Patrizia Toia, MEP from Italy, addressed a webinar by European lawmakers on October 7, 2020, on the human rights situation in Iran.

Online Conference held under title, “Iran’s Ongoing Crimes Against Humanity, EU’s political and moral obligations”. The online event was on October 7, 2020. Dozens of members of the European Parliament attended and spoke at the conference.

MEPs made their remarks in order to condemn the horrific human rights violations witnessed on a daily basis across Iran. In addition, MEPs called on the European Union to fulfill its moral and political obligations in the face of human rights violations in Iran. They called for a firm policy by the European Union against the mullah regime in Iran. Also, they pointed out, It is high time to stand alongside the Iranian people and support their justified aspirations for a free, democratic, and non-nuclear Iran.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran(NCRI), was the keynote speaker at this conference. Her message welcomed as a democratic solution to Iran’s future. Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan has widespread support from the majority of MEPs for a long time.

Patrizia Toia, MEP from Italy

I’m very happy to be here, at this online conference. We have a long list of colleagues that will participate with their speeches. That means that nothing can stop our efforts to defend democracy and human rights in Iran, not even COVID-19.

Because in Iran, misogyny dominates the constitutional law and the legal system. Repression of women in Iran has always been the concern of European parliamentarians. Women are systematically repressed and badly treated by the regime. They’ve been deprived more than any other Iranian citizens.

They have no human rights, and they have suffered so much apartheid, which has been practiced by the Mullahs’ regime, that means that the suicide rate in Iran is the highest amongst women. That really is a matter that we must really think about. As far as their political activity, they’ve undergone the greatest level of torture and bad treatment. Even pregnant women have been executed by this regime, and that is appalling. They are women who have suffered the most. It’s women who’ve suffered the most by the regime during COVID-19.

According to information that was obtained by the international organizations, nine prisoners were contaminated at the Tabriz prison, and within other prisons, there was contamination. But I’m very happy to be able to say that none of this suffering has reduced these women. They carry on fighting.

We can see the demonstrations and the uprisings against the regime in Iran. They encourage others to not be silent and to really express their discontent. Female voices dominated all the demonstrations. Women are everywhere when you need courage and to shout against dictatorship. Why? Because they do have models that they can be inspired by. In fact, there is a resistance movement with which we’re communicating today.

It’s led by Maryam Rajavi, and I have an enormous respect for her. I know her and I really have an enormous amount of empathy for her. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, I call her Maryam. She has put into practice all her ideas as far as equality of gender. She’s a woman of courage and of extraordinary perseverance. She inspires all Iranian women and Iranians. They’re inspired, they want to have freedom, human rights, democracy, social justice, and equality of gender. She’s an inspiration for us, women, who are living in countries where the rights are respected. At the same time, she really is an inspiration for us because of her courage. She’s been fighting for years, and she’s been fighting to try to get the freedom of the people. We want to support her efforts as far as democracy and human rights in Iran. There was an international inquiry. We should visit the prisoners.

As parliamentarians, we have to make sure that European values, such as democracy and human rights, are number one as far as third-party countries are concerned. I believe that apart from any political point of view that exists with regard to Iran today, as far as different political stances, we have to really give priority to human rights and to democracy rather than economic interests or single party interest in order to be able to have the right policy on Iran, to speak with one voice. We are ready to do so. Thank you very much.