The European Parliament on Thursday condemned Iran for the repression of women’s rights protesters.
The majority of MEPs voted in favor of a resolution that “condemns in the strongest terms” the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini “following her violent arrest, abuse and ill-treatment by Iranʼs ‘morality’ police’,” and calls on the Iranian government to allow for an “impartial and effective investigation.”
The resolution also “supports the peaceful protest movement across the country,” and asks the Iranian authorities to release protesters who have been arrested and drop all charges against them.
Following Amini’s death, anti-government demonstrations have taken place across Iran, with many women removing their headscarves in defiance of the country’s religious laws.
Authorities have killed more than 100 people during the demonstrations, according to rights groups.
The text in Parliament was adopted by a show of hands, so there is no official record of how many voted in favor. But according to Cornelia Ernst, chair of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iran, the “vast majority” were in favor of the text.
“Human rights are not negotiable. The longing for a free and democratic Iran is gripping more and more people in Iran. The European Parliament stands by their side,” Ernst said in a statement after the vote.
The resolution also urges the EU to sanction Iranian officials involved in the crackdown against protesters. That call has support elsewhere, with the foreign ministers of France and Germany this week announcing that the EU is set to impose sanctions against Tehran’s leaders.
On Wednesday, Swedish MEP Abir Al-Sahlani cut her hair in the Parliament in Strasbourg in a show of solidarity with the women in Iran. The Iraq-born MEP said “women, life, freedom” in Kurdish and English before cutting off her braid.
The European Parliament also on Thursday adopted a resolution on Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression against Ukraine. Some 504 MEPs voted in favor of the resolution, which calls for a massive increase in military assistance to Ukraine, while 26 voted against.
