The Washington Times, Thursday, June 27, 2024
We are profoundly disturbed by the Iranian regime’s brutal repression of its citizens, including ethnic and religious minorities. During the 2022 uprising, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran reported that “verified videos show security forces deliberately shooting unarmed protesters from a short distance.”
Iran continues to lead the world in per capita executions, with at least 864 people hanged in 2023. Notably, in 1988, 30,000 political prisoners were massacred within weeks, following a decree by Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini to execute affiliates of the PMOI who remained loyal to the organization.
Recently, the Iranian regime has staged a farcical trial in absentia against the Iranian Resistance leadership and 100 PMOI members, accusing them of crimes such as Moharebeh (waging war against God). This trial is a pretext for planning terrorist acts against them, particularly in Europe, and pressuring European authorities to restrict dissidents, especially those in Ashraf-3, Albania. The Iranian judiciary operates as Khamenei’s tool for repression and terrorism.
Europe has become a target for Iran’s state-sponsored terrorism. In February 2021, a Belgian court sentenced an active Iranian diplomat to 20 years in prison for attempting to bomb the annual summit of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a Paris suburb.
The theocratic regime in Iran is beyond reform. During the 2022 uprising, Iranians rejected all forms of dictatorship, whether monarchical or theocratic, and demanded regime change to establish a democratic republic.
Iranians are denied all political and civil rights. The Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underscores the fundamental rights of all humans, stating: “It is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”
Iran drives the Middle East’s wars and attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. It also supplies drones for use against Ukrainians, violating international law. The regime, through the IRGC, spreads terrorism, threatening regional and global peace.
We strongly:
- Condemn the gross human rights violations, particularly the suppression of women, and demand accountability for the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre and ongoing crimes against humanity.
- Believe Iranians deserve a democratic system. We urge all governments to support NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan for a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state and gender equality.
- Condemn the regime’s actions against Iranian dissidents in Ashraf-3, Albania, and reaffirm their rights under the 1951 Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Recognize that the regime has blocked all political avenues for change. Therefore, the free world must, in line with internationally recognized laws based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, acknowledge the rights of the Iranian people and MEK Resistance Units to rise up against the IRGC.
- Condemn the regime’s destructive role in the Middle East and its belligerent policies. We call for the terrorist designation of the IRGC and the implementation of oil sanctions on the regime.
The international community must take decisive action to support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy. Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan offers a viable path toward a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran, fostering peace and stability in the region and beyond.