In an unprecedented show of unity, a group of prominent international leaders has issued an open letter condemning the Iranian regime’s ongoing human rights violations and calling for establishing a democratic republic in Iran. The letter details the regime’s brutal suppression of protests, widespread executions, and acts of state terrorism, urging the international community to take decisive action.
The letter highlights the 2022 uprising in Iran, during which the UN Special Rapporteur documented security forces deliberately shooting unarmed protesters. Iran remains the world’s leading per capita executioner, with at least 864 people hanged in 2023. It also recalls the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners following a decree by then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini.
A key concern raised is the recent trial in absentia initiated by the Iranian regime against the leadership and members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK). This trial, described as a pretext for future terrorist acts against these dissidents, underscores the regime’s use of the judiciary as a tool for repression and terrorism. The letter also points to a 2021 incident where a serving Iranian diplomat was sentenced in Belgium for attempting to bomb a summit of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The signatories argue that the Iranian regime is incapable of reform and emphasize the Iranian people’s rejection of all forms of dictatorship during the 2022 uprising. They call for support of NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi‘s Ten-Point Plan for a democratic republic that ensures the separation of religion and state and gender equality.
Furthermore, the letter highlights Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East and beyond, including its involvement in attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and providing drones for the war in Ukraine. It condemns the regime’s role in fostering regional terrorism through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and calls for its designation as a terrorist organization along with the implementation of oil sanctions.
Open Letter
Supporting Freedom and Resistance in Iran for Global Peace and Security
We are deeply concerned by the Iranian regime’s ruthless suppression of the people of Iran, including ethnic and religious minorities. During the 2022 uprising, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran, “verified videos show security forces deliberately shooting unarmed protesters from a short distance”.
Iran remains the world’s leading per capita executioner, hanging at least 864 people in 2023. In 1988 alone, 30,000 political prisoners were massacred within weeks following the decree by the regime’s Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini to execute affiliates of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK) who persisted in supporting the organisation.
The Iranian regime has recently initiated a farcical trial in absentia for the Iranian Resistance leadership and 100 members of the PMOI, alleging crimes such as Moharebeh (waging war against God). This trial is evidently a pretext for laying the groundwork to commit terrorist acts against them, particularly in Europe, and to pressure European authorities to restrict dissidents, particularly those residing in Ashraf-3, Albania. The Iranian judiciary serves as Khamenei’s repressive tool for killing and terrorism.
Europe has become the roaming ground for Iran’s state terrorism. In February 2021, a court in Antwerp, Belgium, sentenced a serving Iranian diplomat to 20 years in prison for attempting to bomb the annual summit of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in a Paris suburb.
The ruling religious dictatorship is incapable of reform. During the 2022 uprising, the Iranian people rejected any form of dictatorship, whether monarchical or theocratic, and called for regime change to establish a democratic republic.
The people of Iran are being denied all of their political and civil rights; whereas, the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights underscores the fundamental rights of all human beings, and states: “It is essential if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law”.
The Iranian regime is the driving force behind the war in the Middle East and attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. It is also sending drones to be used in the war against the people of Ukraine, in breach of international law. The head of the snake is in Iran. Through proxy groups, the IRGC spreads terrorism and obstructs regional and global peace and security.
We condemn the flagrant violations of human rights, particularly the suppression of women, and we call for the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre to be held accountable for ongoing crimes against humanity.
The people of Iran deserve a democratic system. We urge all governments to support NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi‘s Ten-Point Plan for a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state and gender equality.
We strongly condemn the Iranian regime’s actions against Iranian dissidents in Ashraf-3, Albania, and we reaffirm their rights under the 1951 Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.
As the Iranian regime has blocked all political avenues for change, the free world must, consistent with internationally recognised laws based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, recognise the rights of the Iranian people and the MEK Resistance Units to rise up and confront the IRGC.
We strongly condemn the Iranian regime’s destructive role in the Middle East and its belligerent policies. We call for the terrorist designation of the IRGC and the implementation of oil sanctions on the regime.
