The PP calls for the conflict not to be used as a “smokescreen” for repression in Iran and demands the release of Narges Mohammadi

Eduardo González The People's Party (PP) parliamentary group in Congress has demanded that the current military conflict in the Middle East not serve as a "pretext or smokescreen" for the systematic and massive violation of human rights in Iran and has called for the release of Iranian activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi. In a non-binding motion registered on May 7 for debate in plenary session, the PP denounces that, "while international attention is focused on the escalating conflict and geopolitical tensions in the region, the Ayatollah regime is intensifying internal repression, increasing executions, and persecuting opponents, women, journalists, activists, and citizens who are simply demanding freedom with growing brutality." “The Islamic Republic of Iran is not merely a dictatorship: it is a repressive theocracy built on the denial of fundamental freedoms, the absolute subordination of the individual to religious power, and the systematic use of fear as a tool of political and social control,” the statement continues. “The current military conflict in the Middle East cannot serve as an alibi or a smokescreen for an undeniable reality: the systematic and massive violation of human rights by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” it warns. “International organizations, United Nations special rapporteurs, and human rights organizations have repeatedly denounced arbitrary detentions, torture, enforced disappearances, trials without due process, and the systematic use of the death penalty as an instrument of intimidation and subjugation of civil society,” the PP points out. “Iranian women are at the center of this institutionalized persecution,” it concludes. “The regime punishes them for how they dress, how they live, how they speak, and for demanding basic rights incompatible with a system built on discrimination and social control,” the People’s Party (PP) denounces. “In this context, the situation of Narges Mohammadi constitutes a moral disgrace for the international community,” it warns. “A 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, journalist, activist, and one of the bravest voices in defense of human rights and Iranian women, Narges Mohammadi continues to be persecuted by the regime for the sole crime of peacefully defending freedom and human dignity,” it continues. “From Evin Prison, she has denounced for years the torture, institutional violence, and abuses committed against women and political prisoners.” Unable to silence her voice, the regime has intensified the isolation, threats, and medical restrictions against her,” the People’s Party (PP) asserts. “That a Nobel Peace Prize laureate can be harassed, imprisoned, and subjected to these conditions without a proportionate international reaction constitutes a political and moral failure of enormous magnitude,” the PP warns. “Silence in the face of these events amounts to a form of complicity,” it continues.Therefore, according to the PP, “Spain, as a democracy committed to freedom, the rule of law, including international law, and the universal defense of human rights, cannot remain indifferent to this repressive trend” and, therefore, “as a member state of the European Union and the United Nations, Spain must actively promote diplomatic and political initiatives aimed at denouncing human rights violations, supporting Iranian civil society, and holding the Iranian regime accountable.” For this reason, the non-binding resolution urges the Government, among other measures, to “firmly, clearly, and publicly condemn the systematic repression carried out by the Islamic Republic of Iran against its the population itself, including executions, the persecution of political opponents, the repression of women, arbitrary arrests, torture and continued violations of fundamental freedoms,” to “demand that the Iranian authorities immediately cease executions and the use of the death penalty as an instrument of political intimidation and social control, especially against demonstrators, activists, journalists, women and members of ethnic and religious minorities” and to “demand the immediate and unconditional release of Narges Mohammadi.” Summons to the ambassador On May 7, the same day the People's Party (PP) registered its non-binding motion, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced before the full Congress that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had summoned the Iranian ambassador in Madrid, Reza Zabib, to convey its concern about the situation of Narges Mohammadi, “who is in critical health condition after her condition worsened in prison.” Four days later, the minister celebrated the Iranian activist's hospitalization and demanded the “complete lifting” of her sentence and her “immediate” release. Narges Mohammadi, 54, vice president of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while serving a ten-year prison sentence in Tehran, “for her struggle against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” According to her family, she suffered brutal beatings at the hands of prison authorities and, after a three-month hunger strike, suffered what may have been a heart attack. Although she was admitted to a hospital in critical condition in Zanjan, the city where she is serving her sentence, on May 2nd, there were fears that she would be returned to prison, where her life would be in danger. Mohammadi was admitted to a Tehran hospital on May 10th for treatment of her “multiple illnesses,” at the request of family members and doctors, after Iranian authorities agreed to suspend her sentence “for medical reasons” in exchange for bail. “This suspension of her sentence must become a complete lifting of that sentence,” and Mohammadi “must be released immediately,” Albares declared the following day in Brussels, upon arriving at the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting. For its part, the Plurinational Parliamentary Group Sumar (a minority group in Pedro Sánchez's coalition government) in Congress accused the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran last April of having used the war context as "cover to drastically intensify internal repression," including arbitrary arrests and the use of the death penalty at "unprecedented levels."

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