MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
22.4.2008
pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules of Procedure
by Angelika Beer, Raúl Romeva i Rueda, Monica Frassoni
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
on Women's rights
B6‑0206/2008
European Parliament resolution on Women's rights
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the Council declaration of 25 February 2008 on the legislative proposal on criminal law in Iran,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on this subject,
– having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas, since the launch of the 'One-Million-Signature' Campaign for legal equality between men and women in Iran on 27 August 2006, over 10 activists have been arrested or are otherwise facing persecution, because of their peaceful efforts to lobby for legislative change, whereas the Campaign's website has been blocked on numerous occasions by the authorities,
B. whereas a prominent member of the Campaign, women's rights and environmental activist Khadijeh Moghaddam, was arrested on 8 April 2008 and only released recently after payment of the high bail of one billion rials (approximately € 50 000),
C. whereas the human rights situation in Iran has continued to deteriorate since 2005 and whereas executions alone almost doubled in 2007, making Iran the country with the highest execution rate per capita after Saudi Arabia and representing together with Yemen the three countries where executions are carried out for crimes committed by people below 18 years of age,
B. whereas at least ten Iranian women, Khayrieh, Kobra N., Fatemeh, Ashraf Kalhori, Shamameh Ghorbani, Leyla Ghomi, Hajar and the sisters Zohreh and Azar Kabiriniat, are still at risk of being stoned to death, along with two men, Abdollah Farivar and an unnamed Afghan national,
C. whereas Mokarrameh Ebrahimi had been sentenced to death by stoning together with her partner and father of her children for the simple reason of having maintained an extra-matrimonial relationship - a deed which does not represent a crime under international legal standards, whereas Mokarrameh Ebrahimi was pardoned by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after 11 years' imprisonment and released on 17 March 2008 along with her younger 5 year old son but tragically only after her partner Ja'Far Kiani had been stoned to death in July 2007,
D. whereas Kiani is the last recorded case of stoning in Iran and whereas in all other upcoming cases stay of execution has been granted in the meantime,
E. whereas the Head of the Judiciary Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi recently overturned the murder convictions of Shahla Jahed, a 'temporary wife', after finding "procedural flaws" in the original investigation, which had found her guilty of having murdered her temporary husband's permanent wife,
1. Welcomes the reaction by the Supreme Leader and the head of the Judiciary in individual cases;
2. Calls, however, on the Iranian authorities to release all imprisoned women's rights defenders and to stop detaining and harassing those peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly;
3. Acknowledges the important and active role women play in Iranian society despite persisting strong legal inequalities and which can be a source of inspiration and hope for women in other countries in the region;
4. Calls on the Iranian parliament and government to change the discriminatory Iranian legislation which, among other things, excludes women from the most senior positions of state and appointment as judges, denies them equal rights with men in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance, and determines that any evidence they give before a court carries only half the weight of that given by a man; considers that in certain cases this in-equality contributes to women committing violent crimes;
5 Reiterates its strong condemnation of the death penalty; calls for an immediate moratorium on executions; is appalled that Iran continues to have the highest number of executions of child offenders in the world and that the moratorium on stoning is still not fully implemented;
6. Welcomes the directives recently issued by Head of the Judiciary Shahroudi on banning public executions without prior consent and detentions for long periods without charge;
7. Calls on the members of the newly elected Majlis to speedily pass the pending reform of the Iranian Penal Code, with the aim to notably end all executions of child offenders, all executions by stoning and to bring Iranian legislation into line with the international human rights obligations;
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government and Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran.