Maryam Rajavi’s call on World Day Against Death Penalty

Maryam Rajavi: Our Vision for an Iran Free from the Death Penalty and Torture

Dear compatriots,
Distinguished guests,
On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, I pay tribute to all those who were executed for their struggle for freedom.
On this day, the world’s outrage and revulsion are directed at the religious tyranny ruling Iran, a regime of executions and massacres, a monster of death, and a symbol of destruction.
Yet, the Iranian people and Resistance continue to stand firm against this regime through acts of heroic sacrifice. The mullahs sought to shape our destiny with the gallows, but we rose in defiance and forged a new path, one that guarantees freedom. Our Resistance carries the radiant promise that the inevitable overthrow of this regime will not only be a victory for the people of Iran, but also a great triumph for human rights across the world.

The Situation in the Middle East and the Role of the Iranian Regime in the Crises

Distinguished participants,
At a time when the world yearns for peace in the blood-soaked Middle East, Khamenei is the one who stands to lose the most from peace. His failed regime, now teetering on the brink of collapse, especially in the face of uprisings, has desperately turned to the weapon of executions in its war against Iranian society.
We are living through anxious days when each dawn may be stained with the blood of imprisoned PMOI (People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran) members and freedom fighters.

The New Wave of Political Executions and Crackdown on Prisoners

On October 4, seven political prisoners from Iran’s Arab and Kurdish communities were hanged. Before that, Somayeh Rashidi, a defiant political prisoner, died in agony after being deliberately denied medical care.
In just the last month, during 15 days, three women prisoners in the notorious Qarchak Prison lost their lives due to the same deliberate denial of medical treatment. At this very moment, dozens of political prisoners are facing imminent execution.
On July 16, Khamenei publicly voiced his concern about the growing activities of the PMOI supporters. He said, “They seek to weaken the regime, bring people into the streets, and finish off the system.”
Just ten days later, Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani were executed on charges of membership in the PMOI. They had been tortured repeatedly and pressured to renounce their beliefs, but they refused.
Before his execution, Behrouz Ehsani told his captors: “I will not bargain for my life.”
Today, 17 other prisoners face execution on the same charge of membership in the PMOI.

Sham Trials and Gross Violations of Judicial Standards

These executions and death sentences are carried out in blatant violation of every standard of fair justice.
The prisoners are subjected to torture; they have no legal counsel, or their lawyers lack the opportunity and the courage to defend them, or else the lawyers are merely for show. The trials are summary, the judicial procedures contrived, and the final verdicts have already been issued in advance by Khamenei himself.
To the mullahs we say, if you are sincere, open the trial sessions of political prisoners and PMOI members facing execution to the public, just once.
If you are sincere, allow an international delegation to travel to Tehran to examine the case of Somayeh’s death under deliberate denial of medical care.
If you are sincere, let a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations, or other international organizations interview the 17 individuals condemned to death on charges of PMOI membership. Then the world will recognize that they have committed no crime other than fighting for the freedom of an enslaved nation. Their crime is to say that dictatorship, warmongering, and driving millions of Iranians into hunger and homelessness must end. Their crime is seeking freedom and supporting the PMOI.

The Regime’s Call to Repeat the 1988 Massacre

The regime’s official media openly call for a repetition of the 1988 massacre.
Professor Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Iran, stated in his last report in July 2024 that the “case for genocide against members of the PMOI rests on the basis that the perpetrators of this crime perceived members of the group as ‘monafaqins’ or hypocrites.” He called on all countries to prosecute those responsible for the mass executions of the 1980s, especially the massacre of 30000 political prisoners in 1988, for crimes against humanity as well as genocide.”
While supporters of the PMOI are condemned to death in trials lasting only a few minutes, the regime has, for nearly two years, been staging sham in-absentia trials in Tehran against members of the Resistance, all of whom are outside Iran, and have been repeatedly sentenced to death. The regime’s objective in holding these sham trials and attributing false accusations to this movement is to deter the youth from joining the Resistance.
The regime’s courts, its notorious Ministry of Intelligence, and Khamenei’s ruthless Revolutionary Guards have all been mobilized to confront this movement: arrests, fabricated cases, and successive executions. In fact, since the 1988 massacre, the wave of executions in recent weeks has been an unprecedented turning point. These are the regime’s desperate attempts to forestall the uprising and prevent its overthrow but they are gravely mistaken.

