Activist Says West Shrugging Off Iranian Rights Issue

October 24, 2006 -- Iranian investigative journalist Akbar Ganji today accused the West of ignoring human rights issues in Iran in exchange for stronger trade relations with Tehran.

He also warned that a military intervention in Iran would destroy the country and encourage fundamentalism, rather than establishing democracy.

Ganji, who served a six-year jail sentence for articles denouncing a string of murders of Iranian intellectuals, was speaking to a European Parliament committee in Strasbourg.

(AP)