Petition to the European Union Regarding a New Wave of Repression in Iran
9 December 2019
We, the undersigned, are alarmed by the recent wave of violent repression and continued violation of human rights in Iran. Following the unexpected announcement of a rise in the price of fuel by 200 percent in mid-November 2019, and rationing the amount drivers could purchase to 60 litres a month, above which level a higher premium was payable, the Iranian people took to the streets in towns and cities in their tens of thousands across the country in protest against the intense economic pressure they have been enduring for four decades. The regime responded with its characteristic brutality. Mr Rohani ordered the security forces to crush the protests, which he said amounted to rioting. The people faced up to the ruffians of the regime with determination and courage. The increase in the price of fuel was only a trigger in this new uprising; it is the regime in its entirety that the people of Iran have been rejecting for so many years. Their slogans provided clear and irrefutable evidence to that: “Down with Khamenei”, “Down with the Dictator”, “Down with Rohani”, “Down with the Islamic Republic”, “Reza Shah! Bless your soul”, “Khamenei, shame on you, let go of this country”, “The nation has risen, this is the end of the regime”, “Leave Syria alone, think of us and our welfare”, “Petrol is but an excuse, our aim is the regime”, “We shall fight, we shall die, we shall win our Iran back”, “Our enemy is right here, those who say that America is our enemy are lying”.
Reports compiled by demonstrators and eye witnesses and circulated on social networks in the first two days showed brutal suppression of crowds by heavily armed security forces, violently beating up demonstrators at street level while snipers, who had taken positions on rooftops of buildings overlooking the streets, or from helicopters flying above the crowd, shot demonstrators in the head. On the third day of demonstrations, on November 16th, the regime cut access to the internet. Given the lack of internet connectivity, lack of independent reporting and lack of independent human rights monitors on the ground, precise casualty figures and information about imprisonment of protestors are difficult to ascertain, however, hundreds were killed, thousands wounded and countless abducted. At least 208 were confirmed dead by Amnesty International by December 2. The authorities have refused to allow parents of those killed to recover the bodies of their loved ones for burial; in some instances a huge ransom of 40 million tomans or above (the monthly pay of a factory worker or a civil servant being about 2.9 million tomans) has been demanded against release of the corpses, which were allowed to be buried by night only, forbidding the performance of traditional religious rituals or funeral services. Those wounded and transported to hospitals were in no better situation: doctors and nurses are said to have implored the families to take their loved ones away from the hospital as security agents would otherwise move them away; there has been no news of those who were arrested, though it is feared that they may be summarily executed. A commentary published in the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper, which presents itself as an unofficial mouthpiece for the Supreme Leader, and preachings of some clergy close to the regime, suggest that detained protesters could be executed.
While the regime was committing these atrocities in Iran, it ensured a news blackout. Though the internet was closed down after the third day of protests and there are few foreign correspondents willing and able to report the truth in Iran, telephone lines were open, embassies of the European countries were well aware of what was going on in at least the city of Tehran, and yet there was deafening, shameful silence across Europe on the events unfolding in Iran.
We believe that these abuses and heavy-handed responses to peaceful demonstrators should be met urgently with punitive measures by European governments and institutions, whose muted response has been perceived as tacit approval of the violent posture of the regime against a proud Iranian people yearning to be free. The wide-ranging sanctions the Trump administration has imposed against the Islamic Republic have been effective, notwithstanding the regime’s efforts in playing down their impact. Europe, on the other hand, has been supportive of the Iranian regime throughout, and heedless to the signals from the people of Iran who have been struggling to at last be free of it. Indeed, European governments have unapologetically endeavoured to find ways to circumvent the sanctions imposed by the US and to help a fascist regime to survive. This policy, chillingly out-of-touch with the alienation and the deep frustration of the people of Iran, amounts to a lifeline for a regime that has long lost its legitimacy. It is a posture contrary to the very values and principles that European countries have undertaken to honor and uphold worldwide as signatory states to the Treaty on European Union and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We strongly believe that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a threat to the peace and stability of the region and beyond. It provides arms and ammunition, financial and ideological support to Hezbollah in Lebanon, to the Houthis in Yemen, to the Taliban in Afghanistan, and has made Iraq its fiefdom. The Islamic Republic has been instrumental to the annihilation of Syria. It must be stopped before Iran itself is also destroyed. A transition away from the revolutionary regime responsible for the terror of innocents across the world will indeed benefit all of humankind’s posterity.
