MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the death penalty in Iran

15.2.2022 - (2022/2541(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 144 of the Rules of Procedure

Søren Gade, Petras Auštrevičius, Malik Azmani, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Dita Charanzová, Olivier Chastel, Klemen Grošelj, Bernard Guetta, Svenja Hahn, Pierre Karleskind, Karin Karlsbro, Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Nathalie Loiseau, Dragoş Pîslaru, Frédérique Ries, María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos, Nicolae Ştefănuță, Ramona Strugariu, Dragoş Tudorache, Hilde Vautmans
on behalf of the Renew Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0105/2022

NB: This motion for a resolution is available in the original language only.

B9‑0109/2022

European Parliament resolution on the death penalty in Iran

(2022/2541(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran,

–  having regard to the EU guidelines on the death penalty, on torture and other cruel treatment, on freedom of expression online and offline and on human rights defenders,

–  having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, to which Iran is a party, and the safeguards against torture and arbitrary detention laid down in the Iranian Constitution,

–  having regard to Iran’s presidential election of 18 June 2021,

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

–  having regard to Rules 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

 

1. Whereas Iran has the world’s highest number of executions per inhabitant, including the highest number of executions of juvenile offenders.
2. Whereas Iran executed at least 46 people in January alone according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO).
3. Whereas a total of 299 people were executed in 2021, including four juvenile offenders, a 26-percent increase on 2020.
4. Whereas since Ebrahim Raisi took office as President in August 2021, there has been a significant rise in the number of executions, including of women, with the latest case reported on 5 February 2022, and at least seven cases of women executions taking place between 22 November and 21 December 2021;
5. Whereas the Iranian authorities carried out the execution of Sajad Sanjari on 2 August 2021 for a crime he allegedly committed when he was 15 years old and the execution of Arman Abdolali on 24 November 2021 for a crime he allegedly committed under the age of 18 despite international appeals for his life to be spared;
6. Whereas dozens of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience are currently on death row in Iran.
7. Whereas these prisoners include dissidents, prisoners of conscience, as well as protesters arrested during anti-regime protests.
8. Whereas the Iranian regime’s use of the death penalty against prisoners is intended to intimidate and prevent protests in Iran.
9. Whereas according to Reporters Without Borders, with the execution of Rouhollah Zam on December 12th 2020, Iran had executed more journalists in the past 50 years than any other country; whereas Iran is still one the world’s most repressive countries for journalists and harassment of journalists and media outlets is relentless;
10. Whereas the famous boxer Mohammad Javad has been sentenced to death over his protests in November 2019 against his country's economic corruption.

 

11. Whereas since August, Iranian authorities have detained Mehdi Mahmoudian, Mostafa Nili and Arash Keykhosravi, three prominent human rights defenders who were preparing to file a complaint against the government mismanagement of the economic and health crisis.

 

12. Whereas on January 30th 2022 Iranian authorities reportedly executed two men, Mehrdad (Akbar) Karimpour and Farid Mohammadi, on charges of "Lavat-e onf", which translates to sodomy by force or male-on-male rape according to Iranian law.

 

13. Whereas according to UN human rights experts, there are currently over 85 juvenile offenders on death row in Iran, sentenced to death following processes that significantly violate international human rights law;

 

14. Whereas human rights groups have identified President Raisi as a key member of the 1988 “Death Commissions”, which implemented a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, to massacre thousands of political prisoners, mainly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK);

 

15. Whereas as Iran’s Judiciary Chief in 2019, Raisi played an important role in the crackdown on the November 2019 protests, which resulted in the murder of some 1,500 protesters as confirmed by Interior Ministry officials at the time;

 

16. Whereas in his latest report to the Human Rights Council, dated 13 January 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, urged the international community to "call for accountability with respect to long-standing emblematic events that have been met with persistent impunity, including the enforced disappearances and summary and arbitrary executions of 1988 and the November 2019 protests";

 

 

1. Strongly condemns the steadily deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, due to systemic political, economic, social and cultural discrimination; deplores the alarming escalation in the use of the death penalty against protesters, journalists, dissidents and members of minority groups;

 

2. Calls on the Government of Iran to immediately and unconditionally release the hundreds of people arbitrarily detained for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression and emphasises that, pending their release, the Iranian authorities must guarantee their physical and mental well-being;

 

3. Strongly supports the aspirations of the Iranian people who want to live in a free, stable, inclusive and democratic country which respects its national and international commitments on human rights and fundamental freedoms;

 

4. Calls on Iran to halt the imminent execution of Swedish-Iranian academic Dr Ahmadreza Djalali, to pardon and release him immediately and unconditionally, and to allow him to return to his family in Sweden; firmly condemns his torture, arbitrary detention and death sentence on unsubstantiated charges as documented in the 2017 opinion of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention;

 

5. Calls on Iran to immediately quash the conviction against Narges Mohammadi who is targeted solely as a result of her legitimate human rights work including the abolition of the death penalty in Iran;

 

6. Calls for targeted measures against Iranian officials, including President Raisi, who have committed serious human rights violations via the EU’s Human Rights Sanctions Mechanism, the EU Magnitsky Act;

 

7. Reiterates its strong opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances and stresses that no moral, legal or religious justification may be used; calls on Iran to introduce an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a step towards abolition;

 

8. Calls on the Government of Iran to commute all death sentences issued against juvenile offenders, in line with its international obligations;

 

9. Calls on Iran to properly investigate the officials responsible for serious human rights violations, including the use of excessive and lethal force on protesters; denounces the systematic use of prolonged solitary confinement in violation of Iran’s international obligations;

 

10. Urges the Council to raise human rights violations in its bilateral relations with Iran; calls on the European External Action Service to continue to raise human rights matters in the context of the EU-Iran High-Level Dialogue;

 

11. Urges the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to support an international inquiry aimed at ending impunity and ensuring accountability for the 1988 mass extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances of political prisoners;

 

12. Calls on Iran to allow visits by and fully cooperate with all special procedures of the UN Human Rights Council, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran;

 

13. 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 UN Secretary-General, the Supreme Leader and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Members of Iran’s Majles.