Some 36 MEPs have joined +300 experts and NGOs in appealing to Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Roberta Metsola, the European Parliament President, and Dr. Mai Sato, the Special UN Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran. They ask them to save Behrouz Ehsani,69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, two Iranian political prisoners facing imminent execution.
Here is the text of the appeal:
H.E. Volker Türk
United Nahons High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner för Human Rights (OHCHR)
Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva, Switzerland
URGENT – BY EMAIL
26 January 2025
Dear High Commissioner Türk,
We urgently appeal for your intervention to save Behrouz Ehsani, 69, and Mehdi Hassani, 48, Iranian political prisoners facing imminent execution. Their death sentences were confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Court on 7 January 2025, after an unjust trial for charges linked to their political activism.
On 26 January 2025, both were forcibly moved from Evin to Qezelhessar Prison, where most executions take place, under suspicious conditions, leading to protests among fellow inmates. This move, coupled with the cutting of communication lines, suggests authorities are preparing for their secret execution.
Both men were initially convicted in an unjust trial presided over by Judge Iman Afshari of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on 16 September 2024. The charges against them included “rebellion (baghi), waging war against God (moharebeh), spreading corruption Dn earth (efsad-fil-arz), membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), gathering and colluding against national security, possession of classified information, and illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.”
The sentences were imposed following credible reports of physical and psychological torture during their detention in Ward 209 of Evin Prison after their arrests in late 2022. Denied a fair trial, their appeals were summarily dismissed, violating Iran’s obligations under international human rights law. Alarmingly, Iranian authorities executed approximately 1,000 prisoners last year, using mass executions to terrorise the populafion and suppress dissent.
Both Mr. Ehsani and Mr. Hassani are long-standing advocates for justice and human rights. Their participation in the year-long “No to Execution Tuesdays” campaign, which has spread to 34 prisons nationwide, reflects their commitment to resisting the death penalty and advocating for systemic change in Iran.
We respectfully urge you to use your leadership and moral authority to:
- Condemn the imminent execution of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani and call for the Iranian authorities to halt these death sentences immediately.
- Mobilize the international community to exert pressure on Iran to comply with its international human rights obligations and cease the use of the death penalty as a tool of political oppression.
- Request urgent access for independent monitors to assess the conditions of political prisoners in Iran.
The international community cannot remain silent in the face of such brazen violations of human rights. Time is of the essence, and we respectfully urge you to act decisively and swiftly to prevent these execufions. Thank you for your immediate attenfion to this urgent appeal.
Yours sincerely,
CC:
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
Kaja KalIas, EU High Representative/Vice-President (2024-2029) and Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Mai Sato, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Morris Tidball-Binz, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Signed by
Francisco Assis – Member of European Parliament (Portugal)
Petras Austrevicius – Member of European Parliament (Lithuania)
Sebastian Everding- Member of European Parliament (Germany)
Veronika Vrecionova – Member of European Parliament (Czech Republic)
Or. Jessika van Leeuwen – Member of European Parliament (Netherlands)
Villy S0vndal- Member of European Parliament (Denmark)
Loucas Fourlas – Member of European Parliament (Cyprus)
Niels Geuking- Member of European Parliament (Germany)
Milan Zver – Member of European Parliament (Slovenia)
Marc Angel – Member of European Parliament (Luxembourg)
Katrin Langensiepen – Member of European Parliament (Germany)
Per Clausen – Member of European Parliament (Denmark)
Benedetta Scuderi- Member of European Parliament (Italy)
Andrey Kovatchev- Member of European Parliament (Bulgaria)
Rasa Jukneviciene – Member of European Parliament (Lithuania)
Arkadiusz Mularczyk- Member of European Parliament (Poland)
Javier Zarzalejos – Member of European Parliament (Spain)
Carlo Ciccioli – Member of European Parliament (Italy)
Chloe Ridel- Member of European Parliament (France)
Costas Mavrides – Member of European Parliament (Cyprus)
Lukas Mandt- Member of European Parliament (Austria)
Isabel Benjumea Benjumea – Member of European Parliament (Spain)
Dirk Gotink – Member of European Parliament (Netherlands)
Fernand Kartheiser – Member of European Parliament (Luxembourg)
Kosma Zlotowski- Member of European Parliament (Poland)
Wouter Beke – Member of European Parliament (Belgium)
Nicolas Pascual de la Parte – Member of European Parliament (Spain)
Michalis Hadjipantela – Member of European Parliament (Cyprus)
Zoltan Tarr- Member of the European Parliament (Hungary)
Antonio Lopez-lsturiz White – Member of European Parliament (Spain)
Andrzej Buta- Member of European Parliament (Poland)
Urmas Paet – Member of European Parliament (Estonia)
Romana Tome – Member of European Parliament (Slovenia)
Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar – Member of European Parliament (Spain)
Anna Strolenberg- Member of European Parliament (Netherlands)
Jussi Saramo – Member of European Parliament (Finland)