VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRK #0089 0751715
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161715Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2632

UNCLAS REYKJAVIK 000089 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/IR AND DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SOCI IR IC
SUBJECT:  ICELANDIC STATEMENT ON AKBAR GANGI:  ONLY IN 
COORDINATION WITH EU 
 
REF:  STATE 42097 
 
Post presented reftel request (for a statement calling for 
the release of Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji) to Icelandic 
MFA Head of International Institutions Division Nikulas 
Hannigan March 16.  Hannigan stated that the Government of 
Iceland does not have a tradition of making statements on 
individual foreign affairs issues.  Typically, it will align 
itself with European Union statements, as it did with a 
November 2005 EU declaration dealing with the issue of 
Iranian political prisoners.  Hannigan said he had asked his 
colleagues in Brussels to watch for an EU request to join in 
making a statement on Ganji and that Iceland would probably 
sign on if one were forthcoming. 
 
VAN VOORST