(CNN) -- Nokia Siemens Networks said Friday it rejects a lawsuit filed in a U.S. court by a jailed Iranian journalist and his son, who have accused the European telecommunications company of providing the Iranian government the tools to spy on its own citizens.
"The Saharkhiz lawsuit is brought in the wrong place, against the wrong party and on the wrong premise," the company announced in a statement e-mailed to CNN. "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 issue they are raising".
Earlier this week, New Jersey-based Iranian blogger Mehdi Saharkhiz filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court against Nokia Siemens Networks on behalf of his father, Isa, who has been in an Iranian prison since July 2009.
The lawsuit accuses the telecommunications company of helping the Iranian government establish "spying centers" that allegedly were used to monitor Saharkhiz's cell phone communications. Isa Saharkhiz is just one of hundreds of outspoken critics of the Iranian government to have been arrested as part of a wide-ranging crackdown on opposition leaders over the past year.
"Nokia gave the technology that made this arrest possible," said Mehdi Saharkhiz, in an interview with CNN. "When these people arrested my dad they said, 'We traced your phone'".
This is not the first time the joint venture between Nokia and Siemens has come under fire from activists critical of the company's dealings with the Iranian government. Nobel Peace Prize-winning Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi previously accused Nokia Siemens Network of supplying the technology to allow the government to monitor cell phone calls and text messages. There have also been reports of boycotts of Nokia products inside Iran. CNN
