European Parliament Resolution: Iran Must End Hostage Diplomacy

The European Parliament, in a resolution, criticized the 'systematic repression of human rights in Iran' and condemned the death sentences issued for human rights activist Pakhshan Azizi and humanitarian worker Varisha Moradi. The European Union Parliament also called for the unconditional release of these two along with 56 other political prisoners sentenced to death. This resolution, issued on Thursday, January 23, corresponds to Bahman 4, includes ten points addressing various human rights violations in the Islamic Republic. It noted the increasing number of executions in Iran, including 900 people in 2024, and added that after the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police, pressures on women's rights defenders in Iranian Kurdistan and generally on Kurdish activists have intensified. This legislative body of the European Union also criticized what it called Iran's 'broad strategy of hostage diplomacy' in reference to torture and the issuance of death sentences for these individuals. The European Parliament expressed its general opposition to the death penalty and urged the Iranian government to halt its implementation as soon as possible. It called on Iran to immediately release EU citizens, including Olivier Grondot, a French writer and bookseller, Cecile Kohler, a French teacher, and her partner Jacques Paris, along with Ahmadreza Jalali, an Iranian-Swedish citizen. Another part of the statement referred to the execution of Jamshid Sharmeh, with the EU condemning this action and demanding that Tehran return his body to his family and publish details regarding the circumstances of this opposition figure's death. The body also requested the Council of Europe to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization and to sanction individuals involved in human rights violations in the Islamic Republic, such as Ali Khamenei, Masoud Pezeshkian, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, Mohammad Mohammadi Azad, and Iman Afshari.