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German MEPs demonstrate against stoning in Iran |
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Wednesday, 29 December 2004 |
Iran Focus
 Berlin, Dec. 29 - Three members of the European Parliament took part in a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in Berlin in protest to the Iranian regime’s practice of stoning people to death.
A large number of Iranian exiles yesterday afternoon joined the three The MEPs, Alexander Alvaro, Holger Krahmer, and Alexander Lambsdorff, from the German Free Democratic Party.
Those present called for a halt to dialogue between the European Union and the Iranian regime as long as Iran continues to violate human rights, making particular reference to the stoning sentence which the regime has said it intends to carry out on an Iranian woman by the name of Hajieh Esmailvand. The sentence was met with international outcry. The MEPs also protested against the planned execution of a 19-year-old girl called Leyla Mafi, who was sentenced for having illicit relationships.
Supporters of the main Iranian opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, were present at the demonstration and chanted slogans against the Iranian regime. The NCRI's Javad Dabiran said that Iranian exiles had gathered in support of the three MEPs initiative to condemn human rights abuses in Iran and to denounce the recent European deal with the Iran which he said “turns a blind-eye to the violations of human rights in Iran”.
Mr. Lambsdorff said that he delivered a letter to the embassy protesting the Iranian government’s sanctioning the “barbaric method of stoning people to death”. |