SIGNED:
Jean Claude Juncker – Former Prime Minister, Luxembourg; former President of the European Commission
Lech Wałęsa – Former President, Poland; Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Oscar Arias Sánchez – Former President, Costa Rica; Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Stephen Harper – Former Prime Minister, Canada
Christian Wulff – Former President, Germany
Liz Truss – Former Prime Minister, United Kingdom
Giuliano Amato – Former Prime Minister, Italy
Mariano Rajoy – Former Prime Minister, Spain
Guy Verhofstadt – Former Prime Minister, Belgium
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga – Former President, Latvia
Joachim Gauck – Former President, Germany
Tony Abbott – Former Prime Minister, Australia
Jan Peter Balkenende – Former Prime Minister, Netherlands
Christian Kern – Former Chancellor, Austria
Miloš Zeman – Former President, Czech Republic
Yulia Tymoshenko – Former Prime Minister, Ukraine
Anneli Jäätteenmäki – Former Prime Minister, Finland
Enda Kenny – Former Prime Minister, Ireland
Jennifer Mary Shipley – Former Prime Minister, New Zealand
Antonis Samaras – Former Prime Minister, Greece
Horst Köhler – Former President, Germany
Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca – Former President, Malta
José María Aznar – Former Prime Minister, Spain
Matteo Renzi – Former Prime Minister, Italy
Emil Constantinescu – Former President, Romania
Eamon Gilmore – Former EU Special Representative for Human Rights; former Deputy Prime Minister, Ireland
Pascal Lamy – Former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Ambassador Joachim Rücker – Former President, United Nations Human Rights Council
Solomon Passy – Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister, former United Nations Security Council President
Lamberto Zannier – Former Secretary General, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Giancarlo Aragona – Former Secretary General, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Kimmo Sasi – Former President of the Nordic Council
Thomas E. Garrett – Secretary General, Community of Democracies (CoD)
Virginia Raggi – Former Mayor of Rome
Sigmar Gabriel – Former Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor, Germany
Jeppe Kofod – Former Foreign Minister, Denmark
Brian Cowen – Former Prime Minister, Ireland
Kersti Kaljulaid – Former President, Estonia
Andrej Kiska – Former President, Slovakia
Aleksander Kwaśniewski – Former President, Poland
Jüri Ratas – Former Prime Minister, Estonia
Yves Leterme – Former Prime Minister, Belgium
Geir H. Haarde – Former Prime Minister, Iceland
Petre Roman – Former Prime Minister, Romania
Iveta Radičová – Former Prime Minister, Slovakia
Georgi Bliznashki – Former Prime Minister, Bulgaria
Natalia Gavrilița – Former Prime Minister, Moldova
Mirek Topolánek – Former Prime Minister, Czech Republic
Mihai Ghimpu – Former President, Moldova
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson – Former Prime Minister, Iceland
Eugenijus Gentvilas – Former Prime Minister, Lithuania
Igor Lukšić – Former Prime Minister, Montenegro
Rosalía Arteaga Serrano – Former President, Ecuador
Elbegdorj Tsakhia – Former President and former Prime Minister, Mongolia
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría – Former President, Costa Rica
Felipe Calderón – Former President, Mexico
Francisco Sagasti – Former President, Peru
Andrés Pastrana – Former President, Colombia
Jorge Fernando Tuto Quiroga Ramírez – Former President, Bolivia
Jaume Bartumeu-Cassany – Former Prime Minister, Andorra
Mario Frick – Former Prime Minister, Liechtenstein
Janez Janša – Former Prime Minister, Slovenia
Alfred Gusenbauer – Former Chancellor, Austria
Andrus Ansip – Former Prime Minister, Estonia
Andrius Kubilius – Former Prime Minister, Lithuania
Taavi Rõivas – Former Prime Minister, Estonia
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz – Former Prime Minister, Poland
Wolfgang Schüssel – Former Chancellor, Austria
Anatoliy Kinakh – Former Prime Minister, Ukraine
Elio Di Rupo – Former Prime Minister, Belgium
Siim Kallas – Former Prime Minister, Estonia
George Andreas Papandreou – Former Prime Minister, Greece
