UANI

Iveco is a subsidiary of the Italian car manufacturer Fiat.

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"Another example is Fiat's subsidiary Iveco. The truck maker has since the early 1990s delivered thousands of vehicles to Iran and boasts on its Web site about its joint-venture assembly line in Iran. The problem is that some of these trucks, as shown on the nearby photograph, can also be used to transport Iranian missiles.

Iranian Opposition members say these trucks also serve another sinister purpose: the public hangings of homosexuals and dissidents. I have seen a photograph showing these executions on Iveco trucks at an October 2007 exhibition in Rome organized by Italy's largest organization against the death penalty, 'Nessuno tocchi Caino.'

Maurizio Pignata, director of Iveco's press office, assured me Wednesday that their 'vehicles, like the ones in the photograph with missiles in Tehran, are always sold for civilian purposes.' He added however that the company 'can't know the ulterior exploit of our vehicles. The photograph of the truck with Iranian rockets shows normal Iveco vehicles converted for different goals. In China they used our vehicles for public executions of prisoners. So we can't know if our trucks are used in Iran for military or repressive purposes.'" (The Wall Street Journal, "The Rome-Tehran Axis," 1/14/10)

Iveco trucks sold for "civilian purposes." (Courtesy of Getty)