On Wednesday, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), addressed a gathering in the European Parliament to discuss the uprising in Iran, the recent surge in executions, and the responsibilities of the European Union. The event, titled “Perspective of Change and European Union Policy,” was organized by the Friends of Free Iran Interparliamentary Group (FOFI). Mrs. Rajavi received a warm reception from the European Parliament’s Vice Presidents and members of FOFI as she appealed for their support in backing the Iranian people’s uprising and organized Resistance movement.
Dozens of distinguished representatives from various political factions within the European Parliament and member states were in attendance, and 15 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) delivered speeches endorsing the NCRI and Mrs. Rajavi’s 10-point plan for the future of Iran.
“The mullahs’ regime has initiated a new and unprecedented wave of executions,” Mrs. Rajavi said during her address. “At least 116 prisoners have been executed since the beginning of May, i.e., one execution every 5 hours. Three young protesters who were detained and tortured for several months in Isfahan were executed last Friday.”
Mrs. Rajavi urged the European Union to “reconsider its previous policies towards Iran” and:
- Include the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in its list of terrorist organizations.
- Trigger the snapback mechanism and restore the sanctions stated in the six UN Security Council resolutions against the regime.
- Designate the regime as a serious threat to global peace and security under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.
- Recognize the Iranian people’s right to struggle to overthrow the regime as well as the Iranian youth’s legitimate struggle against the IRGC.
Mrs. Rajavi also called on MEPs to “urge your governments to join the international campaign to stop executions in Iran and stand with the Iranian people.”
Underlining the surge in the number of brutal hangings in Iran, MEP Javier Zarzalejos, a member of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee and FOFI Co-Chairman, stated: “Europe just cannot be a spectator. The Iranian regime is a very serious threat to international peace and security. The direct involvement of the Iranian regime in the Ukraine war has brought this global threat to Europe.”
Anna Fotyga, another member of the EP Foreign Affairs Commission, a member of the Defense and Security Subcommittee, and the former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs told Mrs. Rajavi: “I think that the vision of the free, democratic, secular Iranian state that you presented just a few moments ago to the European Parliament is a long-standing dream of Iranian people, of young people in particular, of the families of those who perished in 1988, but also of all those people who used to protest throughout these years.”
MEP Milan Zver, another member of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee and FOFI co-chair, underlined the Iranian Resistance’s tenacity and how it has for years been “the focus of the regime’s campaign.”
“You have been under all sorts of physical and psychological attacks. They even sent a diplomat to try to bomb your big gathering in Paris. No other movement has received this amount of pressure,” he added.
“The PMOI is a nationwide movement that has paid a high price in the fight against Islamic fundamentalism, or better said, against religious fascism,” MEP Stanislav Polčák stated, referring to the power of Iran’s main opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
In her remarks, while praising the Iranian people’s quest for freedom and democracy in Iran, MEP Dorien Rookmaker said that “We all reject all kinds of dictatorship in Europe.” “Europe must never in any way or form try to establish a normal relationship with a regime that committed so many crimes,” she urged.
Susanna Ceccardi, a member of the Foreign Affairs Commission and Subcommittee of the Human Rights Commission, criticized the EU’s appeasement policy toward the regime, saying that “We must consider whether it will be appropriate to suspend these negotiations and use them as diplomatic leverage to push the Iranian regime towards better behavior in their country and internationally.”
Dr. Alejo Vidal Quadras, former EP Vice President, pointed to a recent letter by 109 former heads of state from across the globe supporting the Iranian people’s uprising and Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan and said, “This letter is something that we must examine carefully in all its importance. Because if we read the letter it says, we believe it is time to hold the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran to account for its crimes.”
MEP Frances Fitzgerald, Deputy of the Parliamentary Group of the European People’s Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland in 2018, who spoke at the end of the conference, condemned the current human rights situation in Iran, saying, “What we are seeing is absolutely appalling abuses day in and day out, the death penalty, protesters being arrested, and no rationale whatsoever.”
