F. whereas during the protests, many women have taken off their hijabs or cut their hair in protest of Mahsa Amini’s death; whereas in 1983, compulsory veiling was imposed in Iran; whereas since then, women have been harassed, arrested, imprisoned, tortured, flogged and killed for violations of the hijab law; G. whereas the protests have united different religious and ethnic backgrounds and are being led by many student activists and educated, urban and middle-class women and men in their twenties expressing support for women’s rights and fundamental freedoms; whereas protests and strikes at over 100 universities turned into street demonstrations across the country, as students left campuses and joined the protests; H. whereas on 30 September 2022, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) stated that it had arrested nine foreigners, including German, Polish, French, Italian, Dutch and Swedish nationals, for their alleged involvement in the protests; whereas MOIS stated that it was closely watching foreign embassies whose agents it alleged had been involved in the recent protests and warned German, French, British and Swedish diplomats, among others; whereas some of those arrested have been released; whereas European-Iranian dual nationals continue to be arrested, receive unfair trials, be placed in solitary confinement and be sentenced on the basis of false and vague espionage charges; I. whereas on 10 January 2023, Iran increased the sentence for Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele from 28 years’ imprisonment to 40 years’ plus 74 lashes; whereas the sentence was handed down after Belgium’s highest court suspended a controversial bilateral treaty on prisoner exchanges that would have allowed Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi, convicted of attempted terrorism in Belgium, to be sent back to the Islamic Republic of Iran in return for Olivier Vandecasteele’s freedom; whereas Olivier Vandecasteele was imprisoned on 24 February 2022 on fabricated charges, including spying on Iran, cooperating with the United States against Iran, currency smuggling and money laundering; whereas Olivier Vandecasteele is reported to be appealing the verdict; J. whereas the protests in Iran have led to increased surveillance and intimidation by Iranian intelligence services against the Iranian diaspora throughout the Member States in a clear violation of the civil rights of EU citizens; K. 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; L. whereas according to reports, every year, between 400 and 500 women are brutally murdered in Iran in ‘honour killings’; whereas under the Iranian Criminal Code, ‘honour killings’ are permitted under certain circumstances without penalty; whereas women and men often receive no justice for crimes committed against them in the name of ‘honour’; M. whereas the human rights situation in Iran is increasingly deteriorating, and UN experts have expressed alarm at the escalating persecution on the grounds of religion and belief; whereas members of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran face arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances; whereas Iran’s approximately 500 000 Christians suffer