In a significant move, 32 out of 60 senators in the Republic of Ireland, representing major parties Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Labor, along with independent senators, have expressed their support for the Iranian Resistance and the Iranian people’s struggle against the clerical regime and its main instrument of domestic repression and global terrorism, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Irish senators have urged their government and the European Union to endorse the Ten-Point Plan proposed by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which seeks to establish a democratic republic grounded in the separation of religion and state, and gender equality.
They strongly condemned the Iranian regime’s repressive actions against Iranian dissidents in Ashraf-3, Albania, underscoring their rights under the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The senators also denounced the regime’s show trials and in absentia court proceedings against more than 100 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization (PMOI/MEK) on charges such as waging war against God, highlighting the regime’s aim to pave the way for terrorist acts against them, particularly in Europe, and to pressure Europe to impose restrictions on dissidents, especially those in Ashraf-3, Albania.
Emphasizing that the Iranian regime has closed all peaceful avenues for change, the senators called on the world to recognize the rights of the Iranian people and the PMOI-led Resistance Units to resist the IRGC.
Irish senators strongly condemned the Iranian regime’s destructive role in the Middle East and its warmongering policies. They called for the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization and urged the imposition of oil sanctions against the regime.
Among the signatories of this statement are:
- Three current and former leaders of the Irish Senate,
- Five former ministers,
- Heads of several Senate committees including Constitutional, Finance, Defense, and Foreign Affairs committees,
- The Chair of the Irish Senate’s delegation to the Council of Europe and its Vice Chair,
- Presidents of the Irish Senate from 2011 to 2016 and from 2016 to 2020,
- Spokespersons from the ruling Fine Gael party in Health and Agriculture, and Communications and Climate,
- Seán Canney, Minister of State from 2016 to 2020 and the Government’s Regulator from 2018 to 2020,
- Two former heads of the Irish Senate
The full text of the majority statement of support for the Iranian people’s uprising and Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s 10-point plan is as follows:
Statement on Iran
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”.
Amnesty International’s December 2023 report exposes sexual violence against women in Iranian prisons. Women are the first victims of oppression by the ruling misogynist regime. On the other hand, in the Iranian resistance, women are in leadership positions.
Iran remains the world’s leading per capita executioner. 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 organization.
The Iranian regime has initiated a farcical trial in absentia for the Iranian Resistance leadership and 100 members of the PMOI who have been in Europe for years, 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. However, in May 2023, the mullahs released him in exchange for a hostage who was taken for this purpose.
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”.
We are deeply concerned about the outbreak of war in the Middle East and its overall consequences for world peace and security. It is now proven that the head of the snake is in Iran.
- 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.
- 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, the autonomy of Iran’s ethnic groups, and a non-nuclear country.
- 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 recognize the right of the Iranian people to rise up and the right of the MEK Resistance Units to 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.