P9_TA(2023)0429 – Latest attacks against women and women's rights defenders in Iran, and Iran's arbitrary detention of EU nationals – European Parliament resolution of 23 November 2023 on the latest attacks against women and women’s rights defenders in Iran, and Iran’s arbitrary detention of EU nationals (2023/2979(RSP))
Date: 2023-11-23
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: EU national, Iran, gender-based violence, human rights, human rights movement, imprisonment, position of women, sexual discrimination, woman, women's rights








C_202404217EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/4217


24.7.2024






P9_TA(2023)0429

Latest attacks against women and women's rights defenders in Iran, and Iran's arbitrary detention of EU nationals


European Parliament resolution of 23 November 2023 on the latest attacks against women and women’s rights defenders in Iran, and Iran’s arbitrary detention of EU nationals (2023/2979(RSP))

(C/2024/4217)



The European Parliament,







—


having regard to Rule 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,










A.


whereas brave women, girls and women’s rights defenders in Iran continue fighting to end systemic discrimination; whereas widespread and systematic violations of women and girls’ human rights continue;










B.


whereas Nasrin Sotoudeh, the 2012 Sakharov Prize winner, was arrested and beaten after the funeral of 16-year-old Armita Geravand, who was fatally injured after opposing the degrading compulsory veiling law; whereas jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate Narges Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize; whereas this year’s Nobel Peace and Sakharov Prizes pay tribute to brave Iranian women;










C.


whereas Johan Floderus, a Swedish citizen and EU official, has been imprisoned in Iran and is yet another example of Iran’s hostage diplomacy;













1.


Strongly condemns the ongoing deterioration of the human rights situation in Iran and the Iranian authorities’ brutal murders of women, including Armita Geravand and Mahsa Jina Amini; calls for the immediate release of all human rights defenders and victims of arbitrary detention, including Narges Mohammadi, Sepideh Gholian, Golrokh Iraee, Nasrin Javadi and Bahareh Hedayat;












2.


Urges the Iranian authorities to immediately end all discrimination against women and girls, including mandatory veiling; urges the Iranian authorities to withdraw the bill ‘promoting the culture of chastity and the hijab’ and repeal all discriminatory gender laws; calls for the EU to publicly condemn this bill;












3.


Strongly condemns the judicial harassment of Nasrin Sotoudeh; strongly condemns Iran’s practice of arbitrary detention, withholding necessary medical treatment, police violence, torture and imposing death sentences, as well as the alarming rise in executions;












4.


Urges the Iranian authorities to allow the UN fact-finding mission in Iran full and unimpeded access to conduct independent investigations;












5.


Urges the European External Action Service and the Member States to support the Sakharov and Nobel Prize laureates by establishing an EU task force and by increasing technical support to human rights defenders; urges the Member States to facilitate the issuance of visas and asylum and emergency grants to those in need;












6.


Condemns Iran’s hostage diplomacy; urges the EU to launch an EU strategy to counter hostage diplomacy with a dedicated task force on Iran to better assist detainees’ families and effectively prevent further hostage-taking, including by issuing more warnings against visiting Iran; calls on Iran to immediately and unconditionally release Johan Floderus, Ahmadreza Djalali, Nahid Taghavi, Kamran Ghaderi, Jamshid Sharmahd and Massoud Mossaheb;












7.


Reiterates its calls to initiate criminal investigations into crimes committed by the Iranian authorities under universal jurisdiction, designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organisation and sanction those responsible for human rights violations in Iran, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi and Prosecutor-General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri;












8.


Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.






ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/4217/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)