What changed

whereas Taraneh Rahimi, a 20-year old Iranian woman, was sentenced to death on 30 August 2026 on the charge of moharebeh (enmity against God), following her arrest in January 2026 during the nationwide protests; whereas on the same day nine others were sentenced to death and six people, including Taraneh’s twin sister Romina, were handed prison sentences up to 25 years, in what is known as the Isfahan Shohada Square case; whereas Taraneh and Romina reportedly were subjected to torture and forced confessions while in detention;

whereas Leila Abolhasani, a 43-year-old woman that was arrested in January 2026 during protests in Shahin Shahr, was sentenced to death on the charge of moharebeh in May 2026; whereas her appeal is ongoing before the Supreme Court;

A. whereas Iran continues to brutally suppress its citizens; whereas Iran’s nationwide uprising in January 2026 was met with state violence of unprecedented scale, with thousands killed;

B. whereas Iranian courts in Isfahan imposed death sentences on 20-year-old Taraneh Rahimi and 43-year-old Leila Abolhasani in relation to the protests; whereas Ms Rahimi’s sister, Romina, received a long prison sentence;

whereas the overall human rights situation in Iran is worsening; whereas the Islamic Republic engages in the systematic oppression of its people through arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, collective punishment and inhumane detention conditions;

1. Strongly condemns the politically motivated verdicts against Taraneh Ramini, Leila Abolhasani and all others; calls for the immediate reversal of the sentences, a halt to all executions and the unconditional release of all political prisoners; calls on the Iranian authorities to give Taraneh and Romina Rahimi immediate access to appropriate medical care;

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2. Calls on the Iranian regime to halt any use of violence against civilians and immediately halt all executions, abolish capital punishment and release all those arbitrarily detained;

Strongly condemns the politically motivated verdicts against Taraneh Ramini, Leila Abolhasani and all others; calls for the immediate reversal of the sentences, the halt of all executions and the unconditional release of all imprisoned demonstrators and political prisoners, that are imprisoned on false charges or for solely exercising their rights; calls on the Iranian authorities to provide Taraneh Rahimi with immediate access to appropriate medical care;

3. Raises serious concerns about the increasing number of women sentenced to death on false security-related charges;

Expresses its full solidarity with the people of Iran and supports the Iranian people who seek freedom and the right to live without Islamist coercion;

4. Condemns the Iranian regime’s persecution of religious and ethnic minorities, including Kurds, Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs, Azeris, Baha’is, Sunnis, Jews, Zoroastrians and Christians;

Reiterates its outrage at the brutal repression perpetrated by the Iranian regime against protesters and the regime’s systematic use of arbitrary detention, torture, extrajudicial killings and the death penalty as instruments of repression;

5. Condemns that over recent months the regime has intensified its campaign against women’s rights activists, journalists and human rights defenders;

Demands that the Iranian authorities immediately end the repression and ensure that no statement or confession obtained through torture, ill-treatment, coercion or other unlawful means is admitted or relied upon in judicial proceedings;

6. Condemns the Iranian authorities’ and their proxies’ use of transnational repression to target and intimidate family members of protesters, dissidents and human rights defenders;

Deplores the regime’s targeting of protesters, journalists, human rights defenders, foreign and dual nationals, women and minorities, including Kurds, Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs, Baha’is and Christians; calls for the release of those detained solely for their ethnicity or religious beliefs;

7. Urges the Council and the VP/HR to expand EU sanctions by targeting all officials responsible for the January 2026 massacres, including judges, prosecutors and intelligence officials directly responsible for sentencing and executing protesters;

Calls on the Council to continue listing, under the EU human rights sanctions regime, all Iranian judiciary officials responsible for ordering politically motivated executions; encourages the EU and the Member States, in cooperation with Europol, to continue to dismantle all online propaganda networks linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps;

8. Is appalled by Iran’s codification of gender discrimination and calls in that respect for the codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under international law;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the authorities of Iran.

9. Calls on Member States’ embassies in Tehran to implement the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders through systematic trial observation and prison visits;

10. Calls on the Member States to carry out investigations under the principle of universal jurisdiction in order to hold Iranian officials accountable for grave human rights violations and to end systemic impunity; calls on the UN Security Council to refer Iran’s regime to the International Criminal Court;

11. Calls for strengthened support for the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran to preserve evidence and identify those responsible for crimes under international law; encourages the Commission to increase its financial, material and legal support for Iranian civil society and collect evidence on human rights violations;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the VP/HR, the EU institutions, the Member States, the UN and the Iranian authorities.