Belgium (Brussels Morning) Last week in Brussels, the FEPS-hosted event “The Women–Life–Freedom Movement in Iran Today” offered a sobering reminder that the struggle for freedom in Iran is far from over—and that Europe cannot afford complacency. Nearly three years after the death of Mahsa Amini ignited one of the largest waves of protest in Iran’s modern history, the regime’s machinery of repression has only grown more ruthless.
Security forces continue to detain thousands, carry out public executions, and mete out collective punishment against protesters’ families. The brunt of this repression falls heavily on ethnic and religious minorities—Kurds, Baluchis, Azeris, and Ahwazi Arabs—who endure arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, and systemic discrimination in education, employment, and access to justice. Women from these communities face a particularly brutal fate: punished not only for their defiance of compulsory veiling laws but also for the mere fact of their identity.
It was against this grim backdrop that Swedish MEP Evin Incir issued a striking challenge: “Europe’s global role and responsibility as a center of democracy demands that we fight totalitarianism wherever it festers—and that we unite our voice with the most vulnerable.” Her words cut through the diplomatic caution that often muffles European foreign policy debates. If Europe wishes to preserve its credibility as a champion of human rights, it must do more than issue statements of concern—it must translate moral outrage into strategic action, from targeted sanctions on human rights violators to sustained diplomatic pressure on Tehran.
The women who spoke in Brussels—many of whom fled Iran at great personal risk—did not merely recount their suffering; they reminded the audience that courage is contagious, and that silence in the face of tyranny is complicity. Their message was unmistakable: the fate of Iranian women and minorities is a test of whether Europe can still marshal the political will to defend freedom beyond its borders. The question now is whether Europe’s leaders will rise to the occasion—or watch as the very values they claim to protect are eroded both abroad and at home.
