Cross-party MPs and peers celebrated the Persian New Year, Nowruz, with members of the Anglo-Iranian community in a reception held in the UK Parliament.

Speakers extended warm wishes to those around the world celebrating the Nowruz Festival, especially to the people of Iran and members of the Iranian opposition, the PMOI/MEK, in Ashraf 3.

They reiterated that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) poses a serious threat to the UK and urged the Government to proscribe it as called for by the both Houses of Parliament.

The cross-party speakers noted that the Iranian people’s massive boycott of the recent sham elections was the next step of the popular uprising against the regime and its repressive policies, and a public manifestation of their desire for democratic change.

The regime is now increasingly focused on suppressing dissidents inside Iran and in exile; using terrorism, hostage-taking diplomacy and cyberattacks, they warned, targeting in particular members of Iranian opposition in Ashraf 3. They urged the UK and European Governments to support the residents of Ashraf 3 and to assist Albania in ensuring that their rights are protected.

Speakers recognised the right of the people of Iran and their resistance units to continue the protests explaining that the Iranian solution advanced by them and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) should be the focus of the UK’s policy to successfully counter the regime in Iran.

“The UK should recognise the struggle of the people of Iran for the replacement of the regime and endorse [NCRI President-elect] Mrs Maryam Rajavi’s ten point plan, which constitutes a viable democratic alternative”, President of the British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF), Rt Hon. David Jones MP, concluded in his opening remarks, a recommendation backed by the other speakers.

Deputy Director of the NCRI Representative Office in the UK, Hossein Abedini, delivered Mrs Rajavi’s message to the Nowruz reception.

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi thanked Members of Parliament for their unwavering support for the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance’s quest for freedom and democracy and said:

“The nationwide boycott of the sham elections on 1 March was a resounding rejection of the regime as a whole.

“While we face a brutal and ruthless regime willing to commit atrocities to maintain its grip on power ... The anti-regime activities inside Iran, led by the resistance units and spearheaded by courageous women and young girls, are gaining momentum.

“Given the Iranian regime's destabilising role in the Middle East, which poses a grave threat to regional and global peace and stability, it is imperative that Western governments abandon the failed policies of the past and adopt a new strategy that places trust in the Iranian people and the Iranian resistance, as you have been advocating for years. The time is ripe for change in Iran.”

Rt Hon. David Jones MP added:

“The Tehran regime is now a clear global threat, to which an appropriate response must be a firmness of policy by the West.

“The United Kingdom should lead international partners by designating the regime as a principal threat to peace in the world under chapter seven of the United Nations Charter, as Mrs Rajavi and the NCRI have called for on many occasions. Our government should lead the E3 in activating the trigger mechanism in United Nations Resolution 2231 and Security Council resolutions relating to the regime’s nuclear weapons programme.”

Co-president of the International Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran (ICPDI), Bob Blackman CBE MP, said:

“The IRGC should be proscribed in its entirety because of their attacks, not only on the people of Iran, but also on the people in this country. The decision is long overdue.

“We expressed that our concern about Tehran's growing use of terrorism, espionage, cyberattacks, which have taken place on this place and hostage taking as a form of diplomacy to restrict and eliminate the Iranian democratic opposition.

“The NCRI is the democratic opposition. We should remember that there are other elements of the opposition, but the NCRI is the one organisation that has committed itself to a free and democratic Iran and giving the people the right to choose the leadership of their choice.

“We know that the PMOI in Ashraf 3 and in Albania, and the NCRI gatherings since 2018 have been the target of terrorist attacks by the IRGC. We called then and we call again today, unanimously, on European governments, especially the government of Albania, our friends, to counter Tehran’s illegal activities and uphold the rights of the Iranian opposition at Ashraf 3, in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, the European Convention of Human Rights and international law. That is their duty, and we support them in carrying out that work.

“Now, the NCRI enjoys a very strong cross party support in this parliament and in both houses because it does rely on the Iranian people and promotes the Iranian solution based on free and fair elections and gender equality.”

Co-president of the BCFIF, Steve McCabe MP, said:

“The reality is that everywhere you look in the Middle East, we see the hands of the mullahs. This regime is not content to torture its own people inside Iran. It is not content to have proxy wars across the Middle East. It wants to curtail opposition by assassination, by bombings, by targeting individuals who have the temerity to protest.

“They [The Iranian people] have a right to object to the actions of the Basij and the IRGC. They have a right to oppose the tyranny of the mullahs. The Iranian case is right. The mullahs are wrong. We are going to continue to do everything we can, to support the resistance and to argue for a proper, democratic, secular Iran.”

Co-president of the BCFIF, Dr Matthew Offord MP, said:

“We all know what Iran can be. It is a country that has been held back for many years by a theocratic regime which hijacked the democratic revolution in 1979 to impose its totalitarian rule over its people.

“Today, the consensus of the whole world is that Iran is a destabilising factor in the region and indeed across the whole of the globe. Tehran is now bringing its destruction to Europe through terrorism, cyberattacks, hostage taking, and espionage.

“We see that as the regime increasingly targets supporters of the PMOI and the NCRI in Europe, we have concerns about the safety of the opposition members living in Afshar 3 in Albania.

