Iran Writes to Council of EU, Slams Violations of Iranians’ Rights by European Govts

In a letter to Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union Jeppe Tranholm Mikkelsen on Wednesday, Ali Baqeri-Kani enumerated the rights violations against Iranian citizens in European countries, including the cutting off of cooperation with Iranian company Armita Teb Novin in the field of blood transfer by Germany as well as declining to provide services to Iranian passengers at airports in Sweden and Spain.

Iranian citizens, Baqeri-Kani added, have suffered bitter incidents such as cremation, illegal and violent arrests, arbitrary detention, and other inhumane measures in EU countries, condemning the Council indifference to the approach of some European governments.

He also highlighted the case of 31 Iranian children who succumbed to epidermolysis bullosa [EB] and mucopolysaccharidosis [MPS] diseases as a result of unilateral coercive measures and sanctions.

The EU Council needs to “cooperate with the special representative of the HCHR on the issue of the negative impact of the imposition and implementation of sanctions on the human rights and to force European governments to cooperate with the mentioned special representative” in order to “document and uncover the facts of the violation of the right to life of these innocent children, as the first step to bring to justice those violating the fundamental rights of the Iranian people,” he was cited as saying in the letter by the website of the Iranian human rights body.

Baqeri-Kani likewise criticized the EU’s silence in face of acts of state terrorism committed by the US, including its assassination of top Iranian anti-terror general Qassem Soleimani, calling on the EU to recognize the assassination as a terrorist act in order to be true to their claim of supporting human rights, and also oblige European governments to cooperate with the Iranian Judiciary to uncover the truth with regard to the assassination.

The letter came days after the EU announced new sanctions ranging from travel bans to asset freezes on eight Iranian individuals, including Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC] Major General Hossein Salami, and three prisons on baseless human rights-related grounds.

In response, Iran condemned the move and announced counter-sanctions on the EU, saying the details of the sanctions will be announced later.

“In reaction to this EU measure, the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran stops all comprehensive talks with the European Union, including human rights discussions, as well as all forms of cooperation emanating from those talks, especially in the fields of terrorism, illicit drugs and refugees,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.