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6/25/09

DW: EU parliament head prepared to lead delegation to Iran

For the complete report from the Deutsche Welle click on this link

EU parliament head prepared to lead delegation to Iran

Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi's appeals to the EU to respond to the violence in her country are bearing fruit: the president of the EU parliament is considering sending an unprecedented delegation to Tehran. EU Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said Wednesday that he is prepared to lead a delegation of European deputies to Iran to study allegations of fraud in the recent election that returned hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to another four years in power."I will recommend to the European parliament political groups to send a delegation of the European parliament as quickly as possible to Tehran," Poettering said after talks with Ebadi in Brussels. "I have never done this before but this...is so severe and important that I'm ready to go myself as president of the European parliament to show our solidarity with the people in Iran," he said.

Poettering said he had no way of knowing whether Iranian authorities would permit such a delegation to enter the country, adding that he would "follow the diplomatic procedure."

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