“As the mullahs turn to Iran into a pariah state, the West must stand with the Iranian people and with the NCRI, whose vision of a democratic, free republic in Iran is the only future that is possible.

“The success of the Iranian people is the success of not only people in the West, but across the world. The Iranian people and the NCRI are our allies in this ongoing fight for stability. As dictators around the world, we must unite for the West and unite behind the Iranian people and the Iranian-resistant movement, as we have done in Ukraine.

“As shown in Ukraine, if the UK lends our allies and partners our support, others will follow. I urge the government here in the United Kingdom to show leadership in the case of Iran by proscribing the IRGC in its entirety.

“We should close the Iranian embassy here in London and expel the agents who are disguised as diplomats, as indeed many of us know to our cost. I also call on the government to end the impunity which Iran refers to the regime’s appalling human rights dossier and to send it to the UN Security Council for the future prosecution.”

Rt Hon. Theresa Villiers MP said:

“I too hope that there is a political spring to come for the people of Iran so that they can finally emerge from the dark shadows of the theocratic regime which has oppressed them for this past 43 years.

“The most recent uprising was primarily led by women because they were saying that this is intolerable and they would not accept the violence and the horror, which, of course, manifests itself in the killing of Mahsa Amini for supposedly failing to comply with the oppressive dress code of the regime.

“The ten-point plan put forward by the NCRI provides a great blueprint for a society which values equality and takes Iran forward to a better future. A future, which is free, which is democratic, and which brings Iran back into the family of nations and provides its people with the freedom and the opportunities that they so desperately want.”

Rt Hon. Sir Roger Gale MP said:

“For far too long, the Iranian regime has been allowed to cause death and devastation in the Middle east with impunity. If we are to truly bring an end to the suffering of the people of the Middle east, then we have to bring to an end the Iranian regime's destructive actions across that region.

“The defeat of the regime in the recent so-called parliamentary and Assembly of Expert elections is another example of weakness. Even regime loyalists like Hassan Rohani and Mustafa Pourmohammadi were disqualified from these phony elections. That is another sign that even the regime is willing to sacrifice even its hitherto most loyal supporters to try to cling to power.

“Looking to the future and what Iran could be if Madame Rajavi’s ten-point plan for the future was able to materialise. That plan is the embodiment of a free and fair society where Iran’s natural resources are used for its own population, not to fund the IRGC’s suppression and terrorism.

“We must continue to be a voice for the very brave people, the women and the men based at Ashaf 3 in Albania. Those, there, have dedicated their lives to a free Iran and their fundamental rights must be protected.

“Our government must demand that our European counterparts support Albania in ensuring that these rights are protected. Albania and the Ashraf 3 residents are facing attacks by the Iranian regime. We cannot allow that regime to silence the voice of dissidents in exile.”

Co-president of the BCFIF, Prof Lord Alton of Liverpool, said:

“Madame Rajavi’s ten point democratic plan sets out a blueprint for a republic in Iran, based on the rule of law, based on human rights, based on equality, and a government elected by the people in free and fair elections.

“The latest uprising for a free and democratic republic in Iran that began in late September 2022 is very much alive and moving forward, as expressed again in the massive boycott of the regime’s recent sham elections. The UK must make it a priority to make sure that the United Nations Human Rights Council extends both the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on Iran and the fact finding mission launched last year to investigate reported atrocities by Iranian authorities during their bloody crackdown on the anti regime protest. Our government must, not only support an extension of the mandate, but also whip votes to secure a foundation for future accountability.

“Sanctions must be directed at the the top echelon of the regime, including the Supreme Leader Khamenei and the current president, Ibrahim Raisi, who are known perpetrators.

“In the face of the new axis of dictators of which Iran is a part, we must signal to the Iranian people and our friends and allies in the NCRI that the UK stands with them for an Iranian spring in the coming Persian year.”

Rt Hon. Lord Dholakia OBE DL said:

“People fighting for their freedom has to go through this hell in that country. I want to congratulate people in Iran because that revolution now has been led to a great extent by women. And despite the suppression that [regime] brings on these particular people, they are not very quiet and continue to fight. I am delighted in the way the 10-point plan that Mrs Rajavi has put forward.

“My support will continue to remain with Iranian people, with Mrs Rajavi and the support that she gets throughout the world.”

Lord Singh of Wimbledon CBE said:

“I have never seen such brave people as the Iranian resistance people, fighting injustice, speaking out against not only the Ayatollah’s rule, but earlier rule of the Shahs. I am particularly impressed and concerned about the role of women and the brave resistance they have been putting up against the Iranian regime.

“I also want to express my admiration for Madam Rajavi’s ten-point plan. That, if implemented, is a blueprint for justice and democracy anywhere and everywhere. I look forward to Nowruz, the new day, the new spring, when that rule, that ten-point plan, is implemented in a free and democratic Iran.”

Other speakers and participants included: Baroness Eaton DBE; Malcolm Fowler, former member of the Law Society of England and Wales and founding member of Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI); and representatives of various Anglo-Iranian Associations and Ukrainian community in the UK.

British Committee for Iran Freedom

25 March 2024