What changed

B100220/2025

B100224/2025

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on the execution spree in Iran and confirmation of the death sentences of activists Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani

(2025/2628(RSP))

– having regard to Rules 144150(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas according to Iran Human Rights, at least 975 people were executed in Iran in 2024, the highest number in more than two decades, marking a 17% increase from the 834 executions recorded in 2023; whereas at least 95 people have already been executed as of mid-March 2025;

whereas Iran has dramatically intensified its use of the death penalty, with over 950 executions in 2024, twice as many as in the previous year, including against dissidents, women, journalists, and minorities, such as the Baháʼí; whereas this includes individuals arrested when they were minors, as well as European citizens;

B. whereas Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, are at imminent risk of execution like dozens of other political prisoners in Iran sentenced on vaguely defined national security charges;

whereas Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani face execution following a grossly unfair trial before a Revolutionary Court in Tehran, during which they were denied legal counsel and convicted on vague charges;

C. whereas on 15 September 2024 the two dissidents were sentenced on charges of “armed rebellion against the state”, “enmity against God” and “corruption on earth” allegedly supporting the PMOI and were tried in a grossly unfair five-minute trial where they were not allowed to speak; whereas Ehsani and Hassani state that they were tortured in detention;

whereas both were held in prolonged pre-trial detention, denied family contact, and reportedly tortured;

1. Firmly condemns the surge in executions by the Iranian regimes, used to spread fear and punish people for dissent;

whereas Mahvash Sabet, a 71-year-old Iranian Baha’i human rights defender, is serving a second 10-year prison sentence on baseless charges linked to her faith;

2. Calls the Iranian government to promptly revoke the death sentence for Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, and all others facing the death penalty for political activism, annul their convictions and sentences, immediately release all political prisoners and review their cases in line with international human rights law;

whereas Sabet was subjected to torture, resulting in serious injuries; whereas she suffered severe cardiac complications in January 2025 and was briefly released to recover, but is now at risk of being returned to prison despite medical advice;

3. Demands Iranian authorities to grant Ehsani and Hassani access to their families, independently lawyers of their choice, and to adequate medical assistance;

Whereas Varisheh Moradi, a Kurdish political prisoner, was arrested and sentenced to death in a sham trial;

4. Urges Iran to stop using the death penalty, halt executions and release and retrial persons threatened with execution in a due process, particularly for charges that under international law never result in capital punishment; calls on Iranian authorities to place an immediate moratorium on the use of death penalty, especially against human rights defenders and to respect their international obligations under the ICCPR;

Whereas the mullahs' regime also uses assassins to intimidate dissidents abroad, including the attempted assassination of U.S.-based journalist Masih Alinejad, though Russia-linked henchmen.

5. Reiterates its call on Iran to provide the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran and the UN Fact-Finding Mission with full, unimpeded access to the country; calls on the EU and Member States to fully support the mission and the renewal of its mandate;

whereas the mullahs' regime uses hostage diplomacy and has imprisoned European citizens

6. Supports the HR/VP and Member States in denouncing the Iranian authorities’ use of the death penalty and communicating to Iranian officials that ending systematic impunity in Iran remains an EU priority;

Condemns the use of the death penalty in Iran as a tool of political repression, including the imminent execution of Ehsani and Hassani and the inhumane treatment of Sabet;

7. Calls on the Council to continue identifying and sanctioning perpetrators responsible for serious human rights violations; reiterates its call to add the IRGC to the EU list of terrorist organisations;

Urges the Iranian authorities to halt any plans to execute Ehsani and Hassani and to release them, given the severe due process violations and their arbitrary detention;

8. Urges Member States to launch criminal investigations into Iranian officials responsible for grave human rights violations, particularly under universal jurisdiction;

Calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Mahvash Sabet and all others imprisoned solely for exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms;

9. Encourages the Commission to expand technical and financial assistance for Iranian civil society, including for implementing organisations;

Calls for the immediate release of all EU hostages including Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris;

10. Calls on Member States to facilitate visas, asylum and emergency grants for those who need to flee Iran;

Demands that all political prisoners of conscience be granted immediate access to legal counsel, family contact, and adequate medical care, and that allegations of torture be independently investigated;

11. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the EU institutions, HRVP, the Member States, and Iran.

Reiterates its call for a moratorium on all executions in Iran as a step toward abolition of the death penalty and urges reforms to bring Iran’s penal code in line with international human rights standards;

Calls on the Council and Member States to make releasing political prisoners and EU nationals, and the abolition of death sentences a condition for improving relations with Iran, and until then to designate the IRCG a terrorist organisation and to expand targeted sanctions against responsible Iranian officials, including supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i Prosecutor-General Mohammad Movahedi-Azad and Judge Iman Afshari;

Urges the UN HRC to monitor Iran’s use of the death penalty and to investigate these cases as part of broader accountability efforts;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR, and the Iranian government.