Maryam Rajavi’s Message to a Conference at the UK Parliament

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Is A Day to Expose the Mullahs’ Misogynist Tyranny

Dear Baroness O’Loan, Baroness Verma,
Honorable lawmakers, dear friends,
Good day to you all.
I send my greetings to your gathering on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. First, I would like to honor all the women who have risen against violence and oppression. Brave women who endured brutal torture in the prisons of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran. Women who sacrificed their lives, and women who are presently resisting in Khamenei’s prisons across Iran.

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women reminds everyone—especially women—to unite their will in this struggle. No society can progress without ending violence, oppression, and exploitation against women.
The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is a day to expose the misogynist dictatorship ruling Iran—a regime that has executed or tortured tens of thousands of PMOI women and female freedom fighters.
In the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, the vast majority of female prisoners from the PMOI were executed.
In the 2022 protests Iranian women showed their leadership role. During those protests, the regime arrested 30,000 people, including many young girls and boys.
The United Nations Fact-Finding Mission stated that the suppression of peaceful protests and widespread discrimination against women and girls have led to serious human rights violations by the Iranian regime. Many of these violations are considered crimes against humanity.
The report mentions the killing of 49 women and 68 children during the 2022 uprising. The mistreatment and unjust sentences against imprisoned women continue.
Recently, Maryam Akbari Monfared, one of the longest-held female political prisoners in Iran, was sentenced to an additional two years in prison. She was arrested 15 years ago. The regime increased her sentence because she filed a complaint about the unjust execution of her three brothers and a sister while in prison.
The regime has promoted violence and discrimination against women through misogynist laws and through legal, professional, and economic inequality.
These conditions have led to many tragedies, including expulsions from universities and other jobs, insecurity for women, widespread sexual assault, forcing young girls into marriage, and the trafficking of poor women and girls to other countries.
Violence against women in the streets continues. The mullahs have assigned 32 ministries and government agencies to impose compulsory hijab on women.
Meanwhile, through various methods and tactics, they aim to limit the struggle of Iranian women to the issue of hijab, preventing it from becoming a fight for freedom and democracy for the entire society.
The women of Iran are shouting: With the hijab or without it, onwards to the revolution. Their motto is, “Women, Resistance, Freedom.”

The Plan on Women’s Rights and Freedoms

Dear friends,
Khamenei, through repression, mass executions, warmongering and export of crises, seeks to prevent an uprising.
The world is witnessing the evil role the mullahs play in spreading war in the region.
Governments must no longer delay the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
The mullahs’ regime has fully violated the nuclear agreement. The first urgent and necessary step is to reactivate the snapback mechanism and restore the six UN Security Council resolutions.
Inside Iran, the mullahs have intensified censorship, arrests, and repression.
The regime’s president, Pezeshkian, who presents himself as a reformist, defended the execution of prisoners last month. He took office in July, but in this short time, the regime has executed around 500 people.
Despite all this, people’s protests continue in workplaces and on the streets, including by nurses, retirees, and oil workers.
Young women have joined the Resistance Units to end the ruling tragedy and overthrow the mullahs. Women are the force of change, and it is the Iranian woman who will ultimately bring down the velayat-e faqih regime.
We have said and continue to say: No to compulsory hijab, no to compulsory religion, and no to compulsory government.
Many years ago, the National Council of Resistance of Iran adopted a plan on the rights and freedoms of women in Iran.
Subsequently, on behalf of the Iranian Resistance, I presented a plan emphasizing on the elimination of all forms of oppression, intimidation, and discrimination imposed on Iranian women and emphasizing on complete gender equality in all areas of family, social, and economic life, as well as active and equal participation of women in political leadership.
I expect the honorable UK lawmakers, especially my dear sisters in both houses of the Parliament, to protest against the arrests and imprisonment of women protesters in Iran and support their struggle against the regime.
I further urge them to recognize the legitimacy of the struggle of the Iranian people for overthrowing the regime, and the just battle of the Resistance Units against the Revolutionary Guards.
I thank you all.