Maryam Rajavi at European Parliament: Stop Iran Executions
Clerical Regime Considers Public Outrage and Organized Opposition Its Primary Existential Threat, Not External War
Honorable representatives of the nations of Europe, distinguished friends,
It is a privilege to be among you today.
I have come to the home of European democracy to underscore a fundamental truth: that the central, decisive, and fate-shaping conflict is the one between the people of Iran and the ruling religious dictatorship.
Liberation from religious fascism, its pursuit of nuclear weapons, and its network of proxy forces, as well as ending the war, can only be achieved through the overthrow of this regime by the Iranian people and their organized resistance.
Positions of the Iranian Resistance
In the present critical circumstances, when peace and security in the Middle East and the world are tied to the situation in Iran, I speak on behalf of the Iranian Resistance to declare:
1. The system of Velayat-e Faqih, even under Khamenei’s son, it possesses no capacity for reform or change. Despite any maneuvering, it will not abandon its nuclear weapons program or its network of proxy forces, and its survival depends on the brutal repression of the people.
2. The ruling regime, which faced a nationwide uprising this past January, stands at the brink of overthrow. It has never been as fragile, weak, and vulnerable as it is today. The regime does not view external war as the primary threat to its existence, but rather deep-seated popular outrage and organized resistance. Its leaders fear the consequences of peace and the eruption of another uprising. Since the death of Khamenei, they have kept all their forces deployed in the streets to confront a new popular revolt.
3. The organized resistance has witnessed a steady and growing rise in recent months. During the January uprising, the Resistance Units played a significant role in expanding the protests and giving them direction. In defense of unarmed demonstrators, they carried out 630 operations against centers of the Revolutionary Guard, the Basij, and other regime institutions, confronting brutal repression.
On February 23, 2026, just days before the outbreak of the recent war, 250 PMOI fighters launched an attack on Khamenei’s headquarters and other principal state centers, among the most heavily guarded sites in the country. Around 100 of them were killed, or were arrested.
Operating in multiple units of the Liberation Army in Tehran, they have struck fear into the regime.
In the words of Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian Resistance, confronting this regime is the task of the Iranian people, the rebellious youth, the defiant cities, and the National Liberation Army.
4. On February 28, 2026, the National Council of Resistance of Iran announced the establishment of a provisional government to transfer sovereignty to the people of Iran and to establish a democratic republic, based on this Resistance’s Ten-Point Plan.
This provisional government is tasked with organizing, within a maximum of six months after the overthrow of the regime, free elections for a Constituent Assembly. Thereafter, all power will be transferred to the representatives of the people in this assembly, which will in turn determine a new government.
5. In response to Khamenei’s son, who claims to command nearly 30 million people ready to lay down their lives in defense of the regime, I reiterate: if he speaks the truth, let him accept free elections for a Constituent Assembly or the presidency under United Nations supervision, based on the principle of popular sovereignty, not clerical rule.
6. From the very first day of the recent war, the National Council of Resistance of Iran emphasized the slogan of peace and freedom. As soon as a ceasefire was announced, the NCRI welcomed it.
We also stressed that lasting peace can only be achieved through the overthrow of the religious dictatorship by the people of Iran and the organized resistance, and the establishment of a democratic republic.
If Europe is to play an effective role in advancing peace and democracy in the Middle East, it must end its policy of accommodation toward the regime and stand with Iran’s organized resistance to support the establishment of a democratic republic.
7. At dawn on Monday of this week, the religious dictatorship hanged two members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Commander Hamed Validi and Mohammad Massoum Shahi.
With this atrocious crime, the number of PMOI members executed in just the past three weeks has risen to eight. In addition, eight other young protestors have been executed. One of them was executed just yesterday and another detainee from the uprising was killed under torture.
At the same time, the regime has carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on the bases of Iranian Kurdish parties, resulting in the deaths of several Peshmerga fighters.
On December 10, 2025, in this very Parliament, I referred to the unjust death sentences issued for 18 individuals accused of membership in the PMOI/MEK, and I displayed their photographs and called for urgent action.
8. The mullahs are exploiting wartime conditions to resort to relentless executions to block the path of popular uprisings. Today, political prisoners face the threat of mass killing.
9. The silence of European Union leaders and member states is unjustifiable. And today, I wish to once again raise my voice in protest against this silence in the face of these executions.
