PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers on Monday condemned Iran’s crackdown on anti-government demonstrators and called on European governments to put more pressure on Iran to investigate the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody in Tehran.
Legislators in France’s National Assembly unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution supporting the protesters, by a vote of 149-0. Activists also planned a demonstration Monday outside the Assembly, the lower but most powerful house of parliament in France.
The resolution calls on European governments to step up pressure on Iran to uphold its international promises and to investigate what happened to Amini, who was arrested for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Protests over her death have morphed into the most serious challenge to Iran’s establishment in decades.
The measure strongly condemns what French lawmakers call “the brutal and generalized repression by the security forces … toward non-violent demonstrators, which constitutes a blatant and unacceptable violation of the right to demonstrate and freedom of expression.”
Rights monitors say hundreds have been killed and more than 18,000 people detained since the anti-government protests started in September.
The French resolution also denounces laws and rules restricting the rights of women and minorities in Iran. It calls for the release of seven French citizens detained in Iran, too.