Lawrence Gonzi – Former Prime Minister, Malta
Vytautas Landsbergis – Former Head of State, Lithuania
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier – Former President, Costa Rica
Iván Duque – Former President, Colombia
Federico Franco – Former President, Paraguay
Osvaldo Hurtado – Former President, Ecuador
José María Figueres – Former President, Costa Rica
Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera – Former President, Costa Rica
Alfredo Cristiani – Former President, El Salvador
Mercedes Aráoz – Former Prime Minister, Peru
Peter O’Neill – Former Prime Minister, Papua New Guinea
Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas – Former Prime Minister, Yemen
Luca Boschi – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Matteo Ciacci – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Michele Muratori – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Guerrino Zanotti – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Johnson Toribiong – Former President, Palau
Giuseppe Maria Morganti – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Nicola Renzi – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Alexandru Athanasiu – Former Prime Minister, Romania
Avdullah Hoti – Former Prime Minister, Kosovo
Carlo Cottarelli – Former Prime Minister-Designate, Italy
Julio Cobos – Former Vice-President, Argentina
Alberto Dahik – Former Vice President, Ecuador
Ana Helena Chacón Echeverría – Former Vice President, Costa Rica
Ántero Flores-Aráoz E. – Former Prime Minister, Peru
Rosa Zafferani – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Pedro Angulo Arana – Former Prime Minister, Peru
Urška Klakočar Zupančič – Speaker of the Parliament, Slovenia
Dick Spring – Former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ireland
Enver Hoxhaj – Former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Kosovo
Alexandr Vondra – Former Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Czech Republic
Martin Lidegaard – Former Foreign Minister, Denmark
Andrzej Olechowski – Former Foreign Minister, Poland
Péter Balázs – Former Foreign Minister, Hungary
Juan Esteban Aguirre Martinez – Former Foreign Minister, Paraguay
Tonio Borg – Former Foreign Minister, Malta
Urmas Reinsalu – Former Foreign Minister, Estonia
Nadezhda Neynsky – Former Foreign Minister, Bulgaria
Villy Søvndal – Former Foreign Minister, Denmark
Charles Flanagan – Former Foreign Minister, Ireland
Anže Logar – Former Foreign Minister, Slovenia
Borislav Sandov – Former Deputy Prime Minister, Bulgaria
Jean Louis Schiltz – Former Defence Minister, Luxembourg
Liam Fox – Former Defence Secretary, United Kingdom
Stanislav Pavlovschi – Former Justice Minister, Moldova
Celeste Cardona – Former Justice Minister, Portugal
Ryszard Kalisz – Former Interior Minister, Poland
Anatol Șalaru – Former Defence Minister, Moldova
Audronius Ažubalis – Former Chairman-in-Office, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE); former Foreign Minister, Lithuania
Jan-Erik Enestam – Former Secretary General of the Nordic Council; former Defence Minister, Finland
Judy Sgro – Former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Canada
Tony Clement – Former Minister of Industry, Canada
Candice Bergen – Former Leader of the Official Opposition, Canada
Matej Tonin – Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Slovenia
Ambassador Terry Branstad – Former US Ambassador to China
Ambassador Theodore Sedgwick – Former US Ambassador to Slovakia
Ambassador Ken Blackwell – Former US Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights
Ambassador Robert Joseph – Former US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
Ambassador Marc Ginsberg – Former US Deputy Senior Adviser for Middle East Policy to the President
Ambassador Sam Brownback – Former US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
Ambassador Zorica Marić-Djordjević – Former Ambassador of Montenegro to the UN Human Rights Council
Ambassador Keith M. Harper – Former Ambassador of the US to the UN Human Rights Council
Ambassador Filloreta Kodra – Former Ambassador of Albania to the UN Office at Geneva
Dimitrij Rupel – Former Chairman-in-Office, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
