13 December 2023 :

December 12, 2023 - The European Parliament officially awarded the EU’s top human rights prize to Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom protest movement in Iran during a ceremony in Strasbourg on December 12.
“This year’s Sakharov Prize serves as a tribute to all the brave and defiant women, men and young people in Iran who, despite coming under increasing pressure, are continue the push for change,” the parliament’s President Roberta Metsola said.
Metsola deplored that none of Mahsa’s relatives was allowed to attend the event, saying that the travel ban imposed by Iranian authorities on the family “is another example of what the people of Iran face every day.”
In a heartfelt message to the Sakharov Prize Committee, Mahsa’s mother, Mojgan Eftekhari, said she would have liked to attend the ceremony and “thank you personally and on behalf of all the women of my land."
"Unfortunately, contrary to all legal and humanitarian norms, we have been denied this opportunity,” she added.
The ceremony was attended by the Amini family’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, as well as Iranian women’s rights defenders Afsoon Najafi and Mercedeh Shahinkar.
Mahsa, 22, died in Tehran in September 2022 while in police custody, three days after she was arrested for an alleged hijab infraction.
Her death triggered months of protests that spread across the country and rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the four-decade-old Islamic theocracy in Iran.
Authorities responded with a brutal crackdown in which more than 500 people were killed and over 22,000 others were unlawfully detained, according to activists.
Following biased trials, the judiciary handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters. At least eight of them have been executed so far.
The 27-nation EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iranian officials and entities for their involvement in the clampdown on the women-led protests.
In her message, Eftekhari wrote that her daughter “spread the dream of freedom from her hometown of Kurdistan to the whole of Iran, the Middle East and the world, mobilizing millions of oppressed women and men.”
"I firmly believe that her name will forever embody freedom alongside Joan of Arc's name," she added, in referrence to a saint honored as a defender of the French nation during the Hundred Years' War.

https://iranwire.com/en/news/123454-eu-remembers-mahsa-amini-at-sakharov-prize-awarding-ceremony/

13 December 2023 :

DECEMBER 11, 2023 - Mahsa Amini's Family Decries Travel Ban on Eve of Human Rights Award Ceremony
The family of Mahsa Amini has in a statement expressed frustration at the sudden and unexplained travel ban imposed on them by the Iranian authorities overnight yesterday.
Mahsa Amini died in police custody on September 16, 2022, after her arrest for “improper” hijab. Her death sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran and months of protests.
Hours before Amini's family was to depart for France, where she will be honoured with the European Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, authorities at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport prevented them from boarding their December 8 flight.
"Upon arrival at Tehran International Airport, despite having the necessary visas and a legitimate reason to travel, we were unexpectedly informed by passport control officers that we were prohibited from leaving the country," the family said in its statement.
A copy of the statement was received by IranWire.
"Our passports were confiscated and we were given receipts instructing us to visit the Tehran General Passport Office the following morning [Saturday, 9 December] to retrieve our passports," the family added.
But officials at the passport office claimed to know nothing of the situation and directed the family to the Prosecutor General’s Office in Tehran.
The Amini family then visited this office accompanied by their lawyer.
Tehran’s first deputy prosecutor informed the family they had been prohibited from leaving Iran at the behest of the bailiff – the Ministry of Intelligence.
"Despite our inquiries, officials refused to provide a solid reason for the travel ban and said it would remain in effect until January 20, 2024," the family said.
The family had also checked their account on the Islamic Republic judiciary online system before visiting the prosecutor but found no record of any court case against them.
The Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that there was no case and that the travel ban was imposed based on the Ministry of Intelligence request.
"Despite recent directives from the head of the judiciary criticizing unnecessary travel bans and emphasizing the need for prompt notifications, our family received no prior notice or judicial order regarding the travel restriction," the family said.
"This lack of communication led us to travel from Saqqez to Tehran under the assumption that, if banned, we would have been informed in advance," they added.
The exact reasons behind the Ministry’s decision remain unclear and requests for more information from the Prosecutor’s Office have yielded no results. But it is widely believed to be a politically-motivated move aimed at silencing Amini's family and suppressing the burgeoning women's rights movement in Iran.
A court also sentenced the family’s legal representative to a year in prison for "propaganda activity" against the Islamic Republic in October.
Attempts by the family to retrieve their passports proved futile on Saturday afternoon. The Aminis were informed that the documents would only be returned if the travel ban was not extended after the specified January 20, 2024 date.
"Our intention for the trip was solely to attend the award ceremony, and we had purchased return tickets, demonstrating our genuine and lawful purposes. Nevertheless, our travel was unjustly halted," the Aminis said.
"We question why, according to the law, we are subjected to a travel ban without judicial authority. And if such authority exists then why has the order not been communicated to us? Why have we been left unaware of the alleged crime for which we are being restricted?” the family said.
After Mahsa Amini’s death and the outbreak of nationwide protests, more than 500 people were killed in the ensuing crackdown by security forces and over 20,000 people were unlawfully detained, including dozens of lawyers.
Following biased trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences including the death penalty to protesters. The Islamic Republic has so far executed at least 8 young protesters.
"We know that our only 'crime' is being the family of Jina Mahsa Amini," the family said in its statement.

