The European Union is 'closely following' the plight of two borough-based refugees languishing in an Iranian jail, Chris Patten, European Commissioner for External Relations, has said.

In a letter to Theresa Villiers, Conservative MEP for London, Mr Patten said his priority was to ensure Ebrahim Khodabandeh, from Barnet, and Jamil Bassam, from Hendon, are being well treated.

The pair were arrested in Syria last April before being flown back to Iran and imprisoned - a move which broke the Geneva Convention on refugees.

The Iranian government claims the men were caught on the Syrian border with Iraq with US$1million. The men's families say they were in Syria to meet relatives from Iran.

Mr Patten wrote: "The commission continues to follow these specific cases. While the cases are complex and delicate - involving links to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq known as the People's Mojahedin of Iran, a group which opposes the Iranian regime and is on the US and UK's lists of banned terrorist organisations - the wellbeing of these two persons and their right to fair treatment by Iranian authorities obviously remain of interest to us all."

The family and friends of Mr Khodabandeh and Mr Bassam claim the men are likely to be suffering torture in Iran.

They have criticised the UK's policy of dialogue with Iran, claiming it is having no success in encouraging the Iranian regime to improve its human rights record.

But Mr Patten said: "Dialogue remains the most viable option available. The human rights dialogue launched in 2002 has yielded some small but tangible results."

Baroness Emma Nicholson, MEP for the South-East, has visited the men in prison in Iran and said they were being well treated - but she was criticised by the men's relatives for being too close to the regime in Tehran.

In April, the country officially banned the use of torture.