Late last week we reported about a lawsuit brought against Nokia Siemens Networks by Iranian journalist Isa Saharkhiz and his son Mehdi Saharkhiz. They claim that technology sold by Nokia Siemens to the Iranian government was used to violate basic human rights and capture Isa Saharkhiz, who is still a prisoner by the way.
NSN had a few days to sit on this and think about what to say, and last Friday they had this statement to offer:
We have no quarrel with Isa Saharkhiz and his son; indeed Nokia Siemens Networks condemns human rights violations around the world. But the Saharkhiz lawsuit is brought in the wrong place, against the wrong party, and on the wrong premise.
The Saharkhizes allege brutal treatment by the Government in Iran, but they have not sued that government. Instead, they are seeking to blame Nokia Siemens Networks for the acts of the Iranian authorities by filing a lawsuit in the U.S., a country that has absolutely no connection to the issues they are raising.
Mobile communications are a powerful tool in the promotion of human rights and the rule of law. They have done far more to empower those who fight for democracy than to empower oppressive governments. It is true that all modern mobile communications networks include a lawful interception capability; this capability became a standard feature at the insistence of the United States and European nations. These countries needed the capability for law enforcement reasons that are common throughout the world. It is unrealistic to demand, as the Saharkhiz lawsuit does, that wireless communications systems based on global technology standards be sold without that capability.
It’s an open and shut case really. I’ll repeat what I said in my previous article, that as much as I sympathize with Mehdi and the hell his father is going through right now, it feels like the lawsuit they brought against NSN was nothing more than a media stunt to garner attention towards their terrible situation.
[Via: ZD|Net]