As the Deputy will be aware from my previous reply to him on 16 September, I am familiar with the case of Dr. Tajbakhsh, who was arrested at his home on 9 July in Iran. Our Embassy in Tehran is continuing to follow his case.
Unfortunately, like many of those arrested in the aftermath of the disputed Presidential elections of 12 June, Dr Tajbakhsh's conditions of detention remain unclear. Many hundreds continue to remain in detention in Iran and it is still not clear when, and by what process, these will be released. There appears to be some degree of disarray in the judicial system, with trial dates being set and then re-scheduled and diverging views internally within the regime as to how the protestors should be dealt with. Dr. Tajbakhsh is a US dual citizen and a noted and respected academic who has been accused of being a spy for a western intelligence agency and has had to participate in one of the televised "show trials". He had been arrested before on similar charges. He is therefore a "high-profile" detainee, whose prospects of being released are not helped by the authorities' misrepresentation of the post-election protests as an attempted revolution with international involvement.
While it is regrettable that there has been no progress so far in securing his release, I am encouraged by recent reports that Dr Tajbakhsh may have been allowed some limited access to his family, including occasional brief phone calls and supervised visits. Diplomatic efforts, led by the Swiss Embassy in Tehran which handles US interests, are continuing in an effort to secure Dr. Tajbakhsh's release. I understand that the US representatives also took the opportunity to raise directly the cases of all five of their nationals currently detained in Iran, including Dr Tajbakhsh, at the talks with Iran in Geneva on 1 October. It is now to be hoped that Dr Tajbakhsh's case will benefit from the intensive diplomatic engagement which is continuing between the US and Iran and which, so far, appears constructive. However, there are some worrying reports emerging today that Dr Tajbakhsh may have been sentenced to at least 12 years imprisonment. Our embassy in Tehran is following the matter closely.
The EU has been vocal in its reaction to the deterioration in human rights generally in Iran since the disputed Presidential elections, with a particular focus on the maltreatment of those in detention and the need for due legal process to prevail. Ireland has strongly associated itself with the serious concerns expressed by the EU regarding the recent deterioration in the human rights situation in Iran. Senior officials of my Department have met with the Iranian Ambassador to Ireland on several occasions since the June elections, to convey my strong concerns on these matters to him.
The Deputy can be assured that we will continue to bring these matters, and the case of detainees such as Dr. Tajbakhsh, to the attention of the Iranian authorities. We will also avail of the opportunity to express our concerns about the deterioration of human rights in Iran, both nationally and in an EU context, as we did most recently at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last month.