Former Polish Foreign Minister and Member of the European Parliament Anna Fotyga and 21 other members of the European Parliament wrote a letter to the President of the Council of the European Union and the President of the European Commission regarding Iran’s human rights situation and the regime’s terrorism.
The MEPs wrote in their letter that It should be noted that none of the EU officials, including Vice President and High Representative Joseph Borrell, should attend the European-Iranian business meeting to be held from 1 to 3 March 2021.
They highlighted that a high-level participation in this program would be inappropriate due to the continued human rights abuses in Iran, including the continued execution of prisoners and the recent Antwerp case against an Iranian regime diplomat, who had tried to bomb the opposition rally in France in 2018.
The MEPs reiterated their call on the European Union to make any relations with the Iranian regime conditional on stopping the executions, torture and its vicious activities abroad.
In addition, they called on the European Union to take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners sentenced to death.
The 22 members of the European Parliament also highlighted in their letter that the Iranian regime has the highest executions per capita, it also has the highest execution of women in the world, and this is a disgrace to contemporary humanity. They also underlined that ,ost executions are carried out in complete secrecy, after torture and forced confessions. The MEPs highlighted that among the hundreds of prisoners executed last year, many were killed on charges of “moharebeh.” They also expressed concern over the rising number of executions of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran.
They strongly condemned the regime’s continued use of the death penalty and the suppression of fundamental freedoms.
On February 17, 2021, in a heinous act, Zahra Esmaili, a female prisoner sentenced to death who died of a heart attack shortly before her execution after witnessing the execution of 16 other prisoners, was hanged in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj. The inhumane conditions in prisons are often attributed to the deaths of prisoners, such as the death of Behnam Mahjoubi.
As the MEPs asserted the Iranian regime’s brutal disregard for the execution of prisoners to prevent protests is completely contrary to European values. Therefore, the MEPs demanded the EU’s full assurance that high-ranking EU officials will not attend the EU-Iran Trade Summit and that the EU will make its relations with the Iranian regime conditional on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
