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Paris Conference: Over 1,000 French Mayors Condemn Iran’s Execution Surge, Back Democratic Resistance

Iran Freedom
Conference at Paris’s 5th District Town Hall – April 11, 2025

In a landmark gathering held at Paris’s 5th District Town Hall on April 11, more than 1,000 French mayors and officials came together to denounce the surge in executions carried out by Iran’s ruling regime. The event, titled “1,000 French Cities Against the Death Penalty in Iran,” marked an unprecedented show of transpartisan solidarity with the Iranian people and their democratic aspirations.

The mayors, alongside human rights defenders, legal experts, and international dignitaries, endorsed a powerful declaration urging the immediate halt to executions in Iran. The statement denounced the regime’s “politically motivated use of the death penalty to instill fear and suppress dissent,” emphasizing that executions are being used as instruments of terror, not justice.

The conference featured a keynote video address by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). She warned that more than 1,150 executions in the past year are part of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s strategy to crush resistance and prevent uprisings. Citing her Ten-Point Plan for a democratic Iran, she called for international pressure to condition all relations with Tehran on halting executions and releasing political prisoners.

Mayor Florence Berthout, host of the event, highlighted the symbolic weight of holding such a conference in the heart of the Latin Quarter—long a bastion of human rights and free thought. She, along with other speakers, condemned the regime’s brutality, referencing worsening conditions in Iran, including rampant poverty, political repression, and over 1,500 executions under President Masoud Pezeshkian’s short tenure.

Former Colombian senator Ingrid Betancourt denounced the regime’s hostage diplomacy and Western complicity. She praised the NCRI and its leader, Maryam Rajavi, as the only viable democratic alternative: “Without her, this movement wouldn’t exist.”

Jean-François Legaret, former mayor of Paris’s 1st District, called the conference a powerful show of support, warning that Iran’s regime clings to power through terror, not legitimacy. Over 1,500 executions have occurred under President Pezeshkian, he said.

Bruno Massé, mayor of Villiers-Adam, reflected on more than a decade of public support, praising the Resistance Units and Mrs. Rajavi’s vision. “The regime will fall thanks to those who fight daily for democracy and secularism,” he declared.

Gilbert Mitterrand, head of the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation, framed the mayors’ movement as part of a global fight against state terror. “We say NO to executions and YES to universal justice,” he said, recalling over 1,400 executions in the past 16 months.

Dominique Attias, president of the European Lawyers Foundation, condemned Iran’s human rights abuses as systemic, from executions to amputations. She called the NCRI the main democratic alternative and urged the world not to forget atrocities like the 1988 massacre.

Jacques Boutault, former mayor and current deputy in Paris, reflected on 20 years of support for the NCRI, warning that diplomacy must not undermine Iran’s democratic opposition. “Freeing hostages can’t come at the cost of the NCRI,” he said, rejecting any return to monarchy and calling instead for a democratic republic.

Mayor Geoffroy Boulard of Paris’s 17th District reaffirmed his district’s visible support for the Iranian people, noting an anti-execution banner has hung on his town hall for months. He praised the mayors’ campaign as a reflection of France’s democratic values and voiced full support for a free Iran.

Sarvnaz Chitsaz, Chair of the NCRI Women’s Committee, reported 33 executions in just three days, including three women, calling each execution a political tool of repression. “Opposing the death penalty is opposing the regime itself,” she said.

ACAT-France’s Nathalie Seff condemned the systemic use of torture and executions in Iran, highlighting two women activists at risk. “The death penalty is itself a form of torture,” she stated.

Union leader Gérard Lauton linked Iran’s struggle to global democratic movements, from Iran to Ukraine, commending the NCRI’s broad political reach.

Pierre Bercis of New Human Rights celebrated the milestone of 1,000 supporting mayors but urged further action. “This is just the beginning. We must now fight through international law,” he said, reflecting on 45 years of support for the MEK.

Azadeh Alami of the Committee for the Support of Human Rights in Iran thanked participants and highlighted the scale of French municipal solidarity, with over 1,000 mayors declaring: “No to the death penalty in Iran.” The NCRI reported 1,153 executions in the past year, including dozens of women and minors.

The event closed with renewed calls for continued mobilization. Azadeh Alami, representing the Committee for the Support of Human Rights in Iran, confirmed that 1,011 mayors had already signed the declaration, calling it “just the beginning” of a broader national and international movement to confront Iran’s machinery of death with unified, democratic resolve.

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