By Published On: December 28, 2019Categories: NEWS
Statement by a 100 MEP calling for an end to Iran's repression of protesters

MEPs Call on the EU and the UN to take action to end the crackdown on Iran Protesters-December 2019

A group of 100 Members of the European Parliament signed a statement calling on EU Chief of Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell Fontelles to take urgent and immediate action to end the brutal crackdown on protesters by the Iranian regime. The statement further called for Fontelles to press for the immediate release of the people who were detained during the protests. MEK Iran sources indicate that more than 12,000 protesters were arrested by the Iranian regime during the November Uprising.

The signatories to the statement are members of the Friends of a Free Iran (FOFI), an informal intergroup within the European Parliament comprised of MEPs from a variety of political parties. Friends of a Free Iran was formed in 2003 to support a free and democratic Iran.

Full Statement

The following is the full text of the statement from 100 MEPs.

Call to end the brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran with thousands killed, thousands wounded and thousands more arrested

On Friday evening, November 15, 2019, Iranian cities were the scenes of protests against the tripling of gasoline prices. Protests have so far spread to 200 cities and 31 provinces across Iran.  

People chanted slogans: “Down with Rouhani”, “Down with Khamenei”, “Down with Dictator”, “We will not rest until we gain our rights.” 

The supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces to open fire on the demonstrations in different cities. The number of those killed keeps rising. 

Reports coming from Iran indicate that at least 1,500 protesters have been killed in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Sirjan, Behbahan, Shahryar, Khorramshahr, Marivan… Another 12,000 have been arrested and thousands have been wounded, many in critical conditions. However, protests continue throughout Iran.

The regime cut off the internet completely in the first two weeks following the protests to conceal the scope of the uprising and the scale of its brutality. 

We offer our condolences to families who have lost loved ones and support protesters defending their fundamental rights against tyranny, freedom of speech and freedom of access to the internet. 

We support the appeal by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran who called this “an uprising to end 40 years of dictatorship and terrorism in Iran. Regime leaders must face justice for the crime against humanity.” We also support her emphasis on the imperative need to dispatch UN delegations to Iran to investigate the situation of the martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners.

We urge the European Union and member states to stand with the Iranian people in their desire to live in freedom and democracy and to take urgent action to end the brutal suppression of protesters.

We call on EU heads of state or government and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to strongly condemn the crackdown on demonstrators, urge for the immediate release of all detainees and to support the Iranian people’s uprising for a free and democratic Iran.

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