In a statement issued by the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European Parliament condemned violation of human rights in Iran including extensive arrests of students the gruesome hanging of Makwan Mouloudzadeh for an alleged crime committed when he was 13.

This statement, referring to arrest of 28 students for their participation in the student day on Dec. 8, 2007, reads: the European Parliament strongly supports the call for the immediate release of students and “urges the Iranian authorities to swiftly provide adequate information to their families and lawyers about their case.

The statement from Hans-Gert Poettering also condemned the gruesome hanging of Makwan Mouloudzadeh for an alleged crime committed when he was 13. This hanging was forbidden by the mullahs’ standards which consider males under 15 as minors and therefore not punishable by law. This is also against the international Civil and Political rights and the Convention of Children’s rights which Iran is a member of. This is also against all the commitments and guarantees that the Iranian authorities have given in recent months to the European Union’s institutions.