Maryam Rajavi at UK Parliament: Condemning Iran’s Wave of Executions

Maryam Rajavi: The Spree of Executions to Delay the Inevitable Fall of the Regime

Honorable Members of the House of Commons,
Noble Members of the House of Lords,
Dear friends,

I greet you all and thank you for your efforts to support the Iranian people in their struggle to end religious dictatorship and establish a truly democratic republic.
Today, at the international level, most concerns about Iran are focused on the regime’s nuclear and missile programs or its transnational repression including in the UK.
These concerns are certainly valid but a greater tragedy is happening right now: the planned killing of prisoners.

The Only Way to Stop the Terrorism and Killing Machine

I am here to tell governments and international organizations that there is only one real way to stop the regime’s nuclear and missile programs and to stop its terrorism and killing machine.
That way is the resistance of the Iranian people to overthrow the regime.
The fundamental solution lies in recognizing the right to resist and fight against the regime’s oppression for the people of Iran, especially the courageous and defiant youth.
Since the beginning of 2025 — in less than ten months — more than 1,400 people have been executed in Iran. This is unprecedented in the past 36 years.
The shocking rise in executions has nothing to do with any judicial process.
It is a political decision made by Khamenei himself.
His goal is to prevent new uprisings and to delay the inevitable fall of the regime.
Therefore, he has actually targeted the movement and the relentless resistance to overthrow the regime.
Since last year, the number of prisoners sentenced to death for alleged membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization has been increasing. Today, 17 people are under threat of execution on this same charge.
They were tried rapidly, without due process.
Those who issued these verdicts are not judges; they are professional killers.
Khamenei’s so-called courts have nothing in common with the principles of fair trial or justice.
We call on governments and the United Nations to put pressure on this regime to accept an international delegation to meet the people sentenced to death and to inspect the torture centers and the sham courts.

Ten-Point Plan: Abolition of the Death Penalty

For over two decades, the Iranian Resistance has firmly maintained that in a free and democratic Iran of tomorrow, the death penalty will be abolished.
With this call, our Resistance launched the “No to Execution” campaign rallying Iranians against Khamenei’s criminal policies.
On the other side of the ruling religious fascism’s crimes and systematic repression in Iran, the resistance is growing across the country.
Protests by many social groups such as workers, teachers, nurses, and retirees, continue. Despite all security measures, Resistance Units and defiant youth have expanded their activities. Thousands of organized and collective actions in cities across Iran have put the regime under pressure.
This resistance has also spread inside the prisons.
For 92 weeks, Iranian political prisoners have carried out the brave campaign called “No to Execution Tuesdays.”
So far, prisoners in 54 prisons across Iran have joined this movement.
These campaigns, and especially the courageous, anti-repression activities of the Resistance Units, have strongly challenged the regime’s policy of systematic intimidation.
The policy of relentless executions is now meeting strong resistance from Iranian society.
A striking example is the one-week hunger strike by 1,500 death-row prisoners in Qezel Hesar Prison in Karaj.

Recognizing the Iranian People’s Resistance

Khamenei is now cornered. On one hand, he can never stop the executions; on the other, each execution fuels greater anger among the Iranian people.
We call on respected members of both Houses of Parliament and all human rights defenders to encourage the Government to proscribe the IRGC and make its continued relations with Iran’s religious dictatorship conditional on the halt to the execution of prisoners in Iran.
The mullahs have turned to mass executions to prevent the inevitable fall of their regime.
The Iranian regime and its lobbies have sold this lie to the world that this regime has no alternative.
The only way to end repression and executions in Iran is to end this regime and establish a democratic republic. In this regard, the international community must recognize the Resistance of the Iranian people and the fight of the Resistance Units against the IRGC.