France and 25 other countries along with the European Union’s foreign policy chief on Wednesday condemned “in the strongest possible terms” Iran’s continued executions of protesters and its use of the death penalty.
“The use of capital punishment to silence dissidents, intimidate communities and punish individuals for exercising their fundamental rights can never be justified,” they said in a statement issued by the French Foreign Ministry.
The signatories stressed that the Iranian people must be able to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly without fear.
“We call on the Iranian regime to immediately end its use of the death penalty and release all those arbitrarily detained,” it said.
They also urged Iran to “listen to the voice of its people,” who they said were demanding change, and to take concrete steps to guarantee respect for human rights.
The statement was signed by nations including France, Canada, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Spain, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK as well as EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, for his part, accused the countries of hypocrisy over the statements on human rights and international law.
"Countries like France should stop lecturing the world about ‘human rights’ and international law. The hypocrisy is blatant and embarrassing."
"Your backing of Israel’s genocide in Gaza — and aggression against Iran — has destroyed whatever moral high ground you imagined you had," Araghchi said on X.
