European Parliament Condemns Systematic Human Rights Violations in Iran Including Against Christians
The European Parliament passed a resolution condemning systematic human rights violations in Iran, including persecution of Christians.
On Thursday, January 23, 2025, corresponding to February 4, 1404 in the Iranian calendar, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning systematic human rights violations in Iran and the harassment and persecution of minorities including Christians. In this resolution, while referring to the systematic suppression of human rights protests by the Islamic Republic government, it emphasized that these actions are carried out with the aim of silencing the voices of opponents and suppressing dissent.
The resolution stated: “Christians, especially Christian converts after changing their religion, face systematic harassment and persecution. Additionally, minorities such as Kurds, Baluchs, and Bahá’ís face ethnic and religious discrimination, and their fundamental rights are violated.”
Three global Christian organizations, along with Article 18 organization, released a report on this matter. According to the report, prison sentences against Christians in 2024 increased sixfold, with a total of 96 Christians sentenced to 263 years in prison under these verdicts. It should be noted that this report was reviewed at the Geneva session of the United Nations.
In this resolution, the European Parliament, while referring to the death sentences of two Kurdish female political prisoners named “Pakhshan Azizi” and “Varisha Moradi,” called for the annulment of their sentences and emphasized that they were deprived of fair trials and subjected to torture and solitary confinement.
The European Parliament also called in this resolution for the annulment of the death sentence and release of “Ahmadreza Djalali,” an Iranian-Swedish physician and researcher who has been held as a hostage prisoner in Iranian prisons for nearly 9 years and has been sentenced to death, as well as other European citizens held hostage in Iran.
In this resolution, while emphasizing the need for European Union support for human rights defenders and the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, it called for increased support for Iranian civil society, strengthening UN monitoring and fact-finding missions, and designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of terrorist organizations.
The resolution was presented by a number of European Parliament members and “Daniel Attard” from Malta and was passed by overwhelming majority vote in Brussels.
