Catherine Ashton calls for release of Green leaders

The European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, expressed on Thursday that explanations provided by Iranian ambassadors to the European countries regarding the house arrest of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi were “unconvincing.”

Ashton who is also the Vice-President of the Commission called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the Green Movement leaders in order to “dispel the impression that the continued restrictions under which they are held constitute a means of deliberate suppression of political opposition in Iran.”

Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, made the following statement on 24 March:

"Following my last statement of 4 March, and contacts between the EU and Iranian authorities in Tehran, there have been a series of requests to the Ambassadors of Iran in EU capitals for explanations regarding the continued restrictions on the freedom of movement and communications applied to prominent political leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.

The explanations offered emphasise only that they are being detained for their own protection. This justification remains unconvincing, and does not explain why they have not been allowed to communicate normally. The immediate and unconditional release of these two men would dispel the impression that the continued restrictions under which they are held constitute a means of deliberate suppression of political opposition in Iran.”

GVF