Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the degree to which he and his EU or UN colleagues continue to engage with the authorities in Iran regarding addressing human rights issues arising from arrest and imprisonment of academics; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43520/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am gravely concerned about the deterioration in the human rights situation in general in Iran since the Presidential election in 2009. We have witnessed the continued repression of civil and political rights in Iran, including in relation to freedom of expression and assembly, arbitrary arrest and torture in detention. This highly targeted repression has been particularly stringent against not only academics but also members of Iran's religious and ethnic minorities, political activists, journalists and bloggers, human rights defenders and members of the legal profession in Iran who represent clients detained by the authorities. These actions are in clear violation of Iran's international obligations under the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, of which Iran is a signatory. I drew attention to the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran in my address to the UN General Assembly on 27 September. In my remarks, I called upon Iran to respect and fulfil the international obligations it has undertaken in the field of human rights, in both law and practice. I have also made clear our concerns about the treatment of human rights in Iran in contacts with members of the Iranian Government, most recently at a meeting which I had with Foreign Minister Mottaki in Dublin on 9 June. I have written to Foreign Minister Mottaki on a number of occasions to express my concerns about, and to raise specific aspects of, the human rights situation in Iran.

Ireland has also been active in raising issues relating to human rights in Iran within the specific UN bodies which deal with human rights. Along with our EU partners, we have traditionally supported the annual Resolution on the human rights situation in Iran which is adopted by the General Assembly and have again been active in relation to this important resolution at the current session. In our national intervention at the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva on 17 September, we raised concerns relating to the death penalty in Iran. I urge the Iranian authorities to introduce a moratorium on executions pending the abolition of the death penalty in accordance with UN General Assembly resolutions 62/149 and 63/168.

The EU has also been pressing at the highest levels for Iran to abolish the cruel and inhumane practice of stoning and to meet its international human rights obligations. A detailed démarche was delivered on behalf of the EU in Brussels to the Iranian Ambassador to the EU on 4 November in relation to several specific human rights cases including the case of Ms Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who has been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery. Officials in my Department have raised this case with the Iranian Ambassador most recently earlier this month following worrying reports that Ms Ashtiani was scheduled to be imminently executed. Ireland will continue to raise our concerns regarding the human rights situation in Iran, both bilaterally and at multilateral organisations.