European Parliament calls for EU travel ban on Iranian president

Photo: European Parliament calls for EU travel ban on Iranian president

A group of 75 lawmakers from all major political groups in the EU assembly signed a petition, which was submitted Thursday to EU president Austria and FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, asking them to prevent Ahmadinejad from traveling to Germany to watch his team play in the June 9-July 9 World Cup and banning him from traveling to any of the other 24 EU member states.

Only EU member states can declare a travel ban, which is unlikely because world powers, including Britain, France and Germany, are currently debating how to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis.

"We do not wish the Iranian president to come to Europe for very clear reasons - his attacks on Israel, his denials concerning the Holocaust," said Jana Hybaskova, member of the European People's Party, the biggest group in the European Parliament. "What we want is not a short term solution, we want the European Council to deal with the issue like it dealt with Lukashenko."

The Council of EU Ministers has declared a travel ban on Belarus' authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko and 30 other top Belarusian officials following the March presidential elections in the ex-Soviet country which the EU considered rigged, the AP reports.

Ahmadinejad has repeatedly questioned Israel's right to exist, said the country should be wiped off the map and called the Holocaust a 'myth.'

Iran has qualified for the World Cup in Germany and Ahmadinejad was reportedly considering going to Germany to cheer on his team, but Hybaskova said the Iranian embassy inBrussels had informed her he was unlikely to go.