TEHRAN, June 20: The European Union on Sunday gave Iran a tough rebuke over the Islamic republic's human rights record, saying it was "gravely concerned" at widespread abuses despite several rounds of talks with Tehran.

"The European Union continues to be gravely concerned at the continued and numerous violations of human rights in Iran," said a statement issued by Ireland, the current holder of the EU presidency.

"These include unequal rights for women; the use of torture in prisons and other places of detention, and a culture of impunity for perpetrators," said the statement released by the Irish embassy here.

It also pointed to "the lack of an independent judiciary, the use of the death penalty, as well as reports of the continued use of amputations and other cruel punishments; a continuing campaign against journalists and others who seek to exercise their freedom of opinion and expression, a flawed electoral process which impedes the democratic choice of the Iranian people, and discrimination on religious grounds."

The discussions here on Monday and Tuesday were the fourth round of an EU effort, started in December 2002, to engage Tehran's clerical rulers on human rights. The statement said the EU delegation had "raised the cases of 40 prisoners of conscience at present in detention in Iran, who should be released immediately and definitively."

It did not say how the Iranians responded to the demand, but the tone of the statement appeared to back up comments from diplomats that the talks had netted "no concrete results".

Furthermore, a senior official in Iran's hardline judiciary was quoted as saying last week that there were not even any "political prisoners" in the Islamic republic.

The only thing positive the statement had to say was that the "session had taken place", that the atmosphere was "frank and open" and that since the last talks Iran had allowed a visit by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion.

As well as discussing human rights issues, the EU is also looking for progress in Iran on three other sensitive topics - nuclear proliferation, the Middle East peace process and terrorism.

Progress on these matters has been set as conditions to the possible signing of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and the statement spelled out clearly that far more progress on the rights issue was needed before a trade deal can be considered.

"The EU... underlined that the purpose of the dialogue was to bring about an improvement in the human rights situation in Iran. This is indispensable for the development of wider and eventually closer relations between the EU and Iran," the statement noted. -AFP