PDKI Delegation Participated in a Seminar on Iran in the European Parliament
9-12-2013 – MESOP – Jamil Fathi, the PDKI’s Representative in Belgium, and Monique Smits participated in a Seminar on Iran in the European Parliament.
The Seminar on Iran was titled “Momentum for openness? What opportunities for the future of EU-Iran relations?”
The purpose of the seminar was to bring together “different stakeholders, experts and opposition activists and academics to focus on the question of whether the new political leadership in Iran leads to opportunities and could improve relations.”
During the seminar Jamil Fathi and Monique Smits raised the issue of the drastic increase of human rights violations in Iranian Kurdistan and stressed that the PDKI does not believe that a change of president in Iran has or will bring about any change in this regard. Hamid Sabi, a London-based lawyer, also underlined during the seminar that human rights violations have increased dramatically since Hassan Rouhani became president in Iran. The PDKI’s representative in Belgium, Jamil Fathi, handed over a report on human right violations in Iranian Kurdistan to Marietje Schaake, who is a member of the European Parliament for the alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. Ms. Scaake said that she would raise the issues mentioned in the report in her upcoming meeting with Iranian officials.