Enough is Enough – 3

Written by ACI in 12 December 22

…A regime that has lost complete legitimacy resorting to terror at home, and in the region and holding the international community to ransom with the nuclear threat…

Mr Josep Borrell

Chair of The Foreign Affairs Council,

the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,

Foreign Affairs Council Meeting – Brussels, 12 December 2022

As you prepare for your committee meeting later today the horrific news of yet another young life lost at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s hangman is being reported.

Twenty three year old Majid Reza Rahnavard was executed in public this morning in Mashad. Mizan, the judiciary’s news source reported Rahnavard was arrested when trying to flee the country 23 days ago. It added that his sentence was upheld by a higher court.

This means that in a space of 23 days this young wrestler with his whole life ahead of him, was arrested, interrogated – read tortured – tried, and had the case heard at a higher court, with the sentence of death upheld killed this morning. All in 23 days – 23 days!

Is this the negotiating partner you are still considering having across the table? How would any EU policymaker react if Mohsen or Majid Reza were their young boys? How would you expect the international community to respond?

This regime is violating its own national laws never mind international obligations.

How can it be trusted to honour any international undertaking? How many times should the Islamic Republic violate its international obligations before it is recognised for what it is? A regime that has lost complete legitimacy resorting to terror at home, and in the region and holding the international community to ransom with the nuclear threat. Not satisfied with taking Iranian lives it also engages in the killing of Ukrainians by supporting Putin’s war and the Russian aggression.

Enough is Enough.

Iranians are outraged and expect you will be too Sir. Decisive timely actionable decisions are needed:

  • Coordinate and align international targeted sanctions
  • Suspend any economic support and trade dealings by disbanding INSTEX – the damage to Iranians’ lives every day this regime is in power is greater than any sanction
  • Downgrade diplomatic relationships
  • Support the calls for a free democratic Iran, rule of law and observance of the universal human rights standards

Hossein Ladjevardi

President – ACI

Paris December 12, 2022

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