The European Parliament has passed an urgency resolution on Iran, expressing its concern about the worsening human rights situation in the country. The resolution specifically calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Mahvash Sabet. This is the third urgency resolution of the European Parliament in five months condemning the escalating persecution of Baha’is in Iran, who have long faced systemic oppression. Urgency resolutions are an essential way for the European Parliament to note and condemn pressing cases of human rights violations around the world.
The resolution highlights Mahvash Sabet’s case as particularly urgent, raising the alarm as to her persecution and imprisonment. Mrs. Sabet, now aged 72, was a member of the former “Yaran”, or “Friends” of Iran, a disbanded informal group that tended to basic pastoral needs of the Baha’is in Iran. She has spent over 13 years in prison solely for her belief in the Baha’i faith. In December 2024, after years of medical neglect and harsh prison conditions, she underwent open-heart surgery. Despite her deteriorating health, she now faces the harrowing prospect of being forced back into prison to serve the remainder of her unjust 10-year sentence. Since then, her condition has significantly worsened, with multiple medical reports warning that continued imprisonment could cause irreversible harm.
During the European Parliament plenary debate on the resolution, Member of the European Parliament Helmut Brandstätter highlighted Mahvash Sabet’s case in particular, stating:
“Iran is an incredibly beautiful and wonderful country, with a wonderful population and a very interesting history… But I also want to talk about someone else: Mahvash Sabet. She is an author, 70 years old, who has already been imprisoned several times. Now, at the age of 70, she has once again been sentenced—this time to 10 years in prison, which is essentially a death sentence. Why? Simply because she is a Baha’i.”
Mr. Brandstätter then read from Mrs. Sabet’s poetry, written from behind bars:
“In your prisoner’s cage, you become
a zero made from numbers, believing
things that were not, are not true,
confessing to things you could not,
did not do.”
Both in 2015, during her first imprisonment, and then subsequently during her second imprisonment in 2023, Members of the European Parliament raised concerns about the unjust imprisonment of Mrs. Sabet, including the then-Chair of the Iran Delegation to the European Parliament, Ms. Cornelia Ernst. Ms. Ernst called Mrs. Sabet “a symbol of courage for all Iranian women, not only in Iran, but worldwide.” The Baha’is in Iran have long faced arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and the denial of basic rights. The European Parliament’s call for her immediate and unconditional release underscores its commitment to ending the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Baha’is and the systematic denial of their fundamental human rights.
“Mahvash Sabet’s plight and repeated incarceration is emblematic of the plight of the more than 50 other innocent imprisoned Baha’is in Iran. Her particular case has long been a concern for the European Parliament, dating back to her first imprisonment in 2007. It is truly heartening to see the Parliament’s unwavering support a decade later, which now, in light of her age and condition, has led the Parliament to ask for her immediate release in an urgency resolution,” said Rachel Bayani, Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the European institutions in Brussels. “Mahvash is more than a symbol of the longstanding persecution of the Baha’is in Iran—her unwavering resilience and grace in the face of adversity have made her a beacon of hope and inspiration for both women and men across Iran”.
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First published in this link of The European Times.