Standing Firm Against the Policy of Execution and Imprisonment

Imprisonment and executions do not weaken the resolve of the Iranian people. On the contrary, they make the regime more vulnerable and unstable in the face of popular fury. Nothing can halt the storm of uprisings.
Yes, this is the message of the brave prisoners who, every week on the “No to Execution Tuesdays,” expose the disgraceful regime of executions and massacres. It is also the message of the restless youth and of the Resistance Units that have kept the flames of uprising burning across Iran.

A Call to the International Community to Confront the Wave of Executions

As for the international community, the political executions and death sentences in Iran are a test for them. Today, in response to the regime’s warmongering and nuclear armament, world powers have finally corrected their mistake of 10 years ago by activating the suspended UN Security Council resolutions.
This is, of course, a positive step. But let me emphasize: as long as this regime remains in power, it will never abandon its nuclear projects. The central pillars of its rule are repression and the violation of human rights on the one hand, and export of terrorism and warmongering on the other. It will only take Western policy seriously when the international community confronts Khamenei directly on this issue, especially on executions.
Our message to the international community is simple:
Stop auctioning off the human rights of our oppressed compatriots. End the practice of sacrificing those rights for a nuclear deal, and stop bartering away justice in return for the regime’s warmongering and terrorism.
In the first nine months of 2025, the number of executions in Iran has reached 1,200, the highest in the past 36 years. This is a test for Western governments: how will they respond to the wave of executions in Iran?
The Iranian people’s message to them is clear: Make your relations with this regime conditional on the immediate halt of executions.

Our Vision: An Iran without Executions and Torture

I am speaking on behalf of a blood-drenched Resistance that has lost more than 100,000 of its members at the hands of the religious fascism ruling Iran.
Our plan for the future calls for an Iran without executions and torture.
Our plan for the future will abolish the clerical Sharia laws.
The regime’s courts of injustice and all institutions of repression, execution, and espionage must be dissolved.
We reject the inhuman Penal Code and all other laws that violate human rights under this regime. We denounced the so-called “law of retribution” (Qesas) from the very beginning, when it was first introduced in 1981 in the regime’s parliament, as inhuman and incompatible with the true teachings of Islam.
We advocate laws based on forgiveness, compassion, and humanity.
During the battles of the National Liberation Army of Iran, the Leader of the Iranian Resistance, Massoud Rajavi, released thousands of the regime’s captured military personnel without infringing on their human rights. This is the enduring tradition of the Iranian Resistance, and members of the Resistance follow such teachings.

True Security for the People of Iran

Our vision for Iran’s future calls for the separation of religion and state, ensuring that no one shall face privilege or discrimination in election, employment, education, or any aspect of individual or social rights because of belief or non-belief in any religion or faith.
All citizens must enjoy genuine security under the protection of law, and all must be equal before the law. In the free Iran of tomorrow, death penalty will be abolished.
The judicial system will be founded on the presumption of innocence. All trials will be public, and every defendant will have the right to defense.
As stated in the ratifications of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the crimes of the regime’s officials, as well as those who ordered and carried out torture, killings, looting, and violations of people’s rights, will be tried in public courts, with jury participation and international observers.

Dear friends,
The book you see here reveals the genocide against the PMOI members in 1988 in all the provinces and cities of Iran. This is an image of the 47-year rule of the religious fascism. We have risen to turn this dark page in Iran’s history.
Yes, by rejecting all forms of dictatorship, whether the Shah or the Mullahs, we seek a new order; a democratic republic founded on freedom, democracy, and equality.