A man holds a flag with a picture of late leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, late Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, during a rally in Tehran, Iran, April 29, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

European lawmakers have stepped up pressure on Iran amid mounting alarm over the country’s human rights situation, marked by a surge in executions, mass arrests, and an intensifying security crackdown, warning of what they described as a growing campaign of repression.

On Thursday, the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, adopted a resolution — 516 votes in favor, 14 against, 92 abstentions — calling on the Islamist regime to immediately halt executions, release political prisoners, and hold officials accountable for alleged human rights violations.

The newly adopted resolution also voiced deep concern over escalating pressure on women, civil society activists, and religious minorities, warning of a widening climate of intimidation, surveillance, and systematic restrictions on basic freedoms across the country.

Member states called for broader sanctions on Iranian officials and institutions linked to repression and human rights abuses, including asset freezes and expanded EU entry bans, in an effort to deepen the diplomatic and financial isolation of those responsible.

The resolution comes as European governments intensify political pressure on Tehran amid what officials and human rights groups describe as a rapidly worsening human rights crisis, marked by an alarming rise in executions and an increasingly harsh crackdown on dissent.

Since March 17, at least 36 people have been executed in Iran on political charges.

Earlier this year, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), an independent monitoring group, released a report outlining a deeply troubling human rights situation all across the country over the past 12 months, citing crackdowns on protesters, harassment of activists, threats to minorities, executions of children, violations of women’s rights, and dire prison conditions.

According to HRANA’s Statistics and Documentation Center, 78,907 people were arrested on ideological or political grounds from March 2025 to March 2026, highlighting a pervasive climate of repression across the country.

But the report warned that the number of arrests was likely much higher, given the difficulty of tracking such cases — especially earlier this year during recent nationwide anti-government protests, which security forces violently crushed, leaving thousands of demonstrators tortured or killed.

HRANA reported in February that over 7,000 protesters, including hundreds of children, were killed during the protests, with an additional nearly 12,000 cases still under verification. Multiple reports have put the death toll at over 30,000, and US President Donald Trump claimed the figure was over 40,000.

During the regime’s violent crackdown, the group also recorded at least 25,877 people sustaining serious injuries, with 53,777 arrests occurring on just Jan. 8 and 9 alone.

Recent media reports also indicate that Iranian security forces raped and tortured medical staff who treated wounded anti-regime protesters during the country’s nationwide uprising in January, targeting them in a campaign of intimidation against those aiding demonstrators.

On women’s rights, HRANA reported that 105 women were murdered, including seven so-called “honor killings” — murders committed under the pretext of preserving family honor — and documents 68 cases of rape or sexual abuse.

As in past years, executions remain one of the starkest manifestations of human rights abuses in Iran, with over 2,000 people executed last year. According to one report, this figure included 63 women and two children, 13 of them carried out publicly.

Nearly one in four of those executed were from ethnic minority groups, more than one in five were foreign nationals, and the majority were poor, accused of minor drug offenses, and denied proper legal protections, the report notes.

At least 65 executions were carried out in secret without prior notice, denying families the chance to say goodbye, and some occurred despite ongoing legal proceedings.

Iranian security forces are also believed to systematically used coercion and torture, while denying prisoners access to legal counsel, to force illegitimate confessions.