David Lega, MEP from Sweden, addressed a webinar by European lawmakers on October 7, 2020, on the human rights situation in Iran.

Online Conference held under title, “Iran’s Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity, EU’s political and moral obligations”. The online event was on October 7, 2020. Dozens of members of the European Parliament attended and spoke at the conference.

MEPs made their remarks in order to condemn the horrific human rights violations witnessed on a daily basis across Iran. In addition, MEPs called on the European Union to fulfill its moral and political obligations in the face of human rights violations in Iran. They called for a firm policy by the European Union against the mullah regime in Iran. Also, they pointed out, It is high time to stand alongside the Iranian people and support their justified aspirations for a free, democratic, and non-nuclear Iran.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran(NCRI), was the keynote speaker at this conference. Her message welcomed as a democratic solution to Iran’s future. Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan has widespread support from the majority of MEPs for a long time.

David Lega, MEP from Sweden

Friends, for me, as the rapporteur of the EPP group on Iran, it is a pleasure to speak in this conference on the human rights situation in Iran. It is the very injustices, the human rights abuses that the Iranian regime commits against its own people that brings us all together today. I will spend a few minutes talking about that, about the actions of the leaders in Iran.

If the regime seeks to recover respect from their people and from the world, if they seek stability and prosperity for a once great nation, they must respect the commitments that they have made. They must respect human rights. Article 14 of the Iranian constitution says that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and all Muslims are duty bound to treat non-Muslims in conformity with ethical norms and to respect the human rights. Their human rights must be respected.

While article 27 of the Constitution allows for public gatherings and marches, the regime just won’t let their citizens speak up. The reigning regime is desperate to control speech, to control ideas, and indeed, to control life itself. The protests in Iran signal that the Iranian people have had enough. They have had enough with their regime’s economic failures, they have had enough with the kleptocrats, and they have had enough with a regime that denies them basic fundamental human dignity that comes from each of us as a nature of our humanity.

Despite the critical situation of the pandemic, Iran has continued to carry out executions of prisoners and still refuses to release prisoners, particularly prisoners of conscience, have sanitary conditions, have proven to be alarming, and threatening. The regime has launched a large-scale arrest of its opponents and a suppressed democratic opposition, which reports daily on the situation of Corona in the country.

I am gravely concerned over the ill-treatment and torture of those who have been arrested. Over the past few years, a large number of prisoners arrested in protests have been murdered while in custody. In almost all cases, Iranian authorities claimed that the prisoners had committed suicide. That is the utmost opposite of human dignity. The death penalty is unacceptable under all circumstances in cases with no exception. It is an inhumane punishment and represents denial of human dignity and integrity.

The European Union has condemned the recent executions in the strongest terms, but more action is required. Inaction is counterproductive and will be missed constructed by Iran as a green light from your European Union visa versus Tehran’s egregious human rights abuses. EU relations with Iran cannot tolerate anything less than a halt to executions and clear progress on human rights.

That being said, I’d like to thank you for inviting me here today and I welcome you, friends of a free Iran, to contact me with inquiries as I recently been appointed the EPP standing and monitoring shadow rapporteur for Iran. Thank you again and I wish you a fruitful seminar.