Cross-party MPs and Peers, along with legal experts and members of the Anglo-Iranian community, convened in Parliament to discuss the appalling human rights situation in Iran and address the regime’s crackdown on protests and potential UK measures for securing accountability, on 10 September, just before the anniversary of the 2022 national protests in Iran.

The meeting highlighted recent findings by the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mr Javaid Rehman, published on 17 July shortly before the end of his tenure. These findings represent the first investigative report on the mass executions following the 1979 revolution and the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, primarily targeting members and sympathisers of the PMOI, Iran’s democratic opposition.

The Special Rapporteur noted that high-ranking state officials were directly involved in planning, ordering, and committing crimes against humanity and genocide against nationals of their own state. These findings, along with a March report from the UN Fact-Finding Mission on the regime’s crackdown on protests, provide substantial evidence of ongoing crimes committed by the regime to suppress dissent.

Both reports recommend establishing an international accountability mechanism to ensure criminal indictments and hold perpetrators accountable.

Speakers urged the UK government to work with allies to implement these recommendations, thereby upholding the UK’s support for these UN mandates.

They supported the ten-point plan of President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Mrs Maryam Rajavi for Iran’s future, which includes universal suffrage, gender equality, a modern judiciary, the rule of law, and the abolition of the death penalty, torture, and the regime’s sharia laws and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Speakers stressed that the UK government should recognise and endorse the NCRI and Mrs Rajavi’s platform as the democratic alternative to end repression and establish a free, democratic republic in Iran.

Baroness O’Loan DBE, who chaired the meeting, said:

“Today political prisoners across Iran go on hunger strike as part of their ongoing campaign, ‘No executions Tuesdays’. I applaud these brave political prisoners … and call on all governments to join me in supporting this campaign to stop executions, a demand, which was reiterated just last week by human rights experts from the UN.

“We now have concrete evidence that the religious dictatorship in Iran was built on and survives through committing crimes against humanity. The surge of executions this year, targeting particularly women and detained protesters and the record number of executions in August under the current regime, proves that all regime officials, regardless of their political labels, are united in their commitment to state repression.

“Today, [the international] community must send a strong message that it stands on the side of justice and international law, and with the people of Iran, not with their oppressors. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK is in a position to secure this international mechanism.

“A future Iran built on democratic principles is within reach due to the endeavour of the organised resistance movement. The NCRI. Madam Rajavi’s ten-point plan and the unwavering determination of the Iranian people.”

Prof Lord Alton of Liverpool, co-president of the British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF), said:

“I commend Professor Rehman for his remarkable courage in documenting the truth despite the personal attacks and the threats made against him by the regime. I urge the United Nations High Commissioner to condemn these attacks. [His] report is a landmark step for justice for the victims and the Iranian people.

“The international community must no longer ignore the overwhelming evidence of these crimes. If the ICC can issue an arrest warrant for Putin, it must also do one for Khamenei and other regime leaders responsible for crimes against humanity. As Professor Rehman warned, had the international community intervened in the 1980s, when Tony and I and others urged him to do, we would not be witnessing today’s large-scale executions. We must not engage with a regime whose leaders have committed atrocity crimes.

“As co-sponsors of the UN resolution on Iran. Our government should demand a specific reference to the 1988 massacre in this year's resolution. I urge our government to support Madam Rajaiv’s call to end executions and to endorse her ten-point plan for Iran’s future.”

Lord Singh of Wimbledon CBE, said:

“Despite the regime’s efforts to silence dissent, the courage of the Iranian people continues to shine through. Since the 2022 uprisings, we have witnessed a surge of protest strikes and acts of resistance, which clearly show that the people of Iran refused to be cowed into submission.

“The organised resistance has kept the hope for a free and democratic Iran alive. It is time for the international community, including our own government, to change its approach. The UK should lead the way in supporting the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom, democracy and justice [and] … stand with Madame Rajavi and the NCRI.”

Lord Clarke of Hampstead CBE mentioned Iranian regime’s many human rights violations and deadly attacks against members of the Iranian opposition, PMOI, throughout the years and said:

“The atrocities in Iran are our responsibility as much as anybody else’s. We got to speak out, telling people what has been going on. It has been going on far too long.”

