On June 19, 2023, the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a statement on the banning of the rally by Iranian expatriates scheduled for July 1, 2023, in Paris.

The full text of the statement is as follows:

The banning of the rally by Iranian expatriates scheduled for July 1, 2023, in Paris amounts to a disgraceful act against democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and succumbing to extortion and hostage-taking by the religious dictatorship ruling Iran. This regime, which has continued its rule for nine months solely through a wave of executions, has hanged over 200 victims since the beginning of May.

In a statement to Reuters, the police acknowledged that the rally could “generate disturbances to public order due to the geopolitical context.” This is a clear reference to the threats posed by the regime, and amounts to kowtowing to such threats.

The clerical regime’s pressures on France to impose this ban reveals the mullahs’ paranoia over the popular sentiment towards the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the organization’s pivotal role in the nationwide uprising. It also reflects the mullahs’ utter fear over the rally organized thousands of kilometers from Iran by the NCRI, which represents the democratic alternative to the ruling theocracy.

The Iran Resistance will employ all legal and political avenues to challenge and file a complaint against this unlawful and unwarranted ban.