The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported on Monday, March 8, marking International Women’s Day.

Transcript of remarks by Rt Hon David Jones at the online conference marking International Women’s Day 2021.

Fight for freedom, equality, and democracy

Mrs. Rajavi, colleagues and friends, and especially colleagues in Ashraf 3, it’s a great pleasure to be with you today and to join such a distinguished panel of colleagues and prominent women’s rights activists on International Women’s Day.

I want to add my voice to those of the other speakers today and express my admiration and praise for the brave women of Iran and around the world who continue to fight for freedom, equality, and democracy in the face of an oppressive regime.

 

 

Remembering political prisoner in Iran

I want today to remember several brave Iranian women, such as political prisoner, Zara Safari and her daughter,  political prisoner Forough Taghipour and her mother Nassim Jabbari, political prisoner Nejat Anvar Hamidi, and political prisoners Maryam Afshari.

These women have been handed harsh prison sentences for supporting the pro-democracy opposition, the (PMOI / MEK Iran), on concocted charges of assembly and collusion against national security and propaganda against the state.

Many of them, like many other political prisoners of the regime, have been subjected to torture and in some cases denied medical treatment. On this day, too, we remember those brave women who continue to defy the regime even as they remain in prison under harsh conditions, and they’re an inspiration to us all.

We must and will continue to advocate on their behalf and the international community to put pressure on the regime to secure their freedom as well as the release of all political prisoners in Iran.

 

UK’s new Magnitsky style human rights sanctions procedures

I recently argued in an opinion piece for The Daily Express that Iran is a rogue state. We’ve known that for quite some time, and yet our leaders have consistently failed to adopt appropriate measures against the theocratic regime in Tehran.

The Kingdom should designate and proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence as terrorist organizations and impose targeted punitive measures against them, against their leadership and those acting on their behalf using the UK’s new Magnitsky style human rights sanctions procedures.

 

 

The regimes’ oppressive and misogynistic policies in Iran

Such measures would limit their ability to export terrorism and enforce the regimes’ oppressive and misogynistic policies in Iran. We must also seriously consider reducing our diplomatic relations with Iran.

The privileged status forged to diplomats was egregiously abused by the regime with the attempted attack on the NCRI’s Free Iran rally in Paris in 2018, which was masterminded by a diplomat serving in the Iranian embassy in Vienna.

The United Kingdom should work closely with our principal allies, most particularly the Biden administration to develop a new uniform and robust approach to the regime in Tehran.

 

 

NCRI only credible democratic alternative to the theocratic regime

To succeed, this policy must include dialogue with the pro-democracy resistance movement, the NCRI, and its president-elect, Mrs. Rajavi.

The NCRI is the most enduring political coalition in Iran’s modern history and has emerged as the only credible democratic alternative to the theocratic regime.

 

 

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