Unanimous, the French deputies are not often. However, they voted with one voice on Monday 28 November in favor of a resolution in “support for the Iranian people”, condemning in particular the restriction of the freedoms and rights of women. The text collected the votes of the 149 voting deputies (out of 577), to the applause of all the elected representatives present in the hemicycle.
At the start of the session, the Renaissance deputy Hadrien Ghomi, himself a descendant of Iranians, called on the National Assembly to “send a strong message” to the Iranian people, by voting on this text presented by the majority during its parliamentary initiative week.
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna reminded the podium of the slogan chanted during the demonstrations in Iran, “Women, life, freedom” and recalled the macabre number of “more than 400 lives cut” since the beginning of the protest movement, born in mid-September, following the death of the young Mahsa Amini.
New European sanctions in preparation
The situation “command to act, with responsibility”she said, indicating that after already two packages of sanctions taken at European level, “new sanctions are in preparation for the next council of foreign ministers on December 12”.
The resolution adopted by the French deputies “condemns in the strongest terms the brutal and widespread repression” with regard to “non-violent protesters”, “denounces the use of torture” et “affirms its support for the Iranian people in their aspiration to democracy and respect for their rights and fundamental freedoms”.
Also, the text “calls for the immediate release of French nationals arbitrarily detained”seven in number, as the minister announced in mid-November.
All the political groups welcomed the fact that this resolution, “certainly symbolic”, “sends a message of solidarity” pour “a people [qui] acts for a democratic alternative”in the words of the leader of the elected Communists, André Chassaigne.
Meyer Habib, elected Les Républicains, however deplored a text “colorless and very pale”who ” lack of courage “ doing “Iranian nuclear deadlock, state terrorism, totalitarianism”. He had prepared his own resolution which was to be debated on Thursday but ultimately will not be. Angélique Ranc, deputy from the ranks of the National Rally, regretted that “France is still and always asking for help from the European Union”.
Iran is the scene of a large protest movement triggered on September 16 by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish girl arrested by the morality police for having broken the strict dress code of the Islamic Republic.