A meeting in Parliament today highlighted escalating political executions in Iran and new directives from judiciary chief instructing the judicial system to take a “war posture” and accelerate death sentences.
Cross‑party MPs and Peers, representatives of the Anglo‑Iranian Associations, and representatives of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) attended and addressed the meeting.
Speakers emphasised that these executions aim to prevent future uprisings and to suppress growing organised resistance following the NCRI’s announcement of a Provisional Government to transfer sovereignty to the people and establish a democratic republic based on Maryam Rajavi’s Ten‑Point Plan.
They shared Maryam Rajavi’s criticism of the UK’s failure to condemn these executions and backed her call for the UK and other European governments to act to halt the executions and prevent a repeat of the 1988 prison massacres.
Cross‑party MPs and Peers reiterated that the Iranian people seek a democratic future, and reject the current regime as well as a return to the Shah’s dictatorship.
They welcomed the possible introduction of legislation to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. They joined other speakers in urging the UK Government to take the next step and engage with the NCRI’s Provisional Government to advance peace and freedom in Iran and beyond.
In her video message to the meeting, NCRI President-elect for the transitional period Maryam Rajavi said:
“Since March 19, the ruling clerics have executed 18 political prisoners. Eight of them were members of the PMOI, and the other ten were from among rebellious protesters. The victims come from all social backgrounds, ranging from 18-year-old to men in their sixties.
“Through these brutal executions, the regime seeks to terrorise young people and to prevent them from joining the Resistance Units that play a decisive role in organising and expanding the uprising.
“When Western governments do not speak a single word in response to these daily executions, the Iranian people and political prisoners pay the price. What [the regime] offers in return is the spread of crisis and insecurity around the world, including acts of terrorism even in the United Kingdom.
“The position of the Iranian Resistance can be summarised in the slogan of peace and freedom. The realisation of both requires the overthrow of the religious dictatorship.
“This objective can be achieved by relying on uprisings of the Iranian people and the organised fighting force of the resistance that form the units of the Liberation Army.”
Co-chair of the British Committee for Iran Freedom (BCFIF), Bob Blackman CBE MP said:
“The reality is that there are those outside who are looking for a return of the rule of the Shah, the son of the Shah. The sad reality is he is been in total hibernation up until the recent rebellions and suddenly comes out of his box and says, ‘Oh, I can unite the people of Iran.’ Absolute nonsense.
“Those people that have been bravely resisting this regime for year after year after year are led by the President-elect Maryam Rajavi. We must concentrate our efforts in supporting her, the NCRI and the PMOI.”
Prof. Lord Alton of Liverpool said:
“The Provisional Government should be recognised, a government which constitutes the foundation of a modern and democratic system and which is committed to transferring maximum power within six months to a parliament elected by the Iranian people.
“As early as 2004, Mrs Maryam Rajavi publicly declared that the solution for Iran was neither foreign war nor appeasement, but a third option, as she put it, democratic change brought about by the Iranian people and their resistance.”
Lord McCabe said:
“There is an alternative to the brutality of the mullahs or yet another autocracy under the titular head of the former Shah’s son. We want to support the 10-point plan of Maryam Rajavi to bring democracy, secular government, equality, free elections, a proper judicial system and abolition of the death penalty.
“I support her proposals for a transitional government and rapid progress to internationally observed free elections.”
Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE KC said:
“Proscription is not an end in itself. It has to be followed up by ensuring that attrition against the IRGC continues so that those who wish to be part of a civil uprising which is the only way the government of Iran will ever change.”
Baroness Verma said:
“We want to see democratic processes happen in Iran. The problem we have is the silence in the West.”
Jim Shannon MP said:
“When the NCRI announced its provisional government, Madam Rajavi, delivered a message of unity, of solidarity and cooperation. And since then, the NCRI has engaged Iran’s ethnic communities to consolidate and strengthen National Solidarity Front.”
Christina Blacklaws, solicitor and former President of the Law Society of England and Wales, said:
“I really call upon our government to ensure the referral of the regime to the Security Council in relation to serious human rights violations. This would be a start to secure accountability for crimes against humanity and indeed in relation to genocide.”
Other speakers included: Rt Hon. Sammy Wilson MP; Baroness Redfern; Rt Hon. Lord Hamilton of Epsom; Lord Empey OBE; Dr Jocelynne Scutt, former judge, barrister and human rights lawyer; Dr Leyla Hannbeck, CEO of Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA); Councillor Robert Ward; Azadeh Zabeti, co-President of the Committee of the Anglo-Iranian Lawyers; and Naghmeh Rajabi, representative of the Association of Iranian Professionals.
British Committee for Iran Freedom
28 April 2026