Report about the Seminar held in Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representative of the Netherlands regarding political prisoners and Human Rights Violations in Iran
On April 3, 2019, a seminar was held in the Foreign Affairs Commission of Dutch Parliament on the status of political prisoners and human rights in Iran.
At this seminar, which was invited by Ms. Sadet Karabulut from the Socialist party, several representatives of the Labor Party, the Socialist Party and the Christian Unie Party, and a group of Iranians living in the Netherlands, including political activists, participated.
Shiva Mahboubi, (the spokesperson of the Committee to Free Political Prisoners in Iran -CFPPI), Shole Pakravan (Reyhaneh Jabbari’ mother, the young woman who was executed by Islamic Republic of Iran), Hossein Ahmadi Niaz (Ramin Hossein -Panahi’s lawyer, the young man who was executed by the Islamic Regime) and Parisa Pouyande (the chairperson of Committee to Free Political Prisoners) were speakers in this seminar.
In this seminar, Shiva Mahboubi, while referring to the repression of the Islamic Republic over the past four decades in connection with the sentences of whipping and torture of political prisoners, the human rights violations and repression of activists in Iran, and particularly the pressure of the Islamic government on workers and their representatives, emphasized the government And the Dutch parliament should put pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran and shut down its embassy in the country.
In the end, a report including twenty pages related to the status of political prisoners was delivered to parliamentarians.
Hossein Ahmadi Niaz, dealt with the unjust status of prisoners in Iran and injustice in the judiciary, pointing to the involvement of the IRI in suppressing activists for freedom, calling for more attention from the Netherlands’ Parliament and government to such a situation.
Shole Pakravan, read some of Reyhaneh’s letters from prison regarding torture and execution of Reyhaneh and her trial and execution. She asked the Foreign Affair Commission and the officials at the meeting to hear the voice of Reyhaneh and demanded that the crime against her be prosecuted by the Dutch government, the European Union and the international community.
Parisa Pouyande, spoke in relation to the sick prisoners, including Arash Sadeghi, Saeed Shirzad, Zeynab Jalalian and Alireza Golipur, and how they have been deprived of medication and treatment, despite the doctors’ request for treatment outside the prison. With asking three questions, she asked Dutch MPs and Dutch parties to pay more attention to the conditions of the sick prisoners and put pressure on the Islamic Republic to allow them to receive treatment, special care and release the prisoners.
In the Q & A section, representatives asked their questions from the speakers.
At the end, Ms. Karabulut of the Socialist Party promised that she will do more to follow up on these issues.
After the meeting, she informed that representatives of the parties participating in the seminar asked the Dutch foreign minister to respond to the following questions about Iran:
- Is the Minister aware of the report on March 30th, which was published in the newspaper Dag Blad in detail about the state of human rights abuses in Iran?
- Do you know that the human rights situation in Iran has worsened after a nuclear deal with Iran? If not, what explanation do you have?
- Are you aware of the severity of repression and executions in Iran?
- What do you think about the suppression of people by patrolling forces of “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” under the name of the Ethical Police?
- How do you want to compel the Islamic Republic of Iran to respect human rights? What are your methods and tools to achieve such a goal?
- Did you join the European Union in condemning the appointment of Ebrahim Raisi (member of the death committee during the massacre of political prisoners in Iran ) as chair of the judiciary? If not, why?
- Don’t you think this appointment indicates the lack of independency of the judiciary?
- How and by what means do you want to draw the attention of the European Union and the international community to the rise of repression in Iran?
The minister will have 6 weeks to answer the above questions.
It should be noted that the seminar was live on the website of the Dutch Parliament and a number of Persian-language media.
CFPPI will work hard to put pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran to release political prisoners by creating a global solidarity in support of political prisoners.
Committee to Free Political Prisoners in Iran
April 04, 2019