AQAJARI CASE TAKES EU CLOSER TO US OVER IRAN
By an IPS Correspondent
BRUSSELS 18 Nov. (IPS) As in Tehran the students protest movement denouncing a death sentence imposed to Dr. Hashem Aqajari, a veteran scholar and Islamist reformer got more political, diplomats said the case would bring closer European and American policies over Iran.
Diplomats in Brussels, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Iran Press Service on Monday that the death verdict handed over by the conservatives-controlled Judiciary on Mr. Aqajari, the arrest of Mr. Naser Zarafshan, the lawyer of political and intellectual dissidents murdered by the regime and the continuation of crackdown on reformists, has placed the Europeans in a difficult position in their differences with Washington over Iran.
"There is no doubt that in the continuation with our policy of dialogue with Tehran, we have to be more forceful on issues of human rights and democracy, joining the Americans in leaving President Khatami and the reformists around him to his faith and siding with the Iranian people who, as seen by the recent students protest movement, want democracy and freedoms", he said.
As this source was speaking to IPS, the Iranian official news agency IRNA said the EU had welcomed the decision of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic in ordering the Judiciary he controls to revise the death sentence.
"Everybody welcomes this decision. The EU is carefully following Aqajari's case as well as issues of human rights in Iran", Iranian official news agency IRNA quoted Ms. Cristina Gallach, the spokeswoman for Mr. Xavier Solana, the Organisation’s Minister for Security and Foreign Affairs as having pointed out.
"The EU is very concerned about the sentence on Aqajari and would notably continue to press Iran over human rights issues, but it would pursue trade and other talks with the Islamic Republic", she said, adding that the EU’s position had been conveyed by Mr. Solana to the Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Kamal Kharrazi in a meeting in Brussels Monday.
In fact, while Canada, the US and all major international human rights organisationd had reacted quickly to the sentence, the EU, which is chaired by the tiny Denmark, had kept an uneasy silence over the controversial verdict until 15 of November, when the official spokesman for the French Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed "concern", adding that Paris' position was also that of the 15-members Union.
Talks on an EU-Iran trade deal were initially to have started on October 29, but were postponed after Tehran said it would not accept EU’s "preconditions" for going ahead with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), referring to EU’s urging Iran to distance itself from Arab and Palestinian terrorist organisations opposed to peace between Israel and Palestine, have more respect for human rights at home and renounce efforts for acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Gallach confirmed telling IRNA that the EU gives "great importance to the TCA as well as the political dialogue which includes human rights, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and Middle East", conditions that are also presented by the United States for resuming relations with the Islamic Republic, which US President George W. Bush has labelled as an "Evil State", but that the EU rejects, saying it would go ahead with its policy of "critical dialogue" with Iran.
Gallach said Solana and Kharrazi, during their long meeting that lasted more than an hour, discussed three main issues, Iraq, EU-Iran ties and terrorism.
Kharrazi wanted to know about EU's efforts to avoid the war in the region, IRNA quoted Gallach.
Iran’s ruling clerics are anxious that US’s possible attack on the neighbouring Iraq would "inevitably" also include Iran and obviously look to the 15-members European Union, which is Iran’s main trading partner and political supporter, as a "lever" to persuade the United States not to attack Iran.
"Our leaders belief that we can pit Europe against America is a childish thinking, this kind of thinking reminds of Mao Tse Tung’s three worlds concept, urging the third world to join the second against the first one, or the two super powers of that time, the United States and the defunct Soviet Union", observed Mr. Mohsen Sazegara, a reformist journalist and scholar, noting that the structure of the world’s capitalism is much stronger, intertwined and cohesive than one may imagine.
"Kharrazi expressed Iran’s concern (about being attacked by the US) to Solana and confirmed to him his country’s readiness to be cooperative with the Americans in case they attack Iraq", the diplomat told IPS.
According to a recent "USA Today" report, Iranian and American diplomats are meeting over issues concerning possible fields of cooperation, like assisting US pilots coming down in Iranian territory over American planes entering Iran airspace during their raids over Iraq.
On his part, Solana stressed on the necessity of the success of the mission of UN weapons inspectors team led by the Swedish Hans Blix to Iraq, observing that Mr. Blix has the support of all the international community.
Iran has welcomed Baghdad’s decision to comply with the last UN’s Security Council resolution and has urged Iraq to fully cooperate with the UN’s arms inspectors in order not to give Washington any pretext for "military adventurism in the region.
On EU-Iran ties, both sides were pleased on the progress in
Brussels-Tehran ties and talks on trade agreement and the political dialogue would begin in December.
Kharrazi and Solana discussed international cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The Iranian side asked the EU to include the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the so-called political wing of the Mojahedeen Khalq Organisation, -- an Iranian group that is based in Baghdad, is armed, backed, financed and trained by the Iraqis, and has appointed Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the wife of Mr. Mas’ood Rajavi, the leader of the group, as Iran’s president --, on its terrorist list, said Gallach.
"Solana said the EU's terrorist list is constantly updated and that Brussels would look into Iran's demand seriously".
The MKO is already on several Western nations’ black list, including the US, UK, Germany and some European countries, but not the NCRI, which is a cover for the Marxist-Islamist organisation.
Gallach recalled that the MKO has already been put on the EU's terrorist list.
Solana expressed his great concern over the terrorist acts committed by some extremist groups in the Middle East and asked Tehran to use its influence to put an end to violent acts, said Gallach.
Iran is accused by the United States and Israel to be one of the main financial and military supporters of Palestinian organisations opposed to peaceful settlement of the Middle East crisis, but Tehran denies, saying its backing is "spiritual".
However, some Iranian foundations controlled directly by Mr. Khameneh’i, like the "Shahid", provides monthly financial allocations to the families of Palestinians killed during suicide operations against Israelis and take the wounded in Iranian hospitals, known to be among world’s most expensive.
"Overall today's talks between Mr. Solana and Mr. Kharrazi was positive, and we are looking forward for a frank dialogue with Iran", Gallach told IRNA. ENDS EU IRAN 181102