The Guardian:

Iranian human rights groups are urging MEPs and European governments to escalate the issue of Tehran’s mistreatment of political prisoners, arguing that the crackdown on internal dissent must be on the agenda in any talks about future relations between Europe and Iran.

The Iranian foreign ministry appears to be in no rush to stage further talks with the west without clear US assurances that it will not be attacked again.

Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, travelled to China on Monday for a summit between foreign ministers in Shanghai, implying talks with the US were not imminent.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, on Monday defended the principle of future negotiations but said: “We will not enter into such a process until we are sure of the effectiveness of diplomacy and the negotiation process.”

But Iranian human rights groups say Tehran has used the delay to move against those it has long opposed, weakening groups urging national unity.

A debate has been raging inside Iran whether the upsurge in patriotism created by the Israeli attacks, which began on 12 June, could be nurtured by freeing political prisoners and commuting some of the death sentences.

Emadeddin Baghi, a human rights activist, said he had recently been invited to Iran’s interior ministry for a meeting with senior government officials and a minister along with other civil activists.

He said: “I spoke about several imprisoned and death-sentenced women and men, and the minister of interior gave promising assurances for discussions with the judiciary.”

As many as 60 political prisoners are listed for execution. But there are widespread concerns of further repression as the security forces elide political dissent with espionage. Attention has focused on the fate of five Kurdish men, especially Rezgar Babamiri, a farmer who was arrested in 2023 in connection with the “women, life, freedom” protests after the death of Mahsa Amini. He faced charges both in the criminal and revolutionary courts.

Babamiri’s supporters say he was detained after providing aid and medical supplies to wounded protesters in the north-western Iranian city of Bukan. Initially, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison by Iran’s criminal court on charges of complicity in the murder of a member of the Basij paramilitary force – a verdict rights groups say was based on confessions extracted under torture.

However, Iran’s revolutionary court also sentenced him to 15 years for collaborating with the Mossad and possession of a Starlink device. His situation escalated dramatically when, at the point of sentencing, a new and severe charge was abruptly introduced – plotting to assassinate the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei – a charge absent from all previous investigations and court hearings.

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