After the blacklisting of army commanders, Iran urges action over \u2018violations\u2019 of its citizens\u2019 rights by EU states.<\/p>\n
In a strongly worded letter to the Council of the European Union, Iran formally protested against the blacklisting of several individuals and entities and what it says are European double standards on human rights in Iran.<\/p>\n
The letter was written by the High Council of Human Rights of Iran \u2013 an entity under the country\u2019s Supreme National Security Council currently headed by judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and comprised of several ministers \u2013 and handed to Portugal\u2019s ambassador to Tehran Carlos Costa Neves as the country currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU.<\/p>\n
It comes in response to a move on April 12 by the EU to sanction eight military commanders and police chiefs, in addition to three prisons, for their role in a deadly crackdown of public protests in November 2019 that Amnesty International said led to at least 304 deaths.<\/p>\n
The EU has now blacklisted 89 individuals and four entities as part of its decade-long human rights sanctions regime against those who it says are violating human rights in Iran.<\/p>\n
In response, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry said it will immediately suspend talks with the EU on human rights and all resulting cooperation, including that on \u201cterrorism\u201d, illicit drugs, and refugees. It also traced \u201cpolitical intentions\u201d behind the move and said is considering reciprocal sanctions.<\/p>\n
In its letter, the Iranian human rights council condemns the EU for its policies that it says are \u201cenforcing the illegal and oppressive sanctions\u201d unilaterally imposed by the United States after it withdrew from Iran\u2019s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.<\/p>\n
The sanctions, which intensified only after the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, have hampered imports of food and medicine, in addition to creating money transfer issues in buying coronavirus vaccines.<\/p>\n
The letter says a number of EU member states have imposed \u201cintentional damage on the health and wellbeing of the Iranian people, particularly children, women, the elderly, and persons with disability\u201d.<\/p>\n
For instance, it lists the names of more than a dozen children who died because of a lack of access to vital medicine to treat epidermolysis bullosa (EB), a rare medical condition that results in blistering of the skin and mucous membranes.<\/p>\n
It also describes how several European countries refused to work or deal with Iranian firms on medicine, medical equipment, and vaccines, and says several airports have failed to provide services to Iranian passenger planes because of US sanctions.<\/p>\n
The human rights council also condemns the fact that Iranian migrants and students have faced difficulties in opening bank accounts in European countries based on their nationality, and says several Iranian citizens are held in European prisons on \u201carbitrary\u201d charges and have been mistreated in prison.<\/p>\n
Moreover, it says the EU should have unequivocally condemned the January 2020 assassination of Iran\u2019s top general Qassem Soleimani by the United States as a \u201cclear example of state terrorism\u201d that Iran believes was assisted by elements within the German government.<\/p>\n
Among other things, the council also holds that a number of European countries continue to shelter members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, which Iran recognises as a \u201cterrorist organisation\u201d, and provided Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
\u2018Double standards\u2019<\/strong> The letter is focused on two things: the violation of Iranians\u2019 human rights by the EU inside Iran, and in European countries, Seyyed Majid Tafreshi told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Europeans who have so many claims on human rights are themselves the perpetrators of many human rights violations of Iranian citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Tafreshi also said it is unfair that the EU directs the majority of its attention towards \u201cfollowing illegal sanctions imposed by the US\u201d while ignoring the plight of Iranians inside and outside the country.<\/p>\n According to Tafreshi, the human rights council expects an \u201cactionable response\u201d to its letter, which called on the EU to \u201cbring the violators of the fundamental rights of the Iranian nation into trial without any politicisation\u201d. \u2018Utter lack of knowledge\u2019<\/strong> Peter Stano, an EU spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, said it would be wrong to claim the EU has supported US sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite to the contrary, the EU repeatedly rejected the unilateral imposition of the US sanctions and prevented US efforts under the Trump administration to reintroduce UN sanctions on Iran,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it was the EU that was always looking for ways to enable food and medicine supplies to Iran, especially in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. To claim otherwise is utter lack of knowledge and ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n Stano said the new European sanctions listings are completely unrelated to continuing efforts to restore the Iran nuclear deal. Talks on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna have been continuing for several weeks, with all sides saying progress is being made on lifting US sanctions and reversing Iran\u2019s nuclear steps despite lingering challenges.<\/p>\n By Maziar Motamedi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After the blacklisting of army commanders, Iran urges action over \u2018violations\u2019 of its citizens\u2019 rights by EU states. In a strongly worded letter to the Council of the European Union,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[221],"tags":[537,64],"module":[67],"ctype":[17],"blog":[106],"class_list":["post-12515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran","tag-mko-terrorism","tag-mkos-terrorist-activities","module-news","ctype-story","blog-al-jazeera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12515"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=12515"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=12515"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=12515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe letter is aimed at holding the EU accountable for its double standards on human rights in Iran, according to the deputy for international affairs at the Iranian council.<\/p>\n
\nIt would only \u201cstrengthen Iran\u2019s position\u201d if the EU fails to adequately respond, he said.<\/p>\n
\nAn EU source told Al Jazeera the Council of the EU has yet to receive the letter, so it cannot comment on its contents.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe EU supports a balanced, comprehensive approach with Iran through dialogue, with a view to addressing all issues of concern including human rights,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are critical when there are divergences and cooperative when there is mutual interest.\u201d<\/p>\n