MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran
15.2.2022 - (2022/2541(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 144 of the Rules of Procedure
Ernest Urtasun, Hannah Neumann, Saskia Bricmont, Eleonora Evi, Francisco Guerreiro, Bronis Ropė, Jordi Solé, Rosa D'Amato, Terry Reintke, Mounir Satouri, Ignazio Corrao, Alviina Alametsä, Benoît Biteau
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0105/2022
B9‑0105/2022
European Parliament resolution on the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The European Parliament,
– having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran, in particular those of 7 July 2021 on Iran, in particular the case of Ahmadreza Djalali, of 17 December 2020 on Iran, in particular the case of 2012 Sakharov Prize Laureate Nasrin Sotoudeh, of 19 December 2019 on the violent crackdown on the recent protests in Iran, of 19 September 2019 on Iran, notably the situation of women’s rights defenders and imprisoned EU dual nationals, of 14 March 2019 on Iran, notably the case of human rights defenders, of 13 December 2018 on Iran, notably the case of Nasrin Sotoudeh, of 31 May 2018 on the situation of imprisoned EU-Iranian dual nationals in Iran, of 3 April 2014 on the EU strategy towards Iran, of 8 October 2015 on the death penalty and of 25 October 2016 on the EU strategy towards Iran after the nuclear agreement,
– having regard to the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty,
– having regard to the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders,
– having regard to the EU Guidelines on Torture and on Freedom of Expression, having regard to the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders,
– having regard to the statement by Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, at the seventy-sixth session UN General Assembly - on 25 October 2021 and to the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran of 16 July 2021,
– having regard to the report of the UN Secretary-General of 14 May 2021 on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
– having regard to the Statements by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of 13 January 2022 on “UN rights experts decry imminent execution of juvenile offender Hossein Shahbazi in Iran” ” and those of 7 June 2021 and of 21 July 2021,
– Having regard to the resolution of third committee (social, humanitarian & cultural issues) of the United Nations General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran from 17 November 2021,
– having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,
– having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, and the safeguards against torture and arbitrary detention laid down in the Iranian Constitution,
– having regard to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, having regard to the United Nations Economic and Social Council Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of Rights of those Facing the Death Penalty of 1996,
– having regard to the United Nations Economic and Social Council Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of Rights of those Facing the Death Penalty of 1996,
– having regard to Rule 144 of its Rules of Procedure,
A. Whereas Iran hands down and implements a very large number of death sentences; whereas in 2021, at least 254 people were executed; among them at least two minors; whereas in 2022 hitherto at least 47 people were executed;
B. Whereas the overwhelming majority of capital crimes in Iran do not qualify as “most serious crimes”, such as drug-related offenses, economic offenses, religious offenses, political offenses, as well as acts not internationally recognized as crimes, such as consensual same-sex sexual conduct and sexual extramarital relationships; whereas, as a result, Iran is in contravention with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
C. Whereas Iran imposes and carries out the death penalty against minors in contravention to Iran’s obligations under the Convention of the Rights of the Child; whereas from 2009 to September 2020 at least 67 executions of juvenile offenders were reported; whereas 85 juvenile offenders were on the death row in Iran in January 2022; whereas the death penalty is disproportionally applied to ethnic and religious minorities, notably, the Baluch, Kurds, Arabs and Baha’i; whereas the penal code criminalizes homosexuality and the death penalty is used to target LGBTQI persons; Whereas women are subject to capital punishment as a result of the discriminatory nature of several laws that directly concern them;
D. Whereas Iranian authorities have issued death sentenced for protest related charges and carried out executions against those who faced charges in connection to widespread protests but have failed to conduct any transparent investigation into serious allegations of use of excessive and lethal force by security officers against protestors; whereas authorities prosecute human rights defenders who campaign for abolishing the death penalty or raise awareness about the unfair trial processes of those on death row;
E. whereas abolition of the death penalty worldwide is one of the main objectives of the EU’s human rights policy;
F. Whereas amendments to the national drug laws in 2017 marked a strong decrease in executions between 2018 and 2020; whereas in 2021, however Iran’s use of the death penalty for drug-related offences dramatically increased;
G. Whereas there are no independent mechanisms for ensuring accountability within the judiciary, and serious concerns remain over the politicisation of judges; whereas judicial harassment is being used to silence human rights defenders;
H. Whereas prolonged solitary confinement, ill-treatment and torture are increasingly and systematically used by the Iranian authorities as a form of punishment and in order to extract forced confessions from detainees; whereas there are numerous reports regarding the inhuman and degrading conditions in prisons and the lack of adequate access to medical care during detention, which have the aim of intimidating, punishing or coercing detainees, in contravention of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; whereas the prevailing impunity of Iranian authorities committing gross violations of human rights has a devastating effects on individuals and families, erodes the rule of law and facilitated the repetition of crimes under international law in Iran in a widespread and systematic manner;
I. Whereas in January 2022 Narges Mohammadi, a prominent Iranian woman human rights defender who campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty was sentenced to an additional eight years of prison after having already endured years in prison because of her human rights advocacy;
J. Whereas Nasrin Sotoudeh, a renowned human rights lawyer who among other things campaigned for the gradual stop of the death penalty and worked extensively with young prisoners sentenced to death for crimes they committed when they were under 18 was sentenced to 33 years and six month in prison in March 2019; whereas Nasrin Sotoudeh was awarded the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament in recognition of her outstanding work in the defence of human rights;
K. Whereas the EU has adopted restrictive measures related to violations of human rights, including asset freeze and visa bans for individuals and entities responsible for grave human rights violations and ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications; whereas these measures are regularly updated and remain in place; whereas the last update, from 12 April 2021, extended them until 13 April 2022;