https://iranwire.com/en/news/123350-mahsa-aminis-family-decries-travel-ban-on-eve-of-human-rights-award-ceremony/#:~:text=%22Our%20intention%20for%20the%20trip,travel%20ban%20without%20judicial%20authority.

08 December 2023 :

December 2, 2023 - European Union: Current Pace Of Executions In Iran ‘Appalling’
Reacting to reports of the execution of a young man and a young protester, the European Union has called on Iran to refrain from any future executions.
Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy of the European Union, stated on Friday, "There are credible reports that a minor, Hamidreza Azari, and a protester, Milad Zohrevand, were executed in Iran on November 24 and 23 respectively," emphasizing the European Union’s "firm and principled opposition to the use of capital punishment at all times and in all circumstances." Iran has hanged nearly 700 people this year alone.
Stano also underlined that as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, the Islamic Republic is prohibited from imposing the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18.
Hamid Azari was hanged on Friday morning at the Central Prison of Sabzevar in the northwestern province of Khorasan-e Razavi for complicity in stabbing Hamidreza Aldaghi to death in a street fight in April.
Iran Human Rights (IHR), a Norway-based NGO, claims to have reliable evidence that Azari was only sixteen years and eight months old at the time and seventeen years and three months when he was hanged.
According to IHR, the Islamic Republic has hanged at least 68 other child offenders since 2010.
Stano’s statement also mentions Milad Zohrevand, a construction worker who was arrested during last year’s protests in Malayer in the western province of Hamedan and was hanged on November 23 on charges of killing Ali Nazari, a Revolutionary Guard.
Miladvand’s family and friends say he was only in the vicinity of the place Nazari was shot to death. Authorities have not offered any solid evidence of Miladvand’s involvement in the killing.
The young man who was tried and sentenced to death behind closed doors was never given access to a lawyer and his family were pressured by the authorities not to talk to the media about his case. He was hanged without having a chance to meet his family for a last time before his execution.
IHR said on December 1 that the Islamic Republic has executed over 700 in 2023 including at least 176 since October 7 when the war in Gaza started.
IHR urged the international community and especially European countries to “break their silence on the arbitrary execution of more than three people per day by the Islamic Republic.”
“The critical human rights situation in Iran, and the death penalty in particular, must not be compromised for political and regional considerations. The international community’s silence on executions is considered a green light by the Islamic Republic,” IHR said.
Other prisoners, IHR NGO says, have often been hanged in groups of several in various prisons for political crimes, drug offences and murder.

