The European Parliament has called on Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi to immediately stop the execution of Ahmedreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian national accused by Tehran of espionage.
#Djalali was arrested in 2016 for carrying out acts of espionage on behalf of unnamed countries, a charge he strongly denies. He was handed a death sentence in 2017.
Djalali insists that Iranian security agents forced him to confess to the crime using #torture. He was granted a reprieve in December when his execution was postponed at the last minute.
The #Parliament resolution on Thursday called on Raisi, who led Iran’s judiciary before being elected president last month, to unconditionally free Djalali and send him back to Sweden.
It also accused Tehran of threatening Djalali’s family in Iran and Sweden and said the threats must stop as well.
The resolution also called on Tehran to drop charges against 10 other European nationals it keeps in detention, suggesting that the European Union should consider “further targeted sanctions” of the individuals behind the arrest and detention of any European citizen in Tehran.
Maria Arena, chair of the parliament’s subcommittee on human rights, told Rudaw that human rights should be a priority in direct talks between Iran and the EU.
“We have to put human rights at the first priority of our discussion. So for us it’s not to say that we have to choose between a partnership with Iran and forget about human rights. It is to make both,” she said, worried that the human rights situation in Iran could worsen with the election of hardline judge #Raisi.
