On Thursday 8 February, the European Parliament strongly condemned the executions of peaceful demonstrators in Iran (see EUROPE 13335/40), including Mohammad Ghobadlou, reiterating its support for the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement which won the 2023 Sakharov Prize (see EUROPE 13312/19).
In a joint resolution adopted by a show of hands, MEPs called for the unconditional and immediate release of all those arbitrarily condemned to death and all prisoners of conscience, including EU nationals such as Ahmadreza Djalali and European official Johan Floderus (see EUROPE 13311/7). Condemning Iran’s brutal repression of peaceful protesters, MEPs called for an impartial, independent and transparent investigation into allegations of human rights violations against demonstrators.
The European Parliament also urged Iran to commute all death sentences and completely abolish capital punishment. More than 750 executions were carried out in Iran in 2023, a sharp increase on previous years.
The European Parliament is of the view that the Council should impose more sanctions on officials and entities implicated in serious human rights violations, including the Supreme Leader, the President and the Prosecutor-General, and include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist organisations.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/ari (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)