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202312027555

20 October 2023 :

OCTOBER 19, 2023 - The EU parliament has awarded its prestigious Sakharov Prize to Mahsa Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom protest movement in Iran that was sparked by the death of the 22-year-old.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced the 2023 laureate on October 19, saying that the chamber “proudly stands with the brave and defiant who continue to fight for equality, dignity and freedom in Iran.”
“We stand with those who, even from prison, continue to keep Women, Life and Freedom alive,” she told parliament. “By choosing them as laureates for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2023, this House remembers their struggle and continues to honour all those who have paid the ultimate price for liberty.ʺ
Amini died in Tehran in September 2022 while in police custody, three days after she was arrested for an alleged hijab infraction. 
Her death triggered protests that spread across the country and rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s four-decade-old Islamic theocracy.
Authorities responded with a brutal crackdown in which more than 500 people were killed and over 22,000 others were unlawfully detained, according to activists. 
The 27-nation EU has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Iranian officials and entities for their involvement in the clamdown on the women-led protests.
Mahsa Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom movement were awarded the Sakharov Prize just weeks after imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight against the “oppression of women” in her country and for promoting “human rights and freedom for all.”

https://iranwire.com/en/women/121680-mahsa-amini-irans-women-led-protest-movement-win-sakharov-prize/

28 June 2023 :

(June 26, 2023) - Council targets 7 individuals over serious human rights violations
The Council of the European Union decided today to impose a 9th package of restrictive measures on an additional 7 individuals responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran.
The new listings include the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Isfahan province and the Deputy Judge of the Provincial Criminal Court of Isfahan province, who are responsible for the trials against the protestors Saleh Mirhashmi, Majid Kazemi and Saeid Yaqoubi, subsequently executed in May 2023. Today’s sanctions also target the commander of IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) forces in Isfahan province, who oversaw the actions of the IRGC and other security forces in response to anti-government protests.
The Council is also listing the Governor and head of Rezvanshahr Security Council in Gilan province, who ordered officers to open fire on protesters in the context of the 2022-2023 nationwide protests causing numerous deaths and injuries, including to children, and the Police Commander of Rezvanshahr in Gilan province, who executed the orders.
Lastly, sanctions were imposed on the Governor of the city of Amol, responsible for the killing of at least 2 young Iranian protesters, and the commander of the Imam Hossein Guards Corps of Karaj over the detention and killing of Mohammad Reza Ghorbani and the detention and rape of Armita Abbassi by the Karaj security forces.
Restrictive measures now apply to a total of 223 individuals and 37 entities. They consist of an asset freeze, a travel ban to the European Union, and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those listed. A ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be used for internal repression and of equipment for monitoring telecommunications is also in place.
The European Union and its member states urge the Iranian authorities to stop the violent crackdown against peaceful protests, cease their resort to arbitrary detentions as a means of silencing critical voices, and release all those unjustly detained.
The European Union calls on Iran to end the practice of imposing and carrying out death sentences against protesters, reverse the death penalty sentences pronounced, as well as provide due process to all detainees. The EU also calls upon Iran to end the distressing practice of detaining foreign civilians with a view to making political gains.
Today’s package of listings follows the previous eight adopted by the Council since October 2022, the latest of which was adopted on 22 May 2023.
The relevant legal acts have been published in the Official Journal of the EU.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/06/26/iran-council-targets-seven-individuals-over-serious-human-rights-violations/

