Text of report by French news agency AFP
Paris, 17 March 2010: Paris, Berlin and London have asked the European Union to take measures aimed at preventing the jamming of foreign broadcasts in Iran and censorship, particularly by banning exports of certain technologies, the Quai d’Orsay [home to the French Foreign Ministry] announced on Wednesday [17 March].
The French, British and German foreign ministers, Bernard Kouchner, David Miliband and Guido Westerwelle, have asked in letters to their partners for “the adoption of a European statement condemning Iran’s jamming of foreign television and radio stations and calling for an immediate stop”, explained ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.
The jamming “clearly has the goal of preventing the Iranian population freely exercising its right to information”, the spokesman said, confirming a report in French daily Le Figaro.
France, Great Britain and Germany are also calling for “equipment and technology that contribute to censorship and attacks on freedom of communication to be added to the list of goods that may not be exported to Iran”, he continued.
[Passage omitted: Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi accused European firms on Tuesday of providing Iran with software enabling the monitoring of mobile phone and SMS communications]
Bernard Kouchner, Guido Westerwelle and David Miliband sent letters to head of European Union foreign policy Catherine Ashton and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos with a view to the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting on 22 March.
Spain currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
(Source: AFP news agency, Paris, in French 1239 gmt 17 Mar 10 via BBC Monitoring)
