European Parliament Representatives to Zarif: End Human Rights Violations

A number of representatives from the European Parliament, who hosted Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, in the building of this institution, criticized him for human rights violations by the Islamic Republic and called for an end to this situation. According to the official website of the European Parliament, on Tuesday, February 16, they referred to the death penalty, public executions, and the judicial prosecution of journalists and bloggers in Iran as 'unacceptable.' Suppression and violation of the rights of religious minorities such as Baha'is and ethnic and sexual minorities were other issues raised by the European Parliament representatives against Mr. Zarif. They reminded the Iranian Foreign Minister that these issues could negatively affect 'future relations' with the Islamic Republic. According to the report, Mohammad Javad Zarif acknowledged in response to the criticisms that the human rights situation in Iran 'needs improvement' and expressed Iran's readiness to engage in dialogue with the European Union on this issue based on 'mutual respect.' However, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) published more of Mr. Zarif's remarks, in which he protested against 'systematic human rights violations and racial, religious, and ethnic discrimination' in Europe. He also called for the European Parliament representatives to pay attention to 'the existing realities of Iran, including the dominance of ballot boxes in determining governments.' According to Mr. Zarif, in past decades, 'every government has held elections that resulted in the victory of its rival in the elections.' The Iranian Foreign Minister explained his view by stating: 'The Khatami government was the product of an election that Rafsanjani oversaw. Ahmadinejad was the product of an election that Khatami held, and Rouhani is the result of an election that his rival, Ahmadinejad, conducted. Isn't this a serious indication of Iran's nascent democracy?' International organizations, governments, institutions, and various figures have consistently criticized the widespread human rights violations in Iran, including the high number of executions, disqualification of election candidates, non-compliance with the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, and censorship. The Islamic Republic has never accepted these criticisms.