Brussels, 02/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's foreign affairs committee strongly condemned the execution of Zahra Bahrami, a Dutch-Iranian national, in Tehran on 29 January and is calling for the EU to impose sanctions against all politicians and civil servants working for the Iranian regime involved in human rights violations. EU-Iran relations and the issuing of new EU sanctions should not only cover the nuclear programme, but also human rights violations since the presidential elections of 2009, explain the MEPs in a report by Bastiaan Belder (EFD, the Netherlands) adopted on 1 February. The MEPs say the time has come to introduce a broader strategy for Iran, moving beyond nuclear issues alone to deal with human rights issues and the role of the country in the region. With regard to existing EU sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme, the MEPs call on Catherine Ashton to examine the effectiveness and impact of all the sanctions in place to ensure the regime has not found a way to wriggle round them. The foreign affairs committee is extremely concerned that the number of executions in Iran in 2009 was the highest in the decade, putting Iran at the top of the world's league table for executions. The resolution will be voted through by the plenary in March. (H.B./transl.fl)