German MP Christian Calderone: Europe Must Stand with Iranians for a Free and Democratic Future

On May 31, 2025, during The Second Free Iran 2025 Conference near Paris, Christian Calderone—member of the State Parliament of Lower Saxony—delivered a powerful speech calling on Europe to support the Iranian people and their organized resistance. Drawing from Germany’s own history with authoritarianism, Calderone stressed that no form of tyranny—be it ideological, religious, or militarized—can suppress humanity’s enduring desire for freedom.

He condemned the Iranian regime’s systematic dismantling of civil liberties and cultural heritage, highlighting the notorious human rights record of former president Ebrahim Raisi, whom he labeled a “blood judge.” Calderone also criticized the regime’s use of show trials against over 100 opposition figures tried in absentia—efforts he described as scare tactics aimed at deterring the youth from joining the pro-democracy movement.

Calling the EU’s current approach a policy of failed appeasement, Calderone urged a firm shift toward active support for Iran’s democratic aspirations. He closed with a resolute message: Iran’s future must be built on democracy, dignity, and justice—and that future belongs to its people.

A translated version of the speech follows. Portions have been lightly edited for clarity and flow.

1. Christian Calderone, Member of State Parliament – Niedersachsen, at the Second Free Iran 2025 Conference: “The regime has no future. This regime can only destroy the history of Iran, freedom, and the rule of law.” #FreeIran2025 https://t.co/VU6O5AIekH

— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) May 31, 2025

Dear Madam President Rajavi, dear colleagues, dear ladies and gentlemen, dear supporters of the opposition in Iran here around the world and in Ashraf 3,

When we meet here in Paris today to strengthen the opposition in Iran and the Iranian Resistance outside of Iran, we do so with the knowledge and the will that the people of Iran deserve a better and a different future.

The current dictatorship in Iran has neither tradition nor a future; it can only destroy. It destroys Iran’s rich history, it destroys the people, human dignity, freedom, and the rule of law.

We also come here today from Germany, a country that experienced two dictatorships in the last century: a National Socialist dictatorship and a socialist dictatorship.

Ladies and gentlemen, today in Germany, power no longer makes right but right has the power. And that is why a crucial point is that the Iranian Resistance is fighting for an Iran based on the rule of law.

In contrast, the mullahs’ dictatorship commits unprecedented crimes against humanity because the judiciary there is part of the oppressive regime. It serves as a tool for repression and violence. In this regime, the perpetrators are not punished; on the contrary, they hold the highest positions of power.

An example of this is the current head of the judiciary or the former president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last year. Raisi was a “blood judge,” responsible for the conviction and execution of numerous political prisoners.

Another example, as Mrs. Rajavi mentioned, of the abuse of justice is the show trial that the regime has been conducting for a year and a half in absentia against one hundred and four leading figures of the Iranian Resistance. With threats of severe penalties and false accusations, the regime wants to prevent young people from joining the Iranian Resistance.

But ladies and gentlemen, this will not succeed in the long run, because humankind is called to freedom. And freedom is the enemy of every criminal dictatorship. And freedom is the friend of democracy, of the rule of law, of human rights, and of human dignity. And therefore, Europe must loudly and clearly condemn these machinations, which stand against all rule of law; therefore, Europe must put an end to the policy of appeasement.

Ladies and gentlemen, arbitrary justice in Iran must end, and for that to happen, the power of the mullahs must end with the overthrow of the dictatorship. The people of Iran deserve democracy, they deserve freedom and the rule of law—with an independent judiciary, with fair trials, and with judicial investigations that are guided by law and not by the power of an inhuman regime. And that is why we stand here today for freedom and the rule of law in Iran.

From the German experience, I can tell you that arbitrariness, terror, and oppression will not prevail.

They will have no future. The future belongs to freedom, the future belongs to the rule of law, the future, ladies and gentlemen, belongs to you.

Thank you very much.