The Rt Hon David Jones MP, on behalf of 120 MPs and UK dignitaries, wrote an open letter to the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, endorsing the upcoming Free Iran 2022 World Summit and appealed to him for a new firm approach to Iran.
Rt Hon David Jones MP wrote in part of the letter, “We believe that a failure to listen to the aspirations of the Iranian people is a flaw in our approach towards Iran.”

The full text of the letter is as follows:

OPEN LETTER

Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson, MP

Prime Minister

10 Downing Street

London SW1A 2AB

30 June 2022

Dear Prime Minister,

On behalf of 15 Parliamentary and international committees and over 120 parliamentarians and dignitaries who have expressed solidarity with the World Summit for a Free Iran 2022, scheduled for 23rd and 24th July, we write respectfully to draw your attention to the need to take a firm approach to the oppressive theocracy that has been ruling Iran for more than four decades. The regime is the world’s number one executioner per capita of its citizens, and the only executioner of minors.

It has ruthlessly suppressed all forms of peaceful dissent and protests by teachers, educators, workers, farmers, retirees, pensioners, nurses, and students, among others. No sector of Iranian society has been spared.

The regime has not only plundered the Iranian nation’s wealth and resources, but has also squandered them by funding, arming and training its terrorist proxy groups in the Middle East, and advancing its dangerous missile and nuclear programs in defiance of its international obligations.

The carefully engineered presidential election brought into office Ebrahim Raisi, who is notorious for his role in the torture and execution of political prisoners, particularly his participation in the massacre in the summer of 1988 of 30,000 political prisoners, most of whom were members /or supporters of the PMOI/MEK democratic opposition, as a member of the death commission’ in Tehran. His mandate was to suppress any form of dissent.

Nevertheless, the Iranian people have refused to surrender to the regime and have demonstrated their determination to overturn it, in hundreds of protests across the country. The Resistance Units, affiliated to the organised opposition PMOI/MEK, have waged a nationwide campaign to break the wall of repression and have inspired the protests and demonstrations to a point where outright opposition to Khamenei and Raisi is openly and enthusiastically voiced.

On 23rd July, thousands, including colleagues from five continents, will be joining the Free Iran World Summit 2022, to voice our support for Iranian people’s Resistance and its 10 Point Plan for a secular republic in Iran and to reiterate that the people of Iran have the right to resist the regime for freedom.

We believe that a failure to listen to the aspirations of the Iranian people is a flaw in our approach towards Iran. We urge you to express your support for the Iranian people and their struggle for freedom and democracy, to be on the right side of history, and to recognise their right to freedom. The experience of the past 40 years has made it palpably clear that appeasement has never worked. Firmness is key to enabling the Iranian people to achieve freedom and to secure regional and global peace and stability.

We attach our joint declaration.

Regards,

Rt. Hon. David Jones MP, President of the British Committee for Iran Freedom