Strasbourg, 07/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the EU to promote freedom of speech on the internet. Pointing out that freedom of speech is a fundamental value shared by all 25 EU Member States, the EP said the web is a vital means for political dissidents, human rights activists and independent reporters to express their views. The MEPs clearly name countries that repress web-dissidents - China, North Korea, Burma, Vietnam, Nepal, Cuba, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Tunisia and the Maldives - and companies and IT systems working with repressive regimes, like Yahoo, Google, Microsoft, CISCO Systems, Telecom Italia and Wanadoo (France Telecom). The EP adopted a resolution put forward by the ADL group. The ADL's French MEP, Jean-Marie Cavada, President of the Civil Liberties Committee, said it was incredible that the same companies that tell us it is technically impossible to filter illegal content like child pornography and the sale of Nazi memorabilia on the web find all sorts of ways of allowing the authorities in the worst dictatorships in the world to track down users of the internet. The resolution calls for a Code of Conduct to encourage companies to respect freedom of speech rather than collaborating with police in repressive countries. In a press release, the Greens/EFA group focusses on repression of dissidents views on the internet in China, explaining that on 3 July this year, of the 61 internet users known to be imprisoned round the world, 51 are imprisoned in China. The press release explains that the Greens/EFA called for web-dissidents from China, Iran and Tunisia to be given the Sakharov Prize in 2005, and have already shown support for freedom of speech and the write to express opinions on the internet.