EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AGAIN CONDEMNS IRANIAN GOVERNMENT VIOLENCE, TORTURE AND EXECUTIONS

For the fourth time since the death at the hands of Iran’s morality police of Mahsa Jina Amini on September 16, 2022, the European Parliament has spoken out on the actions of the Iranian regime and overwhelmingly adopted a new resolution condemning the latest attacks on women and women’s rights defenders and the arbitrary detention of EU nationals.

In its resolution the Parliament censures the continuing deterioration of the human rights situation in Iran and the brutal killings of women; it calls for the immediate release of all human rights defenders and victims and an end to arbitrary arrests, police violence, torture, imposition of death sentences and executions.

As on previous occasions, Parliament reiterates its call for criminal investigations into crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction, the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as a terrorist organization and the punishment of those responsible for human rights violations in Iran, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi and Prosecutor General Mohamad Yafar Montazeri.

Last October, coinciding with the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s assassination, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2023 to Jina Mahsa Amini and the Women, Life and Liberty Movement led by women demonstrating en masse in Iran and protesting against hijab regulations and other discriminatory laws. A few days earlier, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize would be awarded to Narges Mohammadi, a prominent Iranian activist and journalist, who is currently imprisoned as a victim of arbitrary detention.