L. Whereas the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran recalled the importance of the JCPOA, stressing that “peace, development, and human rights are deeply interlinked” and that “any imposition of economic sanctions combined with reduced dialogue and international cooperation will ultimately undermine the full enjoyment of civil, social, and economic rights in the country”;
1. Condemns the alarmingly high frequency of the imposition and carrying-out of the death penalty by Iran, in violation of its international obligations, including executions undertaken against persons on the basis of forced confessions or for crimes that do not qualify as the most serious crimes, including crimes that are overly broad or vaguely defined, in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is party;
2. Is particularly appalled by the continued imposition of the death penalty against juveniles; calls on the Iranian authorities to stop imposing the death penalty on anyone under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged offence in accordance with Iran’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to immediately annul the sentences for juvenile offenders on death row; urges Iranian authorities to amend Article 91 of the Islamic Penal Code to explicitly prohibit the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age and ensure that all those on death row for crimes committed when aged below 18 are granted retrials, conducted in accordance with the principles of child justice and without recourse to the death penalty;
3. Reiterates its strong opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances and stresses that no moral, legal or religious justification may be used; supports all efforts in retentionist countries to reduce the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty and to put in place due process and legal guarantees to avoid any irreversible miscarriages of justice, while pursuing the ultimate goal of abolishing the capital punishment;
4. Calls on Iran to introduce an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a step towards abolition; Calls for a review of all death sentences to ensure that these trials adhered to international standards; equally calls on Iran to urgently abolish, in law and practice, public executions, all forms of corporal punishment, including flogging, amputation and blinding, which amount to torture under international law;
5. Is alarmed by the increasing use of the death penalty against protesters, human rights defenders and dissidents;
6. Expresses serious concern at the targeted use of the death penalty against ethnic and religious minorities in Iran (Baluch, Kurds, Arabs and Baha’i) aiming to silence, discriminate and repress them; denounces the wide-spread discrimination against sexual minorities in Iran and strongly condemns the most disturbing application of the death penalty for consensual same-sex relations; urges the Iranian authorities to eliminate all forms of discrimination against all minorities and to ensure the equal rights, respect and dignity of all individuals;
7. Calls on Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all unjustly jailed human rights defenders, including those who have been imprisoned in connection to their activism against the death penalty, and in particular prominent human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, Mehdi Mahmoudian who has recently been sentenced to additional 7 months in prison in connection to his work against the death penalty, and Sakharov Prize laureate Nasrin Sotoudeh;
8. Calls on the Iranian authorities to extend a standing invitation to the visit of all Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and to cooperate in a proactive manner, urges them to ensure particularly that the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran is allowed to enter the country;
9. Urges the Iranian Government to ensure the full implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which it is party, to guarantee the right of all detainees to due process and a fair trial, including the right to be represented by a lawyer of their own choosing and to halt the use of solitary confinement as a form of punishment; calls on the Iranian authorities to investigate all allegations of ill-treatment in detention and bring perpetrators to justice; denounces the systematic use of prolonged solitary confinement as a form of punishment and reminds the Government of Iran that the practice violates its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; insists that Iranian authorities must guarantee the safety and physical and psychological well-being of all detainees while in detention, including dignified medical care;
10. Calls on EU and its Member States with diplomatic missions on the ground to fully implement the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty, on Torture and Ill-Treatment and on Human Rights Defenders; calls on the EU and its Member States to increase their protection and support for human rights defenders in Iran, and where appropriate, to facilitate the issuing of emergency visas, and provide temporary shelter in the EU Member States;
11. Calls on the EU VP/HR to clearly and publicly call for the release of unjustly detained human rights defenders and on all senior representatives of EU Member States and of the EU institutions, notably VP/HR Borrell and Commissioners, to systematically raise their cases in their contacts with their Iranian counterparts and to request to meet with them during their visits in the country;
12. Welcomes the resumption of negotiations of the Joint Commission for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna; commends the role of the EU VP/HR and the EEAS in mediating between the United States and Iran in efforts to revive the agreement which is fundamental to the advancement of peace, development and human rights;
13. Calls on the European External Action Service to continue to raise human rights matters in the context of the EU-Iran High-Level Dialogue and reaffirms that respect for human rights is a core component in the development of EU-Iran relations; calls on the Iranian authorities and the EU to resume informal consultations on human rights while working towards establishing a formal Human Rights Dialogue, defining clear objectives, specific benchmarks and human rights indicators to measure progress;
14. Insists once again on the importance of an expeditious establishment of an EU Delegation in Tehran, which would inter alia strengthen the EU capacity to monitor the human rights situation on the ground and engage with its Iranian counterparts and with local civil society;
15. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to reaffirm the categorical principle that European aid and assistance, particularly cooperation pertaining to drugs including support to the UNODC counter-narcotics programmes, may not facilitate law enforcement operations that lead to death sentences and the execution of those arrested; urges the Iranian government to stop handing down death sentences for drug-related offenses and amend its drug laws accordingly;
16. Calls on the EU and its Member States to address the particular vulnerability of women human rights defenders through adequate protectionary measures that shield them from the specific and gendered risks they are exposed to;
17. 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 Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.