In Iran, a death sentence has been imposed for the first time in connection with the weeks of protests against the country’s leadership. People have been protesting against the Islamic system of rule since mid-September. Chancellor Scholz has sharply criticized the Iranian leadership.
A court in the capital Tehran pronounced the death penalty, the judicial authority said on Sunday on the Internet. The convicted person was found guilty, among other things, of setting fire to a government building, “disturbing public order” and threatening “national security”.
In Iran, people have been protesting against the government and the Islamic system of rule since mid-September. The trigger was the death of the 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini in police custody. The morality police had arrested her because, according to her, the young woman had violated Islamic dress codes.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) used unusually sharp words to criticize the Iranian leadership for human rights violations there and defended the planned new sanctions. “What kind of government are you that shoots at its own citizens? Anyone who acts like this must expect our resistance, ”said Scholz at the weekend. Tehran promptly rejected this attitude as “interventionist, provocative and not very diplomatic”.
“More than 300 dead – rows of death sentences, more than 14,000 arrests” – hardly anyone in Germany can imagine how much courage it takes to take to the streets in Iran for freedom and justice, Scholz continued. The daily pictures shook him. Germany is demanding an “immediate end to the violence” and the release of political prisoners and imprisoned journalists.
This Monday (November 14) the EU states want to decide on a new package of sanctions in view of the serious violations of human rights in Iran. The committee of permanent representatives of the member states in Brussels unanimously approved plans on Friday, as several diplomats from the German Press Agency confirmed. The formal decision is to follow on Monday.
