SATURDAY, APRIL 18, AT 14:30 CET
DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

Thank you for being here and for standing with the people of Iran. As a former Member of the European Parliament, I am proud to support the Association for Democracy and Human Rights here in Sweden. You stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have sacrificed so much under the brutal Iranian regime, ensuring that their suffering is neither ignored nor in vain.

I also want to recognise the people of Sweden for their long and principled commitment to human rights and dignity. Across this country, men and women of all ages stand in solidarity with political prisoners in Iran, demanding their release and refusing to let them be forgotten. They give voice to the voiceless and remind the world that those imprisoned for seeking freedom are not alone.

We meet at a moment of deepening crisis. The situation around Iran is fraught with tension. The ceasefire is at breaking point and yet, despite relentless military pressure, the regime has survived. For decades, we warned that neither appeasement nor military intervention would work. We were ignored. Western appeasers searched for moderates within the regime who could be trusted. They were wrong. The regime exploited that weakness, spreading conflict across the Middle East while advancing its nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions.

At the same time, those who argued that military intervention alone could bring change were also wrong. Recent attacks have severely weakened Iran’s military capabilities, but they have not brought down the regime. The leadership has been targeted, key commanders eliminated, and infrastructure destroyed, yet repression continues and the threat persists. Military force has not delivered freedom.

The reality is clear: the future of Iran will not be decided by foreign powers. It will be decided by the Iranian people themselves. Tens of millions have risen in protest time and again, demanding change. What we are witnessing today is not a sudden phenomenon. It is part of a long history of resistance stretching back more than a century. A story written in sacrifice. The six men executed recently did not see themselves as victims, but as part of an unbroken chain of struggle. In a letter from prison, they wrote: “We have previously been executed hundreds of thousands of times in Iran’s history.”

They placed themselves alongside generations of freedom fighters. This is not just opposition; it is continuity. That continuity has survived monarchy, revolution, repression and massacre. Even the execution of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 did not extinguish it. Nor did the killings of protesters in 2017, 2019, 2022, and again in 2026. Each generation has carried the same message forward.

The Iranian people are not the authors of this crisis; they are its victims. They are trapped between external conflict and a regime that uses that conflict to tighten its grip. Today, that long history of resistance is colliding with the devastating reality of war. The ongoing conflict has brought immense suffering – families displaced, cities damaged, lives lost. Yet even as bombs fall, the prisons remain full and silent.

Repression is intensifying. Arrests are rising, surveillance is expanding, and executions are increasing at an alarming rate. Young men and women are sentenced after sham proceedings. Inside prisons, detainees face isolation, hunger and a lack of medical care. During air raids, they were left without protection. Families are kept in the dark.

I was deeply struck by the muted response to the recent executions of Mohammad Taghavi, Akbar Daneshvarkar, Babak Alipour, Pouya Ghobadi, Vahid Bani-Amerian, Abdolnasser Montazer, and the young Amir-Hossein Hatami. These men knew what they faced. Their final words were not pleas, but declarations: “We will not bargain with you over our lives.” Their deaths demanded outrage. Instead, they were met with silence – a silence that risks signalling that repression can continue without consequence.

And yet, despite everything, resistance continues. Across Iran, courageous young people and organised Resistance Units carry forward this struggle. When a young person stands against repression, they are not simply protesting, they are stepping into history. They are affirming that while names can be erased, a cause cannot. This is why the regime responds with such brutality: it fears the power of an idea.

Outside Iran, this struggle continues in exile. In cities across Europe – in London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels, Iranians have taken to the streets, rejecting both dictatorship and monarchy. They are not asking for charity; they are demanding recognition. A democratic republic based on freedom, equality and secular governance remains the only credible path forward.

We must also be honest about false alternatives. Reza Pahlavi, the self-styled “Crown Prince,” has spent decades in exile without building meaningful organisation inside Iran. He offers symbolism rooted in a past many Iranians associate with repression. His calls for increased military action have rightly angered those inside Iran who are paying the price. At a moment of immense sacrifice, the idea that the monarchy could return as a democratic solution is not only unrealistic, it is a dangerous illusion.

So, we must ask ourselves: what side of history are we on? The people of Iran are not waiting. They are acting, organising and resisting. As those six men wrote in their final words: “We are the architects of your end… we are the spring of that blooming morning.” History suggests they may be right. The question is not whether change will come, but whether we will have stood on the right side when it did.

This is why I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you who have supported this cause over the years. Your dedication, your time, your voices, your solidarity, has helped keep this struggle alive. You are part of a global community that believes in freedom and dignity. Together, you send a powerful message: that those who resist injustice are not alone.

Thank you.