What changed

B100063/2025

B100067/2025

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on the systematic repression of human rights in Iran, notably the cases of PakhshanPakshan Azizi and Wrisha Moradi, and the taking of EU citizens as hostages

(2025/2511(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to Rule 150(5)150 of its Rules of Procedure,

whereas Pakhshan Azizi and and Wrisha Moradi, Kurdish women activists and social workers, have been sentenced to death, in judicial proceedings that lacked the minimum guarantees of due process; whereas both women were subjected to pressure and threat for forced confessions;

whereas the human rights situation in Iran is increasingly deteriorating, and experts have expressed alarm at the escalating persecution of religion and belief on the ground; whereas members of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran face arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances; whereas being Muslim is a requirement for most government jobs;

whereas Iran continues to disproportionally apply the death penalty to members of minority communities, especially the Kurdish and Baluchi communities; whereas in 2024 executions have increased, with 901 persons executed; whereas women, protesters, activists and other critics of the state are increasingly being executed after trials without guarantees;

whereas Iranian courts, particularly revolutionary courts, regularly fail to provide fair trials and accept confessions obtained under torture as evidence in court; whereas the authorities also routinely restrict detainees’ access to legal counsel, particularly during the investigation period; whereas the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is included in the US sanctions list for their involvement in grave human rights violations;

whereas in recent years, Iran has arrested dozens of Western nationals, many with dual-citizenship, mostly on charges related to espionage and security;

whereas following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in custody, the Iranian authorities have intensified efforts to suppress the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and the fundamental rights of women and girls in Iran;

Condemns the continued discrimination and repression that minority women activists as well as ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities, face in Iran;

whereas the oppression of Iranian women is inherent to Islamic fundamentalism and a direct result of the application of Sharia law; whereas in 1983, compulsory veiling was imposed in Iran and ever since women who have refused to wear the veil have been harassed, arrested, imprisoned, tortured, flogged and killed;

Stands alongside women, civil society, trade unionists and all citizens struggling for equal rights, the rights to peaceful protest and expression;

whereas recent reports highlight an increase in honour killings across Iran; whereas Iran’s legal framework is rooted in Islamic law which offers leniency to men who commit those crimes;

Calls on the Iranian authorities to revoke the death sentence against Kurdish political prisoners Pakhshan Azizi and Wrisha Moradi, and to review their cases as well as those of other death row inmates; demands to investigate allegations of torture and denial of fair trial rights;

whereas European-Iranian dual nationals continue to be arrested, receive unfair trials, are placed in solitary confinement and sentenced on the basis of false and vague espionage charges; whereas Iran routinely uses hostage diplomacy as a foreign policy tool, including in the cases of European citizens, notably Dr Ahmedreza Djalali who is languishing as many others in the notorious Evin prison and recently recorded a video of his plight and calling for his release;

Condemns the Iranian State practice to detain and prosecute dual nationals and use them as hostage to achieve foreign affairs aims; calls for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, such as Olivier Grondeau;

Strongly condemns the ongoing deterioration of human rights in Iran, including the systematic repression of women; Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Pakshan Azizi and Wrisha Moradi; Calls for the death penalty to be abolished in Iran;

Calls on the Iranian authorities to respect the fundamental right of the defendants to access a lawyer of their choice and the right to a fair trial and due process, to grant suspects access to legal counsel, consular visits, as well as full access to medical treatment and health care service in accordance with Iran’s international obligations;

Calls on the Iranian authorities to eliminate all forms of discrimination against persons belonging to religious and ethnic minorities and to respect their fundamental rights and freedoms including freedom of conscience;

Urges to put an end to the use of torture in places of detention, and stresses that any alleged information obtained as a result of torture and ill-treatment should never be admitted as evidence in a judicial proceeding;

Calls for the unconditional release of EU nationals, and all unlawfully detained human rights activists and prisoners of conscience in Iran;

Strongly condemns the increase of executions in Iran; reiterates its strong opposition to the use of the death penalty and urges the authorities to commute all death sentences and to introduce a moratorium on executions as a first step towards the abolition of capital punishment;

Calls on Iran to end the discriminatory laws and veiling requirements for women in Iran;

Calls on Iranian authorities to respect the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, association and peaceful assembly, including the rights of women and girls to protest and to choose not to wear veils;

Expresses its dismay that the Commission financed campaigns displaying the hijab as it serves as a symbol of oppression against women, not to be glorified or normalized; urges EU institutions and Member States to not finance any campaigns that promote the hijab;

UrgesReiterates EUits Membercall Stateson the Council to reinforceexpand theirthe humanitarianEU visassanctions policieslist to persecutedall womenthose andresponsible for human rights defendersviolations in Iran;

Stresses that further isolating Iran at global level can have detrimental consequences, such as strengthening hardliners of the regimen, further degrading women’s right as well as contributing to nuclear proliferation;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the relevant parties.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU institutions, Member States, and the Iranian authorities.