Resolution on the case of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali in Iran

The European Parliament adopted by 486 votes to 8, with 29 abstentions, a resolution on the case of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali in Iran.

The text adopted in plenary was tabled as a joint resolution by the EPP, S&D, ECR, Renew, Greens/EFA groups, and Members.

Parliament called on Iran to immediately release Ahmadreza Djalali and all currently detained political prisoners. Dr Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian national specialising in emergency medicine and a scholar at Belgium’s Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Italy’s Università del Piemonte Orientale, was arrested on 24 April 2016 by the Iranian security forces. He was sentenced to death on trumped-up espionage charges in October 2017 following a grossly unfair trial based on confessions extracted under torture. Iran's Supreme Court upheld this sentence on 17 June 2018.

Members strongly condemned Ahmadreza Djalali's sham trial and the brutal treatment he received from the Iranian authorities. They called on Iran to provide Ahmadreza Djalali, whose health is deteriorating, with immediate and unrestricted access to specialised medical care and to allow him to be represented and defended in court.

Parliament called on Iran to declare a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty, noting that hundreds of people have already been executed in 2025 and at least 972 in 2024, a 14 percent increase from 2023.

Sweden, along with other relevant Member States and the European External Action Service, is called upon to intensify diplomatic efforts and adopt targeted measures in response to Iran’s continued detention of EU nationals, including Cécile Kohler, Jacques Paris and others, as part of its hostage diplomacy and in violation of international law.

Parliament reiterated its call on the Council to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation and extend EU sanctions to all those responsible for taking EU nationals hostage and for mass executions of opposition voices and other human rights violations.

Members demanded that Iran grant full access to UN human rights mechanisms and called for the European Union's full support and increased support for civil society organisations.

Relations between the European Union and Iran must be based on tangible progress on democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the release of all political prisoners.