23 Nov 2024
Tuesday 23 December 2014 - 00:19
Story Code : 8822

European Parliament visit to Iran cancelled

European Parliament visit to Iran cancelled
It has been cancelled a European Parliament delegation visit to Tehran after the group asked to meet two Iranian activists awarded a top EU rights prize.

A delegation of the European Parliament (EP) members was scheduled to make a six-day visit to Iran to hold talks with Iranian political figures, Press TV reported.

While, Fars News Agency quoted a senior Iranian advisoras saying that Tehran will not accept a precondition declared by the European parliamentary delegation for visiting Iran.

"The European parliamentary delegation has set a precondition for visiting Tehran and Iran will not accept this prerequisite as it runs counter to our policies," Senior Advisor of the Iranian parliament speaker Hossein Sheikhol-Eslam told FNA on Saturday.

The European parliamentary delegation have planned to meet with two of Iranian activists.The parliamentarians are to be carrying letters of congratulations, which they hope to deliver during their visit.

Those prisoners they were going to visit were human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and filmmaker Jafar Panahiwho were on Friday awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, previously won by the likes of Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela.

Also, European Parliament chief warned controversial visit by MEPs will be cut short if Tehran does not grant them access to Freedom of Thought award winners.

The planned visit to Iran has been criticized by centre-right MEPs, US politicians, Israeli leaders and Jewish lobby groups as harming international efforts to curb Irans nuclear activities. The EU recently adopted strengthened sanctions as part of this effort, critics of the visit have pointed out. Several MEPs dropped out of the delegation during the past week, explaining that the visit would send mixed signals.
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