Today's Date:

Statement made by Mme Ramada Yade, Minister of State, responsible for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights

learned with the greatest concern that Mr Emadeddin Baghi, Iranian journalist and defender of human rights, has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment. In 2005 he was honoured with the French Republic's Human Rights Prize for his fight against the death penalty. I would add that, at the time, the Iranian authorities prevented him from going to France to receive his prize.

Emadeddin Baghi, who had already been imprisoned on the same grounds between 2000 and 2003, has once again been condemned for writing and publishing articles in favour of abolishing the death penalty. This conviction is, however, far from an isolated case, since press freedom is increasingly flouted in Iran: with newspapers suspended or banned and journalists systematically subjected to pressure, violations of this fundamental right have sadly become commonplace there. Having made safeguarding freedom of expression one of my key priorities, I shall be following particularly closely the case of Mr Baghi, whose fight against the death penalty I fervently support.

I call on the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect freedom of expression and its corollary, press freedom, in accordance with its international commitments./.