A company has sold technology to Iran that could have been used to crush anti-government protests.

Kingston-based Creativity Software is now facing parliamentary scrutiny over concerns it sold the product, which was used to round up activists communicating with their mobile phones.

The firm signed a contract to provide phone operator Irancell with a product that can pinpoint the location of mobile phone users and track their movements on August 1, 2009.

The deal was agreed despite government suppression of protesters disputing that year’s presidential election, which left 30 dead and thousands under arrest.

Protesters have later claimed the Iranian government used such technology to track, monitor and arrest them.

On Monday, human rights campaigner Lord Alton tabled parliamentary questions asking what Creativity Software has sold Irancell so far, who authorised the sales and whether more would be permitted.

He told the media that the fact a British company would sell technology that could be used to asphyxiate demonstrations in Iran was “unthinkable”, especially when it was known that many of the dissidents had been tortured.

The Government has so far not blocked the sale of such products to the regime.

But business minister and Kingston and Surbiton MP Edward Davey said: “Any exports to a regime like Iran need to be carefully considered, not just by government but by companies, whether large or small.

“I will be asking officials to consider whether this type of contract is covered by the current export licence regime, and the sanctions on Iran, and if not why not.”

Concern over the firm’s relationship with Iran was raised when Iranian journalist Saeid Pourheydar said he was shown transcripts of his mobile phone conversations, text messages and emails when he was jailed in Evin Prison, Tehran, last year.

He told BusinessWeek: “This is commerce of death for companies that place this technology in hands of dictatorships.”

The company’s website said its products, which allow operators to meet ‘lawful intercept requirements’, “can be deployed in any network and enable any device to be located”.

The company’s sales and marketing director Saul Olivares said: “We supply MTN Irancell. We do not supply technology to the Iranian regime. We act completely within the law.”

Amnesty International’s arms programme director Oliver Sprague called on the government to ban the export of any items security forces in countries such as Iran could use in brutal crackdowns.

He said: “Enabling governments like Iran with a known record of human rights violations to get hold of software that can track political activists is a reckless move.”

A spokesman for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, said: “The Government actively discourages all trade with Iran. The type of software in question is not covered by an export control, and therefore it does not appear the exporter has broken the law.”