Following a wave of statements, resolutions, and parliamentary majorities in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the call to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, a joint statement from 553 UK lawmakers was released in support of the 10-point plan of Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, which includes free elections, freedom of speech and assembly, the abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, the separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iran’s ethnic groups, and a non-nuclear Iran.
The joint statement from 553 UK lawmakers, including the majority of the House of Commons and 329 members of the House of Lords from all parties, calls for support of the NCRI and as the democratic alternative to the Iranian regime and the recognition of the struggle of PMOI Resistance Units against the IRGC. Among the signatories are the heads of ten parliamentary committees and more than 55 former ministers and deputy ministers from both Conservative and Labor cabinets.
Signatories include key political figures such as former Defense and Trade Secretary Lord Liam Fox, former Justice Secretary Sir Robert Buckland, former Armed Forces Minister John Spellar, former Trade Secretary Lord Lilley, former International Development Minister Baroness Verma, former Wales and Brexit Minister David Jones, former Northern Ireland and Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers, former Women and Education Secretary Baroness Morgan, Lord Price, Lord David Triesman, and Lord Henry Bellingham, former Foreign Office ministers.
Part of the UK lawmakers’ statement, referring to the increasing crimes and executions in the regime of mass killings and stress that the regime holds the record for executions relative to population in the world and executed at least 834 people in 2023. It also reminds of the mass execution 30,000 political prisoners, mostly PMOI members and supporters, in the summer of 1988.
Regarding the regime’s judiciary setting up a mock trial to prosecute the PMOI members, the statement warns that the regime is paving the way for terrorist actions against PMOI members, especially in Europe, and to pressure Europe to restrict dissidents, particularly in Ashraf 3 in Albania.
Continuing their statement, UK lawmakers refer to the uprising of 2022, stating that the Iranian people rejected all forms of dictatorship, whether monarchical or theocratic and demanded regime change to establish a democratic republic.