Sarkozy condemns Iran’s “violence directed at demonstrators”
Updated: Monday, June 15, 2009
18:00GMT--02:00PM/EST
Washington, 15 June (WashingtonTV)—Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, today “condemned the violence directed at demonstrators” in Iran and called for Iran to shed “full light” on the result of the presidential election, AFP reports.
In a strongly-worded released statement, Sarkozy said he “condemned the violence directed at demonstrators, the arrest of opposition members and political figures, restrictions on public liberties, freedom of expression and communication and the constraints imposed on Iranian and foreign nationals.”
Following the announcement of the official results of the election by Iran’s Interior Ministry, the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi described the elections as a “charade” and called for the election monitoring body, the Guardian Council to cancel the election and pave the way for new polls.
Following that, according to AFP, upward of 170 individuals, including politicians and writers have been detained. At least one protester has reportedly been shot during clashes today, following a demonstration of Mousavi’s supporters in Tehran.
"It would be unacceptable if vote-rigging had falsified the result of the elections, against the democratically-expressed will of the Iranian people," Sarkozy said in a statement, adding: “Full light must be shed on this situation.”
Earlier today, France’s Foreign Ministry summoned Seyyed Mehdi Miraboutalebi, Iran’s ambassador to France, to hear its concern over the election results.
Instead of presenting himself, Miraboutalebi defended the outcome of the election in a statement and in turn accused French officials of “hasty and irresponsible” remarks.
He said that with these remarks the French were “supporting the rioters and those who want to undermine the security” of Iran.
The statement released by the Iranian embassy in Paris, further recalls the riots that took place in France following Sarkozy’s election in 2007, stating that the “demonstrators had been brutally and mercilessly oppressed” during those riots.
Therefore, the statement continues, “neither France, nor any other country is in a position to raise the slightest doubt concerning the recent presidential election” in Iran.
In a statement released by the French Foreign Ministry, after the summoning, the French ministerial spokesperson, Eric Chevallier said: “We have expressed … our concern as to allegations of irregularity surrounding the Iranian elections… We have also underlined that Iran’s security forces must protect the French embassy, which was the object of a hostile demonstration (Monday),” reports AFP.
Due to extensive blocking of foreign media and Iranian reports from Iran today, no details have as yet been available on the reported demonstrations in front of t
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg expressed “serious concern” at Tehran’s crackdown on opposition protesters and called for a probe into the conduct of the presidential election.
Source: AFP
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