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Maryam Rajavi Honors Ypres’ Legacy of Peace While Condemning Iran’s Religious Dictatorship

Iran Freedom
Maryam Rajavi’s Speech at the City Hall of the historic city of Ypres in Belgium

Ypres, Belgium — December 11, 2025: Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), speaking at the City Hall of the historic city of Ypres, paid tribute to the city’s enduring legacy as a global symbol of peace while condemning Iran’s ruling religious dictatorship for decades of human rights abuses and repression.

Addressing Mayor Emmeline Desomer and distinguished guests, Mrs. Rajavi expressed gratitude for the warm welcome and praised Ypres as a city whose history continues to remind the world of the cost of war and the value of peace. She also acknowledged the presence of former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, noting his deep connection to the region and its humanitarian values.

Mrs. Rajavi highlighted Ypres’ nightly remembrance ceremonies and its powerful historical memory, shaped by the devastation of World War I and the suffering caused by chemical weapons. She described the city as a moral beacon for human dignity, freedom, and peace, honoring the sacrifices of countless unknown soldiers. She announced her participation in the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, where she would lay flowers in memory of those who lost their lives.

Turning to Iran, Mrs. Rajavi drew a parallel between the tragedies of war commemorated in Ypres and the suffering of the Iranian people. She recalled the 1988 massacre of some 30,000 political prisoners, executed on orders from Iran’s then-supreme leader and buried in mass graves. She said families of the victims continue to seek justice while facing persecution for honoring their loved ones.

Mrs. Rajavi described her visit to the In Flanders Fields Museum as a deeply emotional experience, stating that its silence and stories conveyed a message stronger than words about peace and human dignity. She emphasized that human dignity lies at the core of the Iranian Resistance, which she said has spent more than four decades opposing a regime “deeply against humanity and peace,” at the cost of more than 100,000 lives.

She accused Iran’s authorities of systematically trampling human rights through executions, discrimination against women and minorities, compulsory religious rules, and the denial of basic freedoms. Reiterating the Resistance’s demands, Mrs. Rajavi declared opposition to compulsory hijab, compulsory religion, and compulsory governance.

Marking International Human Rights Day, Mrs. Rajavi said the movement’s goal is a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state, gender equality, the abolition of the death penalty, and peaceful coexistence with the world. She stressed that a non-nuclear Iran is essential for regional and global peace.

“As long as a regime of executions, massacres, war, and terrorism remains in power, peace is at risk,” Mrs. Rajavi said, calling on the international community to recognize the Iranian people’s struggle and the courage of Iran’s younger generation.

Concluding her remarks in what she described as a “City of peace,” Mrs. Rajavi said the freedom of Iran is not only a national aspiration, but “a necessity for the whole world.”

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