European Parliament Heard Our Plea: Abolish the Death Penalty!
On February 17, 2022, the European Parliament issued a new resolution on the death penalty in Iran, which reflects our voice as a citizen-led platform. The EP reflected our voice to show that it is sensitive to the pleas of ordinary people in our country and pays special attention to the initiatives through which Iranian citizens file their petitions directly and without intermediaries. The resolution states,
[EU]Highlights that citizens of Iran, through citizen-led initiatives, are consistently calling for the abolition of the death penalty and for an end to its use against human rights defenders and its disproportionate use against minorities; supports Iranian civil society and its peaceful efforts in pursuit of human rights; (https://unpo.org/downloads/2745.pdf)
In addition to the resolution, three EU members dealt separately with the tragedy of the death penalty in Iran. All three specifically mentioned the importance of petitioning by Iranian citizens.
In a speech to the European Parliament, Ignazio Corrao, a Greens / Free Alliance (EFA) member, pointed out that Iranian citizens' petitions are of primary importance when calling to abolish the death penalty. He said:
"We are all deeply alarmed by the increasing use of the death penalty against protesters, human rights defenders and dissidents but also ethnic and religious minorities."
''In order not to seem only an external concern, I want to highlight the proposal in the joint motion that recognizes citizen-led initiatives in Iran, such as petitions calling for an end to the death penalty and its disproportionate use against minorities and women.''
''Iran is also one of the few countries in the world that executes minors and juvenile offenders in clear violations of international law.''
''There appears to be a state policy of intimidating, prosecuting, or silencing those who call for accountability, justice and truth, whether they are victims themselves, relatives, human rights defenders, lawyers or organizations.''
''The voices of Iranian citizens are brutally silenced by the regime and yet these initiatives show that Iranian citizens want the death penalty practices to end.
Because of this, the regime cannot claim that the demand to end the death penalty is only coming from outside Iran.
"Its own citizens want it to end. This is why the EU and the International community need to take urgent actions as to let the voice of the Iranian people heard and stop decades of impunity of those who are involved in human rights abuses."
In a tweet, Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew party), another member of the European Parliament, expressly referred to the Daadkhast platform and wrote:
I welcome the @Europarl_EN resolution on #Iran. I encourage the citizen-led petitioning efforts such as @Daadkhast by Iranian citizens that call for the overturning of the #deathpenalty in Iran. @UNPOintl (https://twitter.com/ilhankyuchyuk/status/1494257274319257603)
Fabio Massimo Castaldo, another member of the European Parliament and former Vice-President of Human Rights at the EP, also referred to the Daadkhast platform in a tweet and wrote:
#todayinplenary the @Europarl_EN will adopt a resolution on the death penalty in #Iran, a critical tool of repression of the regime. We stand with the citizens of Iran demanding to #abolishthedeathpenalty @Daadkhast @unpointl (https://twitter.com/FMCastaldo/status/1494232454789582849)
We are glad that through citizen-led platforms such as Daadkhast, the international community could hear the voices of Iranian citizens and reflect these voices in resolutions that are noticed globally. We hope that the accumulation of these voices and the increasing pressure of the international community will cause the execution machine of the Islamic Republic to finally stop in its tracks.
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