We are extremely worried about the high number of executions in Iran. More than 3000 people have been hanged during the first term of the ‘moderate’ President Hassan Rouhani which is now coming to an end. According to Amnesty International, “Iran alone accounted for 55% of all recorded executions” in the world in 2016. It currently carries out the highest number of executions in the world per capita. Iran also remains a leading executioner of prisoners who were under the age of 18 at the time of their arrest. In a public speech on Iranian television, Rouhani described executions as “a good law” and “the law of God!” He also openly expressed full support for Bashar Assad even after the chemical attack in April which killed many people, including children. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that controls most of the Iranian economy is involved in both internal suppression and spreading death and destruction in the rest of the region. According to Iranian regime’s laws, women are banned from becoming President and pursuing leadership positions in the judiciary and many other areas. Women are repressed for improper veiling and many women activists are sentenced to longterm imprisonment. Girls as young as nine can be married even to their stepfathers. Recently revealed evidence by a senior cleric inside Iran confirmed that the current Iranian Justice Minister was a key member of the so called “Death Committee” that approved the summary mass executions of over 30,000 political prisoners, including several thousand women, in Iran in the summer of 1988 – a massacre which Amnesty International has described as a crime against humanity. Most of the victims were affiliated with the opposition PMOI. We therefore call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Council, to set up a commission of inquiry on the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran. The elections in Iran are not free and fair. Opposition is banned. All candidates have to declare their heartfelt belief to the concept of supreme clerical rule. An unelected body named the ‘Guardian Council’, whose members are appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, disqualifies most of the candidates. We urge the EU and the European Member States, the US and the UN to condemn human rights violations in Iran, blacklist the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and call for those who were involved in crimes against humanity to be brought to international tribunals. Any further expansion of relations with Iran must be conditioned to a clear progress on human rights, women’s rights and a halt to executions.
Gérard DEPREZ, MEP, Chair of Friends of a Free Iran in European Parliament Other MEP signatories: Lars ADAKTUSSON, Laima Liucija ANDRIKIENĖ, Marie ARENA, Richard ASHWORTH, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS, Georges BACH, Hugues BAYET, Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA, Heinz K. BECKER, Bas BELDER, Bendt BENDTSEN, Franc BOGOVIČ, José BOVÉ, Cristian Silviu BUȘOI, David CAMPBELL BANNERMAN, Nicola CAPUTO, James CARVER, David CASA, Jean-Marie CAVADA, Nessa CHILDERS, Ole CHRISTENSEN, Anna Maria CORAZZA BILDT, Silvia COSTA, Pál CSÁKY, Ryszard CZARNECKI, Edward CZESAK, Paolo DE CASTRO, Pilar DEL CASTILLO VERA, Mark DEMESMAEKER, Jean-Paul DENANOT, Tamás DEUTSCH, Nirj DEVA, Tanja FAJON, José Inácio FARIA, Fredrick FEDERLEY, José Manuel FERNANDES, Anna Elżbieta FOTYGA, Kinga GÁL, Elena GENTILE, Arne GERICKE, Lidia GERINGER DE OEDENBERG, Adam GIEREK, María Teresa GIMÉNEZ BARBAT, Julie GIRLING, Beata Barbara GOSIEWSKA, Nathalie GRIESBECK, Andrzej GRZYB, Jussi HALLA-AHO, Marian HARKIN, Roger HELMER, Krzysztof HETMAN, Gunnar HÖKMARK, Danuta Maria HÜBNER, Carlos ITURGAIZ, Rina Ronja KARI, Tunne KELAM, Seán KELLY, Jude KIRTON-DARLING, Ádám KÓSA, Zdzisław KRASNODĘBSKI, Eduard KUKAN, Mia-Petra KUMPULA-NATRI, Zbigniew KUŹMIUK, Kashetu KYENGE, Merja KYLLÖNEN, Marju LAURISTIN, Patrick LE HYARIC, Ryszard LEGUTKO, Andrew LEWER, Bogusław LIBERADZKI, Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR, Elżbieta Katarzyna ŁUKACIJEWSKA, Monica Luisa MACOVEI, Ivana MALETIĆ, Svetoslav Hristov MALINOV, Emma MCCLARKIN, Anthea MCINTYRE, Gesine MEISSNER, Nuno MELO, Louis MICHEL, Claude MORAES, Jim NICHOLSON, Norica NICOLAI, Stanisław OŻÓG, Maite PAGAZAURTUNDÚA RUIZ, Rolandas PAKSAS, Marijana PETIR, Tonino PICULA, Bolesław PIECHA, Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN, Kati PIRI, Julia PITERA, Marek Mirosław PLURA, Stanislav POLČÁK, Jiří POSPÍŠIL, Jozo RADOŠ, Frederique RIES, Dominique RIQUET, Robert ROCHEFORT, Pirkko RUOHONEN-LERNER, Petri SARVAMAA, Jacek SARYUSZ-WOLSKI, David SASSOLI, Algirdas SAUDARGAS, Christel SCHALDEMOSE, Czesław Adam SIEKIERSKI, Siôn SIMON, Csaba SÓGOR, Michaela ŠOJDROVÁ, Jordi SOLÉ, Barbara SPINELLI, Bart STAES, Joachim STARBATTY, Ivan ŠTEFANEC, Jaromír ŠTĚTINA, Helga STEVENS, Dubravka ŠUICA, Patricija ŠULIN, Pavel SVOBODA, Marc TARABELLA, Indrek TARAND, Pavel TELIČKA, Eleni THEOCHAROUS, Patrizia TOIA, László TŐKÉS, Ruža TOMAŠIĆ, Romana TOMC, Ramon TREMOSA I BALCELLS, Mihai TURCANU, Kazimierz UJAZDOWSKI, Traian UNGUREANU, Ivo VAJGL, Wim VAN DE CAMP, Geoffrey VAN ORDEN, Hilde VAUTMANS, Marie-Christine VERGIAT, Anders Primdahl VISTISEN, Róża Gräfin VON THUN UND HOHENSTEIN, Jarosław Leszek WAŁĘSA, Julie WARD, Renate WEBER, Bogdan WENTA, Cecilia WIKSTRÖM, Glenis WILLMOTT, Anna ZÁBORSKÁ, Jan ZAHRADIL, Boris ZALA, Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ, Janusz ZEMKE, Roberts ZĪLE, Jana ŽITŇANSKÁ, Kosma ZŁOTOWSKI, Milan ZVER, Tadeusz ZWIEFKA