§ Ms PerhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on human rights in Iran. [99951]
§ Mr. HainThere have been a number of significant improvements in Iran's human rights record since President Khatami's election in May 1997. We welcome the Iranian government's commitment to develop an Islamic civil society based on respect for the rule of law. The people of Iran now enjoy significantly greater freedom of expression, despite recent closures of a number of reformist publications, many of which have subsequently reopened under different titles, compared to two years ago. February's local council elections, the first in Iran's history, were also particularly welcome, putting local power in the hands of the people and re-affirming the Iranian people's support for the reform process. There have also been some modest improvements in the situation of women, notably with the appointment of Iran's first four women judges and its first woman Vice-President. Over 50 per cent. of the university intake in Ran is now female.
However, we and our EU partners have a number of outstanding concerns. We in conjunction with our EU partners co-sponsored the United Nations General Assembly resolution on human rights in Iran adopted on 18 November which again underlined continuing international concern about certain Iranian human rights policies. We remain particularly concerned about the discrimination practised against some religious minorities (notably the Baha'is), the continued detention on espionage charges of a number of Iranians, including 518W 13 members of the Iranian Jewish community, the violations of the legal rights of prisoners, and the high number of executions. There is continuing discrimination against women in the courts and society generally. We and our EU partners continue to raise these issues with the Iranian authorities in an effort to improve Iran's human rights record.