Members of the European Parliament have called on Iran to introduce an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a step towards abolishing it and commuting all death sentences.

A resolution published on Thursday notes that since Ebrahim Raisi took office as President of Iran in August 2021, there has been a significant rise in the number of executions, including of women.

It also points out that the death penalty in Iran is disproportionally applied to ethnic, religious and other minorities, notably the Baluch, Kurds, Arabs and Baha’is as well as LGBTIQ persons.

In addition, Parliament urges the authorities in Iran to urgently amend Article 91 of the country’s Islamic Penal Code to explicitly prohibit the use of the death penalty for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age, under all circumstances.

The report highlights that Iran has the world’s highest number of executions per capita. According to the United Nations, between 1 January and 1 December 2021 at least 275 people were executed in Iran, including at least two child offenders and 10 women. Parliament’s resolution also states that 85 juvenile offenders were on death row in the country in January 2022.

The resolution also highlights the case of Swedish-Iranian Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, a scholar who was sentenced to death on spurious espionage charges in October 2017 following a grossly unfair trial based on a confession extracted under torture.

The text was adopted by 617 votes in favor, 8 against and 59 abstentions.