government. In addition, Aung San Suu Kyi has been permitted, at her request, to meet the Heads of Mission of the Embassies of the United Kingdom (local EU Presidency), the United States and Australia in Rangoon on 9 October. It would be premature to conclude that these developments represent any substantive change of direction on the part of the regime but we are monitoring the situation carefully. We are also maintaining contact with the United States with a view to following how its new strategy of engagement with the regime is developing and if it seems to be producing any positive results.

In the meantime, the European Union will continue to maintain its sanctions against the Burmese regime, sanctions which were strengthened following the conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi. We will also continue to call for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners and for the launching of a genuine, inclusive political dialogue in Burma, as we did in Ireland's statement at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 28 September.