The leaders of 10 Dutch parliamentary parties are calling on the European Union to increase pressure on the Iranian government with a new sanctions package.
The party leaders, representing the majority of parliament, proposed putting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the EU terrorist list and sanctioning key government officials and their family members for alleged human rights violations, according to a joint letter published in the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant on Friday.
The letter follows a similar motion that the Dutch parliament approved in December and comes ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the end of January.
Anti-government protests have gripped Iran since mid-September following the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress codes.
The protests have emerged as the strongest challenge to Iran’s ruling theocratic system in decades and have been led largely by women and young people. Iran’s security forces have been condemned and sanctioned by the EU for cracking down on demonstrations.
Source » bloomberg