Protesters gather in Brussels to denounce executions in Iran

Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held a protest in Brussels' Place du Luxembourg on Saturday to draw attention to the increasing number of executions in Iran.

Around a hundred people took part in the rally, which aimed to make European authorities aware of the "astronomical surge in executions" in Iran. The demonstrators displayed portraits of victims of the regime's rule and called for a "free, democratic, secular and non-nuclear Iran".

The demonstrators called on the European Union and European countries to "revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the Vienna nuclear deal", to exert pressure to place the Iranian regime under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which states that Iran currently poses a threat to international peace, and to recognise the right of the Iranian people to resist and overthrow the oppressive regime of the mullahs.

Belgian senator Mark Demesmaeker was present at the rally alongside Brussels MP Marc-Jean Ghyssels.

Demesmaeker criticised Iran's support for Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine by supplying drones and praised the NCRI's significant efforts to bring freedom and democracy to Iran.

Ghyssels paid tribute to the Iranians who were violently repressed in 2022 when they took to the streets to demand more freedom following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was beaten to death by the "morality police" for "wearing inappropriate clothing".

'Ultimate denial of human dignity'

The EU continues to oppose the use of the death penalty in Iran. EU commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli said in a speech last week on behalf of High Representative Josep Borrell that the EU has "a strong, unequivocal and long-standing opposition to the death penalty at all times and in all circumstances".

"The death penalty is an ultimate denial of human dignity, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and makes miscarriage of justice irreversible," said Dalli "We do not shy away, as I said, from expressing our condemnation and our position publicly and in private, in any country where the death penalty is used."

^{© PHOTO JULIETTE BRUYNSEELS / AFP}