The European Parliament adopted resolution on the death of Mahsa Jina Amini and the repression of women’s rights protesters in Iran.
The text adopted in plenary was tabled by the EPP, S&D, Renew, Greens/EFA, ECR, The Left groups and Members.
As a reminder, on the 13 September 2022, 22-year old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Jina Amini was arrested in Tehran by Iran’s ‘morality’ police for an alleged failure to observe the mandatory veiling law. The Iranian authorities have maintained that her death was from natural causes and a proper investigation has not being conducted. Following her death, nation-wide protests broke out in over 120 cities in almost all of Iran’s 31 provinces, involving hundreds of thousands of Iranian citizens representing all segments of society. The killing of Mahsa Jina Amini is illustrative of the ongoing human rights crisis in Iran, perpetuated by the systemic impunity of the Iranian Government and its security apparatus, which has permitted widespread torture, as well as extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings.
Parliament condemned in the strongest terms the death of Mahsa Jina Amini following her violent arrest, abuse and ill-treatment by Iranʼs ‘morality’ police.
It called on the Iranian Government to allow for an impartial and effective investigation of Mahsa Jina Amini’s tragic death and allegations of torture and ill-treatment by an independent competent authority.
Parliament also strongly supports the aspirations of the Iranian people who want to live in a free, stable, inclusive and democratic country that respects its national and international commitments on human rights and fundamental freedoms. Therefore, the resolution called on the Iranian authorities to:
- stop their continued, systematic and unacceptable violence against their own citizens;
- immediately and unconditionally release and drop all charges against anyone who is imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly in connection with the protests;
- immediately release all EU nationals arrested and drop all charges against them;
- swiftly repeal laws that impose compulsory veiling on women and girls, abolish the ‘morality’ police and end systemic discrimination against women in all fields of life;
- introduce an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.
For its part, the EU should add Iranian officials, including all those associated with the ‘morality’ police, who are found complicit in or responsible for the death of Mahsa Jina Amini and violence against protesters, to the EU’s list of individuals against whom restrictive measures in relation to serious human rights violations in Iran have been imposed.