According to state-run media, tens of prisoners have been executed, in recent weeks in Iran. Some reports state the number of executions over two weeks (13 April till 26 April), reached 115. But the real number of those executed could in fact be much more than this. One report says that a large number of prisoners have been executed secretly in the city of Arak in recent weeks.
The Iranian dictatorship surrounded by growing political, social and economic crises are worried about the consequences of the nuclear negotiations and have resorted to executions, torture and killings of the Iranian people more than any other time in order to create an atmosphere of fear and repression.
Many of these executions are carried under the excuse of drug crimes and other offenses that simply do not meet international standards for the justification of the death penalty. But worse still, many are punishments for things that are not crimes at all, but rather for political dissent. Such “crimes” are often identified by vague, religious-sounding charges like “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on the Earth.”
The regime has abused the inaction of the international community against the brutal and systematic violation of human rights in Iran.
The Iranian government is sending a delegation from the Majlis (parliament) to Brussels for some meetings in European Parliament this week on 6-7 May.
A protest letter by Iranian refugees association in Belgium sent to the MEPs states that: “The members of Majlis are not elected representatives of our people, in fact they are representatives of different factions of the clerical establishment. We do not have any real elections in Iran and only the candidates who are absolutely loyal to the “values of the Islamic Republic” are eligible to stand in so called elections in Iran. Thus meeting these “MPs” in any parliament in Europe would only provide more publicity and propaganda for the ruling theocracy and will be used to justify more repression inside Iran.”
As we have previously said, any expansion of relationship with Iran must be conditioned to a clear progress in human rights. We call on the EU High Representative and EU member states to urge Iran to immediately end the executions and the gross human violations against its citizens.
Gérard Deprez MEP
Chair, Friends of a Free Iran
European Parliament, Brussels
Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) is an informal group in the European Parliament which was formed in 2003 and enjoys the active support of many MEPs from various political groups