At the same time, a number of young people have been arrested in recent weeks on charges of alleged contact with or support for the Mojahedin Organization. The names of a group of them have been submitted to and communicated to international bodies. By order of the regime’s judiciary chief, pressure and torture on political prisoners have intensified, and their sham trials and the issuance of criminal sentences have been expedited.
Presently, 11 political prisoners accused of membership in the Mojahedin are under sentence of death, and urgent action must be taken to save their lives.
Our position is that a halt to executions in Iran, as a demand of the entire Iranian people, must be included in any international agreement.
10. One of the regime’s instruments for confronting the uprising and the Resistance is to promote a fabricated alternative centered on the remnants of the former monarchical dictatorship.
The clerical regime has never regarded the remnants of the Shah’s regime as a threat to its own survival; indeed, its theorists argue that these remnants actually help sustain the regime. Unfortunately, certain circles in the West, driven by various motives and interests, have also aligned themselves with this process of constructing such an alternative.
This project is based on distortion, falsehoods, media and digital engineering, and the fabrication of astronomical figures. These theatrical displays will not bring a monarchical dictatorship back to Iran, but they will prolong the life of the current regime and create obstacles to its overthrow.
The actions of the remnants of the Shah during the 2022 and 2026 uprisings resulted in division within the ranks of the people and paved the way for the large-scale killings that took place last January.
The Shah’s son takes pride in his father’s record, and his so-called Emergency Phase plan is in fact a reconstruction of his father’s fascist dictatorship.
However, the people of Iran have not forgotten the crimes of the Shah’s regime, particularly the torture and execution of political prisoners. Just two days ago, we marked the anniversary of the execution of the PMOI’s Central Committee members on April 19, 1972 by the Shah’s regime.
The Solution of the Iranian People’s Resistance
Honorable representatives,
The clerical regime has driven Iran into catastrophe and has cast a shadow over peace and security in the Middle East and the world. The response to this regime is neither appeasement nor foreign war.
The answer, as I have repeatedly stated, lies in an organized uprising and a Liberation Army. Those who ignore the factor of the Iranian people and their Resistance in the equation of Iran, under any pretext, end up assisting the survival of the religious dictatorship.
This is the central point of appeasement policy. Everyone knows that the most important red line the regime has sought to impose on European governments is any engagement with the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Complying with the regime’s demands is not a mere miscalculation; it is a choice with profound political and moral consequences.
However, the Iranian Resistance has offered a democratic alternative, a solution rooted in decades of sustained struggle by the Iranian people that rejects both the former dictatorship and the current one.
• It seeks a democratic republic, the separation of religion and state, autonomy for oppressed ethnic groups, and the active and equal participation of women in the leadership of society.
• It relies on a fighting and self-sacrificing force throughout Iran that targets the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the focus of its operations.
• It is supported by a broad organizational structure with 60 years of experience in struggle, capable of organizing uprisings.
• It possesses sufficient political, social, and cultural capacity to create solidarity among political forces, various ethnic groups, and followers of different religions.
• It guarantees the rights of oppressed communities, including Baluch, Arab, Kurdish, and Turkmen populations.
• It is committed to eliminating discrimination between Sunnis, Shiites, and followers of other faiths.
• By defending the principle of freedom of choice in attire and, in particular, the active and equal role of women in political leadership, it mobilizes the power of women to advance this goal.
• It opens space for the growth of democracy and pluralism.
• And after the overthrow of the regime, it will make possible a peaceful, orderly, and democratic transfer of power to the people of Iran, in such a way that the experience of Libya or Iraq will never be repeated in Iran.
Honorable Representatives,
Distinguished friends,
On behalf of the Iranian Resistance, I call on the European Union to adopt a new policy toward Iran, one that:
• Recognizes the provisional government announced by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
• Closes the regime’s embassies and expels agents and operatives of the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guard Corps from its territory.
• Provides the necessary technical means to ensure the Iranian people’s access to a free internet.
• Conditions relations with the clerical regime on an end to the execution of political prisoners and the killing of protesters.
• Brings the regime’s leaders to justice for crimes against humanity and genocide.
Final remarks in the conference at the European Parliament
At one of the most critical junctures in Iran’s history, the voices of the people, and of prisoners awaiting execution, must be heard. The demand to halt executions is an urgent necessity.#StopExecutionsInIran pic.twitter.com/m1BgBMfBL4— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) April 26, 2026