Bob Blackman CBE MP, co-president of the International Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran (ICPDI), highlighted his motion from the previous parliament session recognising the 1988 massacre in Iran, which were supported by 46 cross-party MPs and said:

“The regime has ruthlessly suppressed its democratic opposition, killing 120,000 supporters and members of the PMOI since 1979 alone, including 30,000 political prisoners during the 1988 massacre in Iran’s prisons. Without decisive action, we know that these numbers will only grow as anti-regime protests continue.

“Many we know are on death row right now or in solitary confinement awaiting execution. And, our thoughts and sympathy are with all those that are illegally held in Iran’s jails.

“That is why I have worked with my colleagues in Parliament urging the government to hold the regime to account, both the last government and the new government.

“We have called universally for the proscription of the IRGC in its entirety, for its terrorist activities and for the referral of Tehran’s appalling human rights record to the United Nations Security Council, so that those responsible can be prosecuted under international law.

“Now, according to former ICC president Dr Chile Eboe-Osuji, the international law no longer grants immunity to government officials for crimes against humanity. This means that the United Kingdom has no legal obstacles whatsoever in demanding accountability.”

Rt Hon. Sir Julian Lewis MP said:

“The whole world has woken up to the reality of the Iranian regime. When change comes, it can come unexpectedly. But in order for it to come, it requires a democratic resistance to tyranny. That is what I support, and that is why I am here today.”

Rt Hon. Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, criticised the UK government for its refusal to proscribe the IRGC and stressed that sanctioning is not good enough to deal with their terrorism and activities in the UK and said:

“We are now seeing a growing level of authoritarianism around the world … and Iran is right at the centre of that.

“I will dedicate myself during the course of this parliament … to hold the British government to account and ask them finally to take the action that is necessary, not just to proscribe IRGC, but to make it incredibly difficult for the Iranian regime to operate on a global basis.”

Jim Shannon MP said:

“The regime’s actions have not only stifled the rights of its own people, but have also contributed to regional and global insecurity. Unfortunately, Western policy towards Iran has often been misguided, allowing the regime to dominate the narrative and perpetuate the lie that there is no alternative to its rule.

“But there is a [democratic] alternative. It is high time that the West reconsider its approach. Our new government must publicly and vocally support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and engage directly with the NCRI. Their efforts to bring about a democratic republic deserve our full backing. Such a transformation could have far reaching positive consequences, turning Iran from a threat toward peace into a cornerstone of regional stability and prosperity for all of its people.”

Dr Jocelynne Scutt, barrister and Human Rights lawyer, said:

“The Democratic platform of the NCRI, a plan for Iran to return to a world where democracy is not only the principle, but the practice requires recognition. Once upon a time, the United Kingdom in 1953 was on the wrong side.

“Support for the theocratic dictatorship instituted in 1979 must be ended. I call on the United Kingdom government to affirm its support for democracy, freedom, justice and humanity for Iran.”

Prof Sara Chandler KC (Hon.), president of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee at the Law Society of England and Wales from 2018-2024, said:

“In the words of Mr Javaid Rehman, ‘The 1988 massacre represents the commission of the worst and the most egregious human rights abuses of our living memory …’.

“It is our responsibility, and in particular where we can call upon our own government, to ensure that the recommendations we have [discussed] today are implemented. Working with allies to identify, investigate and prosecute those responsible for serious human rights violations in Iran, and issue, when there is sufficient admissible evidence, international arrest warrants.

“As the recommendation points out, those regime officials, IRGC commanders, and other security forces already on the UK’s human rights sanctions list provide a good starting point.”

Masoud Zabeti, president of the Committee of the Anglo-Iranian Lawyers, said:

“Mr Rahman should know that he has the full support of the international legal community for his efforts. And also the full support of the Iranian people. What he has done is historic, and it is only the first step of many steps now to bringing the perpetrators of these criminal acts to justice.

“In terms of the Iranian regime’s export of terrorism and fundamentalism, the NCRI for 40 years have been warning the international community about the grave threat that it poses to the world.

“We will continue the work that is being done to bring the Iranian regime and its officials to justice.”

Other participants included: Andy McDonald MP; Lord Morrow; Baroness Meacher; Rt Hon. Lord Whitty; and Lord Hacking.

British Committee for Iran Freedom

10 September 2024