Speech, Cloth Hall, Ypres, Belgium – 11 December

Iran: Human Rights & YPER Connection

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a profound honour to stand here in Yper, a name etched forever into the conscience of humanity. During the First World War, this small Flemish town became a symbol of unimaginable sacrifice. Yper witnessed some of the most horrific battles in human history, none more devastating than the Third Battle of Yper, Passchendaele, fought from 31 July to 10 November 1917.

Passchendaele was not just a battle; it was an ordeal. British, Canadian, ANZAC, and French forces fought for months through a shattered landscape of mud, rain, and relentless shellfire. Nearly half a million soldiers on all sides were killed or wounded. And for what? A few miles of ravaged ground. Yper itself was all but obliterated. English-speaking soldiers even began referring to the city simply as “Wipers,” a grim, familiar shorthand for a place that had become synonymous with endurance, courage, and loss.

Yet despite the horror, what endures here is not despair, but dignity. The Menin Gate, the endless rows of white headstones, the Last Post sounded every evening, Yper reminds us that freedom is never free. It is purchased by the bravery of those willing to stand against tyranny, whatever the cost.

It is precisely because of the history of this place that we remember today another vast community of martyrs, 120,000 men, women, and children, yes, children, as young as the 13-year-old Fatemeh Mesbah, in Iran who perished at the hands of the mullahs’ regime for supporting the democratic opposition, the PMOI/MEK. Their crime was not violence or treason; their crime was hope, hope for a secular, democratic Iran; hope for freedom of speech and belief; hope for a future where the next generation would not be born into repression.

Just as the young soldiers of Passchendaele faced the guns for liberty, these martyrs faced the rope, the bullet, and the torturer’s chair. The regime sought to wipe their names from history, just as the guns of the First World War sought to wipe Ypres itself from the map. But just like this city, they endure. Their sacrifice lives in the determination of the Iranian Resistance, in the courage of the women and men who still march in the streets, in the countless political prisoners who refuse to bow to tyranny, and in the bravery of the Resistance Units who challenge the forces of darkness and repression in Iran every night and day.

When we walk through Yper, when we hear the Last Post, we are reminded that mass graves and destroyed cities do not happen by accident, they happen when the world looks away. In 1917, the world was engulfed in war. Today, too, the world’s attention is consumed, by conflict, by crisis, by competing priorities. And yet, we must never forget the silent battle that rages on in Iran.

Yper teaches us that memory is a duty. If we forget those who died here, we dishonour the foundations of our freedom. If we forget the martyrs of Iran, we abandon a people who are still struggling to win theirs.

So today, in this sacred place, let us draw a straight line between the courage of the Allied forces at Passchendaele and the courage of the Resistance in Iran. Both stood against overwhelming force. Both refused to surrender their ideals. Both showed that the human spirit, even when crushed by tyranny, can never be extinguished.

May the sacrifice of those who fell here in Yper strengthen our resolve to stand with those fighting for freedom everywhere. And may the memory of Iran’s 120,000 martyrs guide us towards a world where no regime, no tyranny, can ever again believe that mass murder will silence the voice of justice.

Thank you.