08 May 2023 :

(May 6, 2023) - EU condemns execution of Iranian-Swedish dissident Habib Chaab
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemned Saturday the execution of Swedish-Iranian dissident Habib Chaab, as the Iranian judiciary announced Chaab’s death sentence had been carried out after a conviction for “terrorism.”
“The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and Sweden, together with the rest of the EU, condemns its application in all circumstances,” Billstrom, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, wrote on Twitter.
He added that Stockholm had contacted Tehran “and demanded that the sentence not be carried out.”
Chaab had been held in Iran since October 2020 after he vanished during a visit to Turkey before going on trial in Tehran, which does not recognize dual nationality.
Convicted of “corruption on earth” for heading a rebel group, he was condemned to death on December 6 -- a decision denounced by Sweden -- and Iran’s supreme court upheld the sentence in March.
Iranian authorities accused Chaab of staging attacks since 2005 “under the protection of two spy services, including the Mossad and Sapo” -- the Israeli and Swedish agencies, respectively.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/05/06/EU-condemns-execution-of-Iranian-Swedish-dissident-Habib-Chaab-
https://english.shabtabnews.com/2023/05/06/eu-condemns-execution-of-iranian-swedish-dissident-habib-chaab/

26 February 2023 :

(February 23, 2023) - EU condemns Iran over death penalty for Jamshid Sharmahd.
The European Union on February 23 condemned a death penalty imposed by an Iranian court on a Iranian-German dual national and expressed concern about the increasing number of EU citizens in Iran’s jails.
Tehran’s Revolutionary Court convicted Jamshid Sharmahd, 67, on Tuesday on charges of playing a role in a deadly 2008 mosque bombing.
His family says he was kidnapped by the Iranian security services and then taken to Iran for a show trial.
“The European Union condemns in the strongest terms the unacceptable sentencing to death of Jamshid Sharmahd,” the European Union said in a statement supporting a stance taken by EU member Germany.
“We are in close touch with the German authorities. We will make every effort to advocate for a judicial review in full respect of due process rights and the right of appeal. Consular access has to be granted.”
The statement said the bloc had a united position on EU citizens detained in Iran and opposed the use of the death penalty anywhere, in any circumstance.
“The increasing number of EU citizens currently detained by Iran on spurious grounds is of great concern,” it said, amid concerns that Iran, under pressure from an internal revolt and international sanctions, is resorting to hostage-taking.
Iran is holding at least 17 Western citizens, most of them dual nationals, including Sharmahd.
Rights groups and supporters say they are part of a policy of hostage-taking by Iran to extract concessions from foreign governments.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/02/23/EU-condemns-Iran-over-death-penalty-for-Iranian-German-dual-national

21 February 2023 :

(20/02/2023) EU To Include Iranian Judges On Sanctions List
The European Union will impose sanctions against dozens of Iranians, including judges, for their role in imposing death penalties on protesters, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said on February 20.
"Judges, prison workers, people who sentence others to death, dozens of them will get on the list," Asselborn said before a meeting with other foreign ministers from the EU in Brussels.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/eu-include-iranian-judges-sanctions-list-luxembourgs-asselborn-says-2023-02-20/
https://english.shabtabnews.com/2023/02/20/eu-to-include-iranian-judges-on-sanctions-list/

22 January 2023 :

European Parliament passed a resolution that puts the IRGC on the terrorist list
European Parliament in response to suppression of the nationwide protests of the Iranian people and torture and execution of protesters. With 598 positive votes, approved a resolution regarding the terrorist designation of the IRGC.
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, said that the execution of protesters demanding freedom in Iran cannot continue. She said: “The Iranian regime should stop suppressing the protesters and cancel the orders issued against them.”
This resolution mentions Mohsen Shekari, Majidreza Rahnavard, Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini. The execution of protesting people has condemned the repression and human rights violations in Iran in the strongest tone. And she demands the member states of the union to strengthen their support for the protesting people of Iran.
The approval of resolution of the European Parliament is a necessary step in dealing with the biggest organization of repression and terrorism in the world, that is, the Revolutionary Guards.
People of Iran, who hate Revolutionary Guards, were very happy about this action of European Parliament. And congratulated each other and celebrated in some cities.
In the clips published on social networks, the people of Mahabad and Saqqez came to the streets and danced and rejoiced because of the European Parliament’s resolution declaring the IRGC as terrorists.

https://en.iranhrs.org/european-parliament-puts-revolutionary-guards-in-the-terrorist-list/