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Posters in Paris show victims of the protests in Iran
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JULIEN DE ROSA v AFP
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has announced a tough reaction from the European Union to the execution of a demonstrator in Iran.
The fact that the Iranian leadership is setting "a cruel example with these perfidious fast-track procedures" and the death sentence underlines the regime's contempt for human beings, said the Green Party politician at a meeting with her Irish colleague Simon Coveney in the capital Dublin.
"We've been seeing for weeks that the Iranian regime's oppression and arbitrariness is becoming increasingly brutal," said Baerbock.
"The death penalty is used as an instrument of terror, people are arrested by the hundreds or thousands." In prisons, sexualised violence is used in a targeted manner.
The events underlined »how important it was that we as the European Union reacted with specific human rights sanctions.
And we will continue to respond with tough measures.«
Coveney said the EU would take a strong and united position at next Monday's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels and expand sanctions on Iran.
Coveney spoke of a brutal response to legitimate protests in the face of the execution.
According to state media, a demonstrator was executed in Iran on Thursday for the first time since the mass protests began almost three months ago.
Several death sentences have been imposed on demonstrators in recent weeks.
The trigger for the nationwide protests was the death of the Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini.
She died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested by the Morality Police for breaking the Islamic dress code.
Worry about dozens more people
Independent UN experts also sharply condemned the execution, while at the same time expressing concern in Geneva for a dozen other people who, according to them, had been sentenced to death in connection with the demonstrations.
The 23-year-old, who was executed on Thursday, did not get a fair trial, according to experts at the UN Human Rights Council.
In any case, the death penalty should only be imposed, if at all, for the very worst crimes - for example, if a perpetrator intentionally causes the death of others.
The demonstrator had been sentenced to death for “waging war against God”.
Twelve other people are on death row for the same reasons.
sak/dpa