MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on Iran, notably the right of human rights defenders

12.3.2019 - (2019/2611(RSP))

with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure

Cristian Dan Preda, Tunne Kelam, Roberta Metsola, Jaromír Štětina, Marijana Petir, Pavel Svoboda, Milan Zver, Agnieszka Kozłowska‑Rajewicz, Eduard Kukan, Elisabetta Gardini, Róża Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein, Patricija Šulin, Tomáš Zdechovský, Adam Szejnfeld, Csaba Sógor, Jarosław Wałęsa, Sandra Kalniete, Ivo Belet, Dubravka Šuica, Andrey Kovatchev, Francis Zammit Dimech, Seán Kelly, Ivana Maletić, Deirdre Clune, Francisco José Millán Mon, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez‑Neyra, Inese Vaidere, Laima Liucija Andrikienėon behalf of the PPE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-0186/2019

B8‑0194/2019

European Parliament resolution on Iran, notably the right of human rights defenders

(2019/2611(RSP))

The European Parliament,

-   having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran,

-   having regard to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran of 30 January 2019 and to his statement on Iran of 29 November 2018,

-   having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran of 17 December 2018,

-   having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,

-   having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, to which Iran is a party,

-   having regard to the Iranian President’s Charter on Citizens’ Rights,

-  having regard to Rules 135(5) and 123(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

 

A.   whereas in his report the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran describes numerous pressing human rights concerns, including the fact that an increasing number of human rights defenders, journalists and activists have been arrested, harassed and imprisoned;

 

B.   whereas Houman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, Taher Ghadirian, Morad Tahbaz, and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, environmental human rights defenders, who are members of a local environmental group “the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation”, were arrested in January and February 2018; whereas they have been detained without access to a lawyer, and their trials that opened on January 30 have fallen short of fair trial standards;

 

C.   whereas Kavous Seyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian university professor died on 10 February in detention in suspicious circumstances; whereas the Iranian authorities have not conducted transparent investigation into his death;

 

D.   whereas Iran continues to apply the death penalty for numerous acts and to the juvenile offenders; whereas Iran has committed itself to prohibiting the use of the death penalty for juvenile offenders in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Iran;

 

E.   whereas ethnical and religious minority groups constitute a disproportionately large percentage of the persons executed or imprisoned including the 1,828 Kurds like Hedayat Abdullapur as well as prisoners of conscience as reported by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran;

 

F.   whereas Maryam Akbari Monfared, a female human rights defender who has been in jail since December 2009 and was sentenced in 2010 to 15 years imprisonment for so-called anti-God activities, has been denied medical care while suffering from various illnesses;

 

G.   whereas numerous cases of the inhuman conditions in prisons and the lack of adequate access to medical care during detention were reported, in contravention of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners;

 

H.   whereas on 12 April 2018 the Council extended its restrictive measures responding to serious human rights violations in Iran until 13 April 2019;

 

I.   whereas Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent Iranian human rights lawyer, women’s rights defender and Sakharov Prize Laureate, has been arbitrarily detained in Tehran’s Evin prison since her arrest on 13 June 2018; whereas she faces a total of 34 years in prison and 148 lashes following two separate court proceedings that can be characterized as grossly unfair trials;

J.   whereas Iran is estimated to have executed 273 people in 2018, the second highest figure in the world, according to a report by the NGO Iran Human Rights;

 

 

1.   Expresses its strong concerns over the prolonged detention of eight environmental defenders from “the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation” and serious violations of their right to a fair trial; calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately release the environmental activists and all other political prisoners including those prosecuted for ethnic or religious reasons; stresses that pending their release they should be guaranteed a fair and transparent trial with access to a lawyer of their choice; calls on the Iranian government to allow for an independent and transparent investigation into Kavous Seyed Emami’s death in custody as well as the allegations of torture and mistreatment of other activists in detention;

 

2.   Deplores the numerous reported cases of violations of the right to a fair trial; calls on the Iranian authorities to ensure the rights of all defendants to be represented by a chosen lawyer and to a fair trial in line with Iran’s international commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ratified by Iran;

 

3.   Reiterates its calls on the Government of Iran to immediately and unconditionally release Nasrin Sotoudeh; commends Nasrin Sotoudeh for her courage and commitment; urges again the judiciary system of Iran to respect due process and fair trial and disclose information on the charges against Nasrin Sotoudeh;

 

4.   Urges the Government of Iran to end widespread and serious restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and opinion in the digital contexts and the right of freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and to end its harassment, intimidation and persecution of political opponents, human rights defenders, women’s and minority rights defenders, environmentalists, journalists, social medias users, lawyers and others;

 

5.   Calls on the Iranian authorities to guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Iran are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, including the deprivation of liberty, intimidation and judicial harassment; calls on the Iranian authorities to halt all acts of intimidation and reprisals against human rights defenders, including for communicating with EU and UN officials and independent human rights organizations;

 

6.   Calls on the Iranian authorities to fully respect the universal human rights of all citizens, in particular the rights to freedom of expression; calls on the Iranian authorities to respect and protect the right of peaceful assembly;

 

7.   Calls for the release of all those arrested for the peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of assembly, opinion and expression, notably human rights defenders, environmental activists, trade unionists, women’s rights campaigners, prisoners of conscience and those detained in connection with their work, including lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders;

 

8.   Calls on the Government of Iran to ensure all detainees have access to a lawyer of their own choice upon arrest and during the entire judicial process, and to eliminate all other restrictions to the right to fair trial, and to ensure that prisoners are protected from all forms of torture and other ill-treatment and that the medical care is provided to those prisoners who need it;

 

9.   Deplores the use death penalty, including its use against juvenile offenders; calls on the Iranian authorities to prohibit the execution of the persons below age of 18 years as a step to abolish completely the death penalty in Iran;

 

10.   Calls on the Government of Iran to protect the rights of all persons belonging to religious and ethnic minorities and to address all form of discrimination against them;

 

11.   Calls on the Government of Iran to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran and reiterates the necessity to engage closely with the UN Human Rights Council;

 

12.   Calls on the Government of Iran to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Iranian people in line with Iran’s international commitments;

 

13.  Recommends sending an ad-hoc delegation from the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) before the end of the current mandate to Iran in order to visit imprisoned human rights defenders and hold the necessary meetings with the Iranian authorities;

 

14.   Calls on the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European External Action Service, and all Member States, to publicly reaffirm that respect for human rights is a core component for the development of EU-Iran relations;

 

15.   Calls on the EU, including the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to systematically raise human rights concerns with the Iranian authorities in bilateral and multilateral fora and to use all foreseen engagements with the Iranian authorities, including those related to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to raise the situation of human rights defenders;

 

16.   Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Government and Parliament of Iran.