Reuters Middle East Highlights 0730 GMT Feb 22

02/22/01
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UNITED NATIONS - U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson has expressed her dismay that Iran blocked the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Bahai International Community from attending a meeting in Tehran this week to discuss combating racism.

Robinson, ``while appreciating the efficient arrangements of the Tehran meeting ... expressed her dismay at the 'procedural and technical' difficulties that did not allow the (two groups) to attend the regional meeting,'' her office said in a statement released on Wednesday at U.N. headquarters.