Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a protest in Brussels’ Luxembourg Square on Saturday to draw attention to Iran’s increasing number of executions.
Approximately one hundred people attended the rally, intending to raise awareness among European authorities about the “astronomical surge in executions” happening in the Middle Eastern country.
Protestors displayed portraits of victims fallen under the regime’s rule and called for a “free, democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran”.
The demonstrators implored the European Union and European countries to “revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Vienna Nuclear Deal”, to exert pressure to place the Iranian regime under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which asserts that Iran currently poses a threat to international peace, and to acknowledge the Iranian people’s right to resist and overthrow the Mullahs’ oppressive regime.
Belgian Senator Mark Demesmaeker was present at the rally alongside Member of the Brussels Parliament Marc-Jean Ghyssels.
Demesmaeker criticised Iran’s support of Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine by supplying drones and praised the NCRI’s significant efforts towards achieving freedom and democracy in Iran.
Ghyssels paid tribute to Iranians who had been violently repressed in 2022 while demonstrating in the streets for more freedom following Mahsa Amini’s death, a young woman who was beaten to death by the morality police for “wearing inappropriate clothing”.
The EU is constantly protesting against the use of the death penalty in Iran. The Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, said in a speech last week (7 February) on behalf of High Representative Josep Borrell that the EU “has a strong, unequivocal and longstanding opposition to the death penalty at all times, and in all circumstances.”
“Death penalty is an ultimate denial of human dignity, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and makes miscarriage of justice irreversible."
"This latest execution is part of an alarming trend in Iran, with more than 750 executions in 2023, representing a sharp increase from previous years and including, in particular, individuals from ethnic minorities," she added. "The use of the death penalty as a tool of repression against protestors is yet another reminder of the deterioration of human rights in Iran."
