B4-0875, 0888, 0910, 0921 and 0934/95

Resolution on continued human rights violations in Iran

The European Parliament,

- recalling its numerous resolutions, and those of the United Nations, condemning both gross human rights violations in Iran and Iranian state- sponsored terrorism against political opponents abroad,

A. noting that, according to the United Nations, more than 100 000 people have so far been executed in Iran for political reasons,

B. incensed at the continued use of execution, torture and mass imprisonment, in appalling conditions, of political opponents in Iran, and the persistent oppression of ethnic, religious and other minority groups throughout society,

C. deploring the pretence of justice, the methods of interrogation - including torture - and the absence of any transparency which are the distinguishing features of the judicial system in Iran,

D. gravely concerned, in particular, by the systematic hostility of the Iranian regime towards women, who are denied basic freedoms by fundamentalist policies and practices,

E. believing that respect for essential human rights is a vital precondition for closer relations between the EU and Iran,

F. recalling its earlier request to the Council to examine in detail the human rights situation in Iran and report to the Parliament accordingly,

G. having regard to the scheduled meeting between representatives of the EU and Iran on 22 June 1995,

1. Unequivocally denounces the human rights record of the government of Iran at home, and its continued policy of political assassination abroad;

2. Notes with dismay the murder, in broad daylight on 17 May 1995, of two women opponents of the Iranian regime - Effat Hadad and Fereshteh Esfandiari - by Iranian government agents;

3. Expresses its deep sympathy with the families of the victims of this and all other brutal acts of repression by the Iranian government;

4. Urges the Iranian government to release immediately and unconditionally all political prisoners, to eliminate the use of torture in its prisons, to end the use of the death penalty, and to put in place mechanisms for fair trial and judicial review;

5. Calls on the Iranian government to admit independent foreign observers, and to establish an independent domestic judicial body to review the cases of any prisoners which it refuses to release;

6. Condemns the refusal of Iran to admit the United Nations special rapporteur and representatives of other organizations seeking to investigate human rights violations on the ground;

7. Reaffirms its opinion that closer EU relations with Iran must be conditional upon a very significant improvement in the human rights situation in that country; reaffirms that such a process also requires a clear reversal of Iran's policy of external assassination, to be evidenced most immediately by an unequivocal lifting of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie;

8. Requests Iran to ratify the UN Convention against Torture, to respect the provisions of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, and to dissolve its special security services;

9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of the Member States, the Iranian government, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations.