During a grand demonstration held in Brussels on September 15, Irish Senator Gerry Horkan delivered a speech. Thousands of Iranian Resistance supporters took part in the rally and honoring the first anniversary of Iran’s 2022 uprising. The grand rally in Brussels was organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The text of Irish Senator Gerry Horkan’s speech follows:
Distinguished guests, colleagues, and dear friends, we gather here today in Brussels, in the heart of European democracy, on the first anniversary of the popular uprising in Iran, to send a clear message of support to the brave Iranian people and to amplify their demands, “Down with the dictator, down with either the Shah or the Supreme Leader.”
This is all about democracy, we are not looking to replace one dictatorship with another, we are supporting the Ten-Point Plan of Madame Rajavi for a democratic, peaceful, prosperous, secular Iran. And we have a clear message to the murderous leaders in Tehran that your only option is to accept your fate and bow to the will of the Iranian people.
The people of Iran have every reason to be optimistic and hopeful of the future because they have the necessary means to successfully overcome the theocratic regime and establish a free, democratic, and secular Iran. They have an expanding network of Resistance Units that organize and spread the protests, a bastion of resistance and hope in Ashraf 3, which I have visited. A strong, experienced coalition of democratic opposition and personalities in the NCRI, mirrors both the Iranian society and its popular aspirations for freedom and democracy.
We have a democratic alternative summarized in the Ten-Point Plan of the NCRI President-Elect Madame Rajavi and her inspiring leadership, which is respected by the courageous women of Iran, leading both the resistance movement for decades and the unfolding uprising in Iran.
With young people and women to the fore, and much political support right across the world, as was exemplified at our earlier conference today, with people from North America, from South America, from all over Europe and many other parts of the world, there is huge support politically for a democratic, peaceful, free Iran.
So, to EU leaders, EU member state governments, and the European Parliament, we ask and we say that you cannot ignore nor alter these facts, that there is an organized Iranian opposition of the people, by the people, and for the people. You must end appeasement with the brutal regime in Iran, which we must remember is supporting everyday Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, with many, many Iranian drones being supplied to the evil, illegal regime, or to the Russian regime, being used against the Ukrainian people in their illegal invasion of Ukraine.
We must end the prevailing immunity to the use of UN mechanisms and universal jurisdictions and recognize the NCRI, the Iranian people’s viable democratic alternative, and endorse Madam Rajavi’s Ten-Point democratic platform for the future of Iran, where the people of Iran will be able to choose their own governments that they want to vote for.
To the EU leaders and European heads of state who will attend the General Assembly debate in New York next week at the UN, we ask that you join the people of Iran in rejecting and boycotting Iran’s current President, Ebrahim Raisi, the Butcher of Tehran, and greet him at the UN by referring his case to the UN Security Council for prosecution in the International Tribunal for his involvement with the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners and violent crackdown on protesters in both 2019 and again since last year.
We also ask the EU and its member states to stop rewarding the regime’s hostage-taking diplomacy and designate the IRGC, the Supreme Leader’s private army of terrorism and oppression, as a terrorist organization. The regime is weaker than ever, desperate, and will never be able to silence the Iranian people nor restrict or eliminate the organized resistance.
The growing dissent, as exemplified here by yourselves, and crises facing the regime that sparked the recent uprising persist. The mullahs cannot stop the inevitable democratic revolution in Iran through executions. That is the lesson of history and the promise of the Iranian Resistance.
We never know when a regime will fall, but we didn’t know when the Berlin Wall would fall and it fell, we didn’t know when the Shah would fall and he fell, and we hopefully will sooner rather than later see this regime fall.
A free and democratic republic in Iran is very much within reach. The Iranian people and the NCRI’s cause are just and will prevail. We look forward to a free, secular, democratic, peaceful, prosperous Iran in the very near future. I want to thank you all very much for being here today and for the NCRI for all it does and we’re now going to see a small video clip from Madame Rajavi, so thank you all very much.
