Demonstrations Marking the Second Anniversary of the Nationwide Uprising in Iran in 40 European and North American capitals, major cities
Call To Support the ‘No to Execution’ Campaign and Accountability for the Iranian Regime’s Officials
Thousands of Iranians, supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), across Europe and North America held rallies and gatherings in 40 cities to mark the second anniversary of the September 2022 nationwide uprising. The 2022 nationwide uprising spread to nearly 300 Iranian cities and lasted several months. It illustrated the Iranian people’s rejection of the current theocracy and reflected their demand for a democratic republic. The regime suppressed the uprising by killing 750 demonstrators, including women and children, and arresting more than 30,000 demonstrators.
In the demonstration in Brussels hundreds of Belgo-Iranians participated. Several politicians, including Paulo Casaca (former MEP), Serge de Patoul (former MP in Brussels parliament) and Manel Meslami (President of the Women’s Group of the Liberal Party in Brussels), representatives from the Iranian Youths and Women’s Associations, human rights activists, families of victims of executions, and representatives of the main Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), addressed the rally. A colorful exhibition at the rally showcased the September 2022 uprising in Iran.
The rallies supported the “No to Execution” Campaign. The demonstrators urged the international community to adopt a decisive policy against the ruling theocracy in Iran, and hold regime officials accountable for crimes against humanity.
The IRGC’s support for terrorist proxies and its role in regional conflicts have escalated as the Iranian regime struggles to maintain its grip on power following the 2022 uprising. Iran has seen a dramatic surge in executions since the so-called moderate president Masoud Pezeshkian took office. At least 160 people have been hanged since August.
A resolution was read out at the rallies, stating: “Khamenei is trying in vain to prevent the explosion of people’s anger with bloodshed. We support the campaign of ’No to the Execution,‘ called for by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI. This campaign has been underway in Iranian prisons, and we call on the international community and all human rights defenders to support it.”
The resolution underscored, “The report on the ’Atrocity Crimes‘ prepared by the former UN Special Rapporteur Professor Javaid Rehman, described the executions of the 1980s, and in particular the 1988 massacre, the overwhelming majority of whose victims belonged to the PMOI, as genocide and crime against humanity. The report leaves no room for continued impunity for those responsible for these crimes, who remain in the highest positions of government.”
The rallies urged “the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, and member states to initiate the necessary mechanisms to prosecute Khamenei and other leaders of the regime.”
Pointing to the regime’s terrorist plots against the Resistance, including the attacks on the offices of the NCRI and supporters of the PMOI in Berlin, Paris, London, and Stockholm, as well as the assassination attempt against Professor Alejo Vidal Quadaras, the participants in the rallies demanded “the closure of the regime’s embassies and official and unofficial representations, and the expulsion of agents and spies of the Iranian regime’s Intelligence Ministry and the Revolutionary Guards, who are the masterminds and perpetrators of these crimes.”
The protesters also voiced support for Mrs. Rajavi’s Four-point Plan to resolve the current regional and global crisis, which called for blacklisting the IRGC, invoking the trigger clause in UN Security Council Resolution 2231, activating UN resolutions on the regime’s nuclear weapons project, placing the Iranian Regime under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter as a Threat to Global Peace and Security; and recognizing the Iranian people’s struggle to overthrow the mullahs’ regime and the fight carried out by the Resistance Units against the Revolutionary Guards.
