Today, Majid Kazemi, Saeed Yaghoubi and Saleh Mirhashemi were executed after being arrested and sentenced to death in connection with the recent protests in Iran. The European Union condemns these executions in the strongest possible terms and calls once again on the Iranian authorities to immediately end the strongly condemnable practice of imposing and carrying out death sentences against protesters.
The EU urges the Iranian authorities to refrain from applying the death penalty and carrying out future executions and to pursue a consistent policy towards the abolition of the death penalty altogether. It is also imperative for the Iranian authorities to uphold the accused individuals’ due process rights and ensure that those who are under any form of detention or imprisonment are not subject to any form of mistreatment.
The EU urges the Iranian authorities to uphold their obligations under international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party. Fundamental rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, must be respected in all circumstances.
The EU reiterates its firm and principled opposition to the use of capital punishment at all times and in all circumstances. The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity. Furthermore, it is a definite punishment that makes possible miscarriages of justice irreversible.