On June 29, 2024, at the Free Iran 2024 World Summit hosted at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) headquarters in Paris, Baroness O’Loan, a member of the UK House of Lords delivered a speech. Barones O’Loan in her remarks emphasized the crucial need for international support for a democratic Iran.
1. Baroness O'Loan Hails Iranian People's Courage, Calls for UK Government to Take Action Against Iran Regime#MaryamRajavi4FreeIran #FreeIran2024 #BerlinDemo29Junehttps://t.co/4RvPv0ubqy
— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) June 29, 2024
The full text of Baroness O’Loan’s speech follows:
Good afternoon, Madam Rajavi, Your Excellency, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
It is again a huge honor and privilege to be with you on this occasion and to be part of such a large delegation of parliamentarians in support of a free Iran. We gather at this 2024 Free Iran World Summit at a pivotal moment for Iran. The regime in Tehran stands at its weakest. It’s grappling with internal crises it cannot resolve. Its foreign policy tactics, hostage-taking diplomacy, cyber-attacks, and state-sponsored terrorism have not only destabilized the whole region, but they have also extended their reach into the streets of Europe, exporting the persecution and repression to Europe to silence Iranian dissidents and their supporters.
And ladies and gentlemen, I pay a huge tribute to those of you who stand in London and around the United Kingdom with us and who let us know a little of your struggle for freedom and invite us to support you. I pay tribute to your courage.
For four decades, the regime has clung to power through destruction and bloodshed. We have seen such tragedy, such violence, such terror. Yet despite all that, despite the brutality, despite the mobilization of the resources of the whole state for repression, look at what happened yesterday. Eighty-eight percent of your people did not turn out to vote. What courage, ladies and gentlemen, to resist the repression and the threats of the regime and to refuse to go out and vote.
I think it is symbolic of that great state of courage in which the Iranian people live despite the repression that the regime opposes. And I notice, too, the force of the women of Iran, a force I am very proud to stand with today. These brave women are at the forefront of the protests. They mobilize in Resistance Units to expand anti-regime activities, and we saw some of that.
We saw the courage of young women in Iran standing up, knowing that the regime would be trying to identify them and get them, but still, they stood up and spoke to us. They have resisted the most gruesome and horrible tortures, even when their sisters are executed, just as the brave Madam Rajavi did and continues to do and has done with such courage for so long.
Ladies and gentlemen, these acts of defiance and resistance are inspired and made possible by the women in the democratic National Council of Resistance of Iran and the PMOI. They are the culmination of women’s active role in the struggle for democracy, freedom, and equality in Iran for the last century.
Maryam’s leadership of the NCRI has not only inspired a new generation of Iranian girls and so many of us women across the world but also she has provided this Ten-Point Plan for the future, where all Iranians will have equal opportunities to assume political, social, and economic leadership.
Ladies and gentlemen, earlier this year I had the honor to join her and other prominent women personalities and parliamentarians here in Paris to stress that the women of Iran are a force for change. Maryam’s democratic platform and the brave Iranian women will guarantee that no other imposter posing as opposition to the regime in Iran, be it in Washington or from within the ruling dictatorship, will be able to hijack the Iranian people’s coming democratic revolution.
The regime’s relentless attacks against Maryam and against the NCIR, the smear campaigns, the terror plots, and the kangaroo courts in Tehran, serve only to validate the effectiveness and the legitimacy of the NCRI. As one of the signatories of a statement that my right honorable friend David Jones unveiled earlier in his remarks, I echo what he and other speakers said with regard to the need for a firm British and European policy on Iran, based on prescribing the IRGC and recognizing the Iranian people’s right to fight for a democratic republic.
I reiterate the call on world leaders to recognize and endorse the Iranian people’s democratic movement, led by Maryam Rajavi.
Today, ladies and gentlemen, Iranian women boldly declare their refusal to accept second-class citizenship and misogyny. Their rallying cry, women, resistance, freedom, echoes their unwavering commitment to reclaiming their country from the repressive regime.
We must stand behind these brave women as they make history by helping to secure a free democratic and secular republic in Iran. And next Thursday, the United Kingdom will have a new government. We will have our elections and there will be a new government. I call on the government to do two important things immediately. To prescribe the IRGC and to allow Madam Rajavi to come to our parliament to address us on the campaign for a free Iran.
Thank you very much.