It is long past time for Europe to confront the fascism of the Islamic Republic, to impose consequences on the Iranian regime for its abysmal treatment of its own people. Accordingly, we respectfully request European governments and institutions to take concrete measures, collectively and individually, to reverse this trend and to coerce the regime in Tehran to act like a normal state. We urge European governments and parliaments to publicly and formally:
- Call on the regime to immediately cease all violence against the Iranian people;
- Call for the immediate release to the public of the names of those killed and imprisoned;
- Demand the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners;
Concurrently and contingent upon the non-satisfaction of the above:
- Appoint a delegation of members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament to visit Iran and inspect the condition and treatment of detainees of recent events in prisons and unofficial places of detention, to meet with the victims’ relatives, and to report their findings and observations to the Parliament;
- Ban the issuance of visas for officials of the Iranian regime and their families, and revoke any such existing visas, prohibiting the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran and their families from traveling in the EU zone;
- Freeze assets of state-owned, state controlled and/or state connected Iranian banks and companies in the European countries to deprive criminal organizations, such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Qods Force, of economic resources;
- Designate the IRGC, including its Qods Force, as Terrorist Organizations under the Autonomous EU list and EU Member States List, and impose trade sanctions (e.g. general and specific), financial sanctions (e.g. freeze of funds), individual sanctions (e.g. travel ban), military sanctions (e.g. arms embargoes) on those entities and their officials;
- Sanction the ministers and deputy ministers of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for their collective responsibility in perpetrating human rights abuses against the people of Iran, by imposing an EU-wide travel ban on them and their families, freezing their bank accounts in the eurozone, and expelling their families who have taken residence in EU countries;
- Impose general trade sanctions and revoke all specific existing contracts, for commerce or services, between EU-registered companies and companies registered in or related to the Islamic Republic of Iran, subject to humanitarian exemptions;
- Recall all ambassadors of the EU countries from the Islamic Republic of Iran;
- Expel ambassadors of the Islamic Republic of Iran in European capitals, and reduce the number of personnel of the diplomatic missions of the Islamic Republic of Iran in EU countries to the bare minimum;
- Subject the Islamic Republic of Iran to a boycott on all sporting competitions and cultural events, and withdraw all invitations already sent to sport administrators of the Islamic Republic of Iran; also decline any and all invitations received from officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran for participation in any such competition and event hosted by the Islamic Republic, including invitations that have already been received and accepted;
- Ban Iranian airlines and all Iran registered aircrafts from flying over EU air space and having access to EU airports and air bases, subject to humanitarian exemptions;
- Impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and its affiliates to limit the regime’s propaganda and disinformation in legitimizing its repression, including the broadcasting of so-called “confessions” forced upon those in detention, and the promotion of terrorism, terrorist organizations, and extremist beliefs;
- Designate a special EU rapporteur to work in tandem with the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Iran (and other, global UN rapporteurs on torture and freedom of expression) to investigate torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment of political prisoners and to identify and publicly denounce the perpetrators of those atrocities, and to investigate the freedom of expression and the shutting down of the internet by the government amid widening protests against the regime; hold hearings at the EU on these findings and engage broadly with the media, think tanks and universities to raise awareness of the repression of the Iranian people.
We urge the European Union to make its choice clear: either to take meaningful, concrete measures to penalize the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which would be a course of action in the best interests of international peace; or to continue to support the usurping regime in Tehran, which is a threat to the world at large. There is no third way.
Signed,
Abdolreza Ahmadi, Former Political Prisoner, Member of Iranian Liberal Students Graduates
Mohammad Alijani, Editor
Mehran Ansari, Secular Democracy Activist, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Shayan Ariya, Central Council Committee Member of Constitutionalist Party of Iran
Sanaz Ariya, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Shiva Aronvi-Jones, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Ahmad Batebi, Former Political Prisoner, Human Rights Activist, Journalist
Nassim Behrouz, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Reza Behrouz, Physician, Member of Constitutionalist Party of Iran
Khosrow Beitollahi, Senior Advisor of Constitutionalist Party of Iran
Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President, American Foreign Policy Council
Saeed Derakhshandi, Former Political Prisoner, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
AmirHossein Etemadi, Former Political Prisoner, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Ava Etemadzadeh, King’s College London
Saba Farzan, Founder and Director of Foreign Policy Circle, a strategy think tank in Berlin
Saeed Ghasseminejad, Senior Advisor, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Babak Ghotbi, Central Council Committee Member of Constitutionalist Party of Iran
Mohammad Izadi, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Satggin Jalai, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Alireza Kiani, Former Political Prisoner, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Jamie Kirchick, Visiting Fellow, Brookings Institution
Marcus Kolga, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and President of the Central and Eastern European Council in Canada
Saghi Laghaei, Journalist, Human Rights Researcher, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Behzad Mehrani, Former Political Prisoner, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Shima Mehrani, Human Rights Researcher
Mariam Memarsadeghi, Democracy Activist, Co-founder of Tavaana
Hammed Mohammadi, Journalist
Navid Mohebbi, Democracy Activist
Mehrang Moradi, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Kaveh Moussavi, International Arbitrator at International Court of Arbitration
Joshua Muravchik, Author
Alireza Nader, Senior Fellow, Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Youhanna Najdi, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard), Member of Iranian Liberal Students Graduates
Pooya Nasseri, Expert in Finance and Investment
Kyle Orton, Independent Researcher
Mohammad-Hassan Yousef Pourseifi, Former Broadcaster of Iranian Radio and Television
Michael Pregent, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Ahmad Rafat, Journalist
Moniru Ravanipor, Writer
Alireza Rayegani, Former Political Prisoner
Minoo Razavi, Communications Specialist
Hamed Sheybanirad, Member of Iran Revival (Farashgard)
Babak Sina, Dentist, Spokesperson for the Farre Kiyani Movement
Haideh Tavackoli, Constitutionalist Party of Iran, Secretary General
Javad Tavvaf, Former Student Activist
Mahdi Vaziri, Member of Iranian Liberal Students Graduates
MohammadReza Yazdanpanah, Journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Damavand News
Nader Zahedi, Constitutionalist Party of Iran, Deputy General
Hamid-Reza Zarifinia, Journalist
Dena Ziari, Historian of Architecture