European Parliament head hopes to lead delegation to Iran

(BRUSSELS) - EU parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering said Wednesday he hopes to lead an unprecedented delegation of European deputies to Iran to study an election which appears to be "a massive fraud".

"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 meeting Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi.

"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.

Asked whether he thought the Iranian authorities would allow such a European delegation to enter, he replied: "this has to be seen... we have to follow the diplomatic procedure."

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned in Tehran Wednesday that the regime would not back down in the face of opposition protests over the disputed presidential vote, amid soaring tensions between Tehran and the West.

It was the latest indication that the clerical regime will not brook dissent over the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad despite a wave of public demonstrations and complaints that the June 12 vote was rigged.

For Poettering, the outgoing parliament president, the regime's crackdown on peaceful protests shows that the election was not fair.

"The behaviour of the regime is for me an indication that there has been a massive fraud, otherwise, the regime would act more reluctantly," he said.

"We are demanding from the regime in Tehran to stop violence and to allow the demonstrators to demonstrate."

He dismissed claims from the Iranian government that the US, British and Israeli secret services are influencing what is taking place there.

"I think this is unbelievable because those demonstrations are very spontaneous demonstrations," he stressed

Lawyer and human rights activist Ebadi said the first step needed to solve the crisis was that "government violence should stop" then "all those arrested post-elections should be released unconditionally."

After that the presidential election result should be officially annulled and fresh elections be held under the supervision of the United Nations or another international organisation, she said.

Finally, if peace is to be restored "compensation should be paid to all who have been injured and to the family of those killed."

Before meeting with Poettering, Ebadi addressed some 150 protesters near the European parliament buildings in Brussels, with many carrying or wearing something green, the adopted colour of the losing Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi.