The European Union is deeply concerned by the on-going deterioration in the situation of
human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The EU expresses its acute concern about the news that the Iranian Parliament is reviewing
a draft Penal code. The EU is concerned, in particular, about Section Five on Apostasy,
Heresy and Witchcraft.
It is important to note that, if the law is adopted, it will be for the first time that the Islamic
Republic of Iran had in its criminal code, as a legal stipulation, the death penalty for
apostasy. In the past, the death penalty has been handed down and carried out in apostasy
cases, but it has never before been set down in law. Furthermore, grave concern is also
expressed over the articles concerning heresy and witchcraft, which determine death
penalty as the punishment for acts that are contrary to the obligations and necessities of
Islam.
These articles clearly violate the Islamic Republic of Iran’s commitments under the
international human rights conventions, to which Iran is party.
The EU calls upon the Iranian authorities, both in Government and Parliament, to modify
the draft Penal code in order to respect the obligations under the international human rights
conventions to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party. In its current state, the draft
Penal code is not consistent with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s obligations and therefore
should not enter into force as currently drafted.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential
candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the EFTA countries
Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine
and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the
Stabilisation and Association Process.