What changed

B100224/2025

B100225/2025

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

(2025/2628(RSP))

– having regard to Rules 150(5) of its Rulesprevious ofresolutions Procedure,on Iran;

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;

– having regard to its rule of procedure 150(5);

A. whereas political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani face execution following aare grosslyat unfairimminent trialrisk beforeof aexecution Revolutionaryin CourtGhezel inHesar Tehran,prison; duringwhereas whicha theyrequest werefor denieda legaljudicial counselreview andwas convictedrejected onin vagueFebruary charges;2025;

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

B. whereas the Supreme Court of the Islamic Republic of Iran has upheld the execution sentence of the humanitarian worker Pakhshan Azizi, and has sentenced to death Wirishe Moradi, who fought against the Islamic State in North-East Syria;

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;

C. whereas human rights defender Sharifeh Mohammadi is at risk of execution after being sentenced to death in February 2025 for her activities, including supporting women’s and workers’ rights;

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;

D. whereas death penalty continues to be retained for acts protected by freedom of expression, religion or belief, including drinking alcohol and consensual same-sex relationships; whereas sexual relationships outside marriage remain punishable by stoning to death;

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

E. whereas since the Woman Life Freedom uprising in 2022, the Iranian authorities have embarked on a brutal killing escalation, using the death penalty as a tool of oppression against protesters, dissidents and ethnic minorities;

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.

1. strongly condemns the sentence to death against political prisoners Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, on charges of armed rebellion against the state, enmity against God and corruption; urges to immediately halt any plans to execute them; denounces their arbitrary detention and the severe violations of fair trial rights;

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

2. recalls its recent position decrying the decision by the Supreme Court of Iran to uphold the execution sentence for humanitarian workers and human rights defenders Pakhshan Azizi and Wrisha Moradi;

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;

3. expresses strong preoccupation for the conviction and death sentence against trade unionist Sharifeh Mohammadi;

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;

4. is particularly concerned for the continuous political oppression against Baha'i human rights defenders; recalls in particular the case of Mahvash Sabet, who’s sentenced to prison despite critical heart conditions;

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

5. firmly condemns the systematic repression and deliberate deterioration of human rights in Iran, characterized by a severe crackdown on protests and freedom of expression, escalation of executions, suppression of women's rights, persecution of ethnic and religious minorities;

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

6. expresses deep concern over the unprecedented rise in executions, particularly of women, and calls on the EU and its Member States to pursue all available measures, including targeted sanctions against Iranian officials responsible for human rights violations; demand to establish a moratorium on death sentences;

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;

7. urges the Iranian authorities to immediately release, safely repatriate and drop all charges against condemned EU nationals, including French nationals Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, as well as Swedish national Ahmadreza Djalali; strongly condemns the Islamic Republic’s use of hostage diplomacy and inhumane detention conditions;

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;

8. Reiterates its call on the Council to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation;

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;

9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR, the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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.