The International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights expresses its deep concern and unequivocally condemns the arrest of Mehdi Rahimian, a dual Iranian-Dutch national and internationally recognised political refugee, on Italian soil. This action even if based on an official request by the ruling regime of Iran and relayed through Interpol channels, remains fundamentally unacceptable from a human rights perspective and is profoundly alarming in light of European legal standards.
Mr. Rahimian, a victim of the post-2009 wave of political repression in Iran and under official international protection by the Dutch government since 2018, was arrested in Italy following an extradition request based on vague and unsubstantiated charges brought forward by the Islamic Republic. He was held for a period at the Sassari detention center and has since been temporarily released. However, his passport has been confiscated by the Italian authorities.
This arrest constitutes a serious violation of fundamental human rights and the rule of law in Europe, on several critical grounds:
1. Absence of a Legal Basis under International Law
Italy has no bilateral extradition treaty with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Consequently, the detention of an EU citizen who is also a registered political refugee constitutes a blatant violation of the principles of due process and refugee protection enshrined in both European and international law.
2. Supremacy of EU and Human Rights Law over Domestic Legislation
As one of the six founding members of the European Union, Italy is bound to uphold the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). These binding instruments strictly prohibit the arrest or extradition of individuals who face the risk of torture, political persecution, or capital punishment.
3. The Anti-Human Rights Nature of the Iranian Judicial System
The ruling regime of Iran has been consistently condemned by leading international human rights organisations for systematic violations of due process, widespread torture, and politically motivated, arbitrary verdicts. Its official laws are fundamentally incompatible with the values of the Council of Europe. Worse still, those same laws are routinely violated within Iran through unchecked corruption, lack of judicial independence, and absence of transparency. The ruling Islamic regime ranks among the most corrupt in the world on global corruption perception indexes. Any cooperation between Italian law enforcement and such a regime is highly questionable and demands urgent scrutiny.
In this regard, The International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights referring to:
- Article 41 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Right to good administration and transparency),
- Article 33 of the 1951 Geneva Convention and its 1967 Protocol, which prohibit the forced return (refoulement) of refugees by states;
- Article 2 of the Italian Constitution, which guarantees human dignity,
- and Article 26 of the same Constitution, which prohibits extradition for political reasons and mandates transparency in extradition procedures,
urgently calls upon the Italian Government, particularly the Ministry of Justice and the judicial authorities of Sardinia, to:
1. Publicly clarify the legal grounds on which Mr. Mehdi Rahimian was arrested.
2. Disclose all documents and evidence submitted by the Islamic regime in support of the extradition request.
3. Provide guarantees that no direct or indirect influence by Iranian intelligence or security operatives has played any role in the arrest or ongoing legal process, within Italian law enforcement or judicial institutions.
Should it be demonstrated that this arrest was politically motivated or carried out without sufficient legal justification, it would amount to a grave legal and moral scandal for the Italian authorities and, by extension, the European Union. In such a case, recourse to higher legal institutions, including the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), shall be fully pursued.
The arrest of a recognised political refugee by a European country at the request of a repressive regime is an assault on the credibility of Europe’s entire asylum system and its commitment to human rights.
International Organisation to Preserve Human Rights
19 July 2025