The Netherlands is wrong to refuse Iranian students places on nuclear engineering masters programmes, a Hague court has ruled.

The case was brought by a group of Iranian students who had been denied access to Dutch university courses and nuclear power plants.

The ban was introduced in 2008 by Education Minister Ronald Plasterk and Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen. It came in response to a 2006 UN resolution calling on countries to prevent Iran from building up its nuclear know-how.

The students claimed the sanction was unconstitutional as it discriminated against Iranians. What’s more, it equally hit Iranian dissident refugees and people with Iranian citizenship who were born in the Netherlands.

The director of the Foundation for Refugee Students UAF said that the Netherlands had “rightly backed down”, adding that “this extremely ill-considered measure had a highly stigmatising effect.”
 

(c) Radio Netherlands Worldwide