Anna Fotyga, MEP from Poland, Secretary General of the ECR group and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and former minister, 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.
Anna Fotyga, MEP from Poland, Secretary General of the ECR group and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and former minister
Dear Iranians, friends, greetings from the European Parliament. I’m very sorry not being able to participate in person in your important conference. I just wanted to say and send this message to show my main concern for the situation of ordinary people of Iran.
Almost exactly one year ago in the course of mass protests of Iranian people, we were able, in the Parliament, to debate the violent actions taken by the regime of Mullah against its own people. European Parliament by majority of MEPs condemned actions taken against people effecting in many deaths and imprisonment of thousands of people.
The whole situation was exacerbated by eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular in Iran with the poor state of health care, but also by really dreadful situation, conditions of political prisoners in prisons. It was a real disaster and people sorted deeply.
We stay by ordinary people, we want to support them on our daily activities in the European Parliament, we try to stay in touch by people of Iran and show our solidarity. It is extremely important for the civil society of the country to find their way to show strength to enable people taking care of their own country. It is in the interest of the whole international society.
And therefore, we support requests for changes in Iran for respect human rights, to respect the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to give people their citizens’ rights and possibility to live peacefully, to abandon death penalty, in particular death penalty against minors, because in many cases, it is a common situation in Iran, and people face this disastrous development of events.
We would also like Iran to see the prosperous economic development, enabling many ordinary, small-scaled traders to benefit from riches of the country from raw materials and producing capabilities Iran has. Unfortunately, after the introduction of JCPOA and the freezing of founds, the financing possibilities were limited to two upper echelons of society preventing ordinary people from benefiting of this development.
I think that we have to stay firm, that we have to expose the atrocities of Mullah regime in particular the attitudes of political prisoners and the attitude towards women, minors, and also citizens of dual citizenship because persecution was common experience also of many Europeans of Iranian origin. Thank you.
