MOTION FOR A RESOLUTIONto wind up the debate on the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the violent crackdown on the recent protests in Iran
17.12.2019 - (2019/2993(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Luisa Porritt, Klemen Grošelj, Christophe Grudler, Moritz Körner, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos
on behalf of the Renew Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0271/2019
B9‑0274/2019
European Parliament resolution on the violent crackdown on the recent protests in Iran
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran, including its most recent of 19 September 2019 on Iran, notably the situation of women’s rights defenders and imprisoned EU dual nationals[1],
– having regard to the declaration of 8 December 2019 by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles, on behalf of the EU on the recent protests in Iran,
– having regard to the statement by the Spokesperson of the European External Action Service (EEAS) of 21 November 2019 on the developments in Iran,
– having regard to the Council decision of 12 April 2018 to extend its restrictive measures for a further 12 months in response to serious human rights violations in Iran,
– having regard to the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders,
– having regard to the respective EU Guidelines on the death penalty and on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the EU Human Rights Guidelines on freedom of expression online and offline,
– having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 (ICCPR) to which Iran is a party,
– having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution of 17 December 2018 on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
– having regard to the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran of 30 January 2019,
– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948,
– having regard to the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child of 1924, and to its adoption by the UN General Assembly in 1959,
– having regard to the Iranian President’s Charter on Citizens’ Rights,
– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas tens of thousands of people from all provinces and all ethnic and religious minorities of Iran have exercised their fundamental right to freedom of assembly and expressed their economic grievances over the increase in fuel prices of at least 50 %;
B. whereas according to Amnesty International, at least 304 people, including minors, have been killed during the protests, and thousands of protesters, as well as journalists, human rights defenders and students have been arrested; whereas the Iranian authorities have not announced the official death toll; whereas the Iranian authorities have unlawfully detained thousands of peaceful demonstrators and refuse to give accurate accounts of the whereabouts of the detainees, with enforced disappearances being administered in some cases; whereas according to civil society reports, some of the detainees have been subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment;
C. whereas in recent weeks a large number of bodies, believed to be of the demonstrators detained by the Iranian security forces, have been found in rivers, marshlands and lakes; whereas the Iranian authorities have refused to release the bodies of the victims to their families;
D. whereas Iranian paramilitary groups and Iranian special forces massacred unarmed demonstrators who took refuge in the city of Mahshahr, Khuzestan Province, killing over 100 people;
E. whereas ethnic minorities make up 40 % of Iran’s population; whereas Iran’s ethnic minorities are among the first victims of the mullahs’ regime;
F. whereas the Iranian authorities have activated a broad disruption of online-based communications and services by blocking internet connectivity as a direct consequence of the demonstrations across Iran; whereas these constraints are an ongoing modus operandi on the part of the Iranian authorities to prevent any online communications within the country in periods of social unrest, thereby also violating the right to freedom of expression of all Iranians living both inside and outside of Iran;
G. whereas its resolution of 25 October 2016 on the EU strategy towards Iran after the nuclear agreement[2]stresses the importance of upholding the EU human rights’ guidelines, including on human rights defenders, in the context of EU-Iran relations;
H. whereas human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers and online activists in Iran continue to face harassment, arbitrary arrest, detention and prosecution for their work; whereas the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and other forces have initiated a severe clampdown on civil society;
I. whereas the fatwa issued by the influential mullah Abolfazl Bahrampour, broadcast on the first Iranian channel, calls on Iranians to kill protesters; whereas several of Iran’s state media broadcasters have publicly called for the execution of the protestors’ leaders;
J. whereas the Iranian authorities have responded to any civil society protests in Iran with severe repression; whereas the Iranian intelligence service has intensified its crackdown on civil society protestors; whereas the Iranian authorities have stepped up their acts of repression against those seeking to peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and have jailed hundreds of people on broad and vaguely worded national security charges;
K. whereas Iranian courts regularly fall short in providing due process and fair trials, with the denial of access to legal counsel and denial of visits by representatives from consulates, UN or humanitarian organisations; whereas sentences by the Iranian judiciary are often based on vague or unspecified national security and espionage charges;
1. Deplores the widespread and disproportionate use of force by Iran against non-violent protestors who are only expressing their legitimate demands; stresses that such actions are unacceptable, and urges the Iranian authorities to ensure transparent and credible investigations to clarify the number of deaths and arrests, and for these figures to be published; calls, furthermore, for all perpetrators of violence to be held accountable;
2. Demands that all protesters currently held under arrest in Iran for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression and assembly be freed unconditionally; calls, moreover, for lawyers and international observers to be granted unhindered access to all those detained during the protests, and for the identity of detainees to be communicated to the international community; reiterates its previous calls for the release of all others who have been unlawfully detained;
3. Recalls that ethnic minorities have been oppressed in Iran for decades, and that under the current government their representatives are either being forced into exile or arrested and, in many cases, sentenced to death for their alleged activism;
4. Urges the Iranian authorities to lift all blockages of online-based communications and services; strongly condemns Iran’s decision to shut down internet access to global networks, which prevented communication and the free flow of information for Iranian citizens; considers the lack of freedom of expression online, the systematic surveillance and monitoring of internet traffic, as well as the lack of digital freedoms, to constitute a violation of people’s rights and freedoms; calls on the Iranian authorities to fully respect the universal human rights of all people, in particular the rights to free expression both online and offline;
5. Stresses that fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and assembly must always be respected, and calls on the Iranian authorities to deliver on their international obligations, including the ICCPR;
6. Reiterates its call for an EU-wide ban on the export, sale, update and maintenance of any form of security equipment which can be or is used for internal repression;
7. Calls on the United Nations to launch without delay a full-scale investigation into the events that have taken place in recent weeks, led by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran;
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the European External Action Service, 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 Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Members of the Iranian Majlis.
- [1] Texts adopted, P9_TA(2019)0019.
- [2] OJ C 215, 19.6.2018, p. 86.