NCRI – Prominent Italian politicians and human rights personalities on Monday held a conference in Rome criticizing Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi for his trip this week to Iran.
The Italian dignitaries pressed Mr. Renzi to focus on the appalling human rights situation in Iran instead of seeking trade deals with the mullahs’ regime.
Mr. Renzi travelled to Tehran on Tuesday.
Among the speakers in Monday’s conference, held at the headquarters of Italy’s Nonviolent Radical Party were former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi; Elisabetta Zamparutti, former Italian lawmaker and Treasurer of Hands Off Cain; Sergio D’Elia, Secretary of Hands Off Cain, and Italian journalist Aldo Forbice
Mr. D’Elia pointed out that data from Iran about executions in the country shows that the regime has hanged at least 2214 people since Hassan Rouhani took office as the regime’s President.
Ms. Zamparutti described Rouhani as a “false moderate,” adding that executions in Iran had reached a record high in 25 years since Rouhani took office.
Minister Terzi warned Western governments that there are big risks of establishing commercial and political ties with the mullahs’ regime in Iran.
Prime Minister Renzi must first consider the dangers posed by the Iranian regime’s meddling in neighboring countries before trying to strike trade deals with the mullahs, he pointed out.
Western companies who make a financial profit in Iran are likely to indirectly help the regime in its human rights abuses, he said.
Minister Terzi added that Iran’s regime continues to support terrorist groups in the region and has not backed down from its nefarious activities in the region.
Mr. Forbice urged international journalists to do more to raise public awareness of the appalling human rights situation in Iran.
Prime Minister Renzi must use his trip to Iran to expose the grave human rights abuses taking place there, he added.
The European Union on Monday extended sanctions against 82 officials of the Iranian regime until 2017 over “serious human rights violations” in the country.
The 28-nation bloc has frozen assets and placed travel bans against the Iranian officials since 2011 because of the human rights violations in Iran. It has renewed the sanctions every year since.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a statement last week had urged Mr. Renzi to cancel his trip to Iran.
