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)