A group of 109 former world leaders have sent a joint open letter to world powers urging support for the uprising taking place in Iran, days after the regime executed three protesters.
Signatories include 50 former Presidents, 48 former Prime Ministers, one former Chancellor, and nine other former Heads of State from across the world, including
former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss, former US Vice President Mike Pence and former Presidents of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker and Romano Prodi.
The group also calls for the designation of the IRGC, a bone of contention in countries including the UK where MPs are split, several still hoping for a revival of nuclear talks.
Organized by the group Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI), the open letter called on world leaders to “stand in solidarity with the people of Iran in their desire for a secular and democratic republic where no individual, regardless of religion or birthright, has any privilege over others”.
They stressed that “the Iranian people have made it clear that they reject all forms of dictatorship, be it that of the deposed Shah or the current theocratic regime, and thus reject any association with either. We believe it is for the Iranian people to decide their future.”
The group also urged the international community to recognise the four decades of campaigning from the democratic coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), rallying support for the Ten-Point Plan proposed by the NCRI President, Maryam Rajavi.
The open letter calls for a system in which free elections, freedom of assembly and expression, abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iran’s ethnicities, and a non-nuclear Iran, can allow Iranians to live in peace and prosperity.
Highlighting the crackdown on the recent protests which started in September following the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Amini and has led to the death of hundreds of protesters and the arrest of tens of thousands, the former world leaders reiterated that the international community has a “responsibility” to support the Iranian people’s human rights.
“Decades of apparent silence and inaction by the international community have helped fuel a culture of impunity in Iran. Since the 1980s, the authorities in Iran have executed tens of thousands of protesters and political prisoners,” wrote the leaders. “Tragically, in the summer of 1988 alone, over 30,000 political prisoners – the vast majority of whom were members of the opposition MEK – were brutally massacred,” referring to one of the worst humanitarian disasters to hit the country since the founding of the Islamic Republic.
The signatories condemned the Iranian regime’s meddling in the Middle East and Europe, including its provision of drones to assist Russia’s war against Ukraine and its terrorist attempts and cyber-attacks in Albania.
“We urge your nations to stand with the Iranian people in their quest for change and to take decisive steps against the current regime. This includes blacklisting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and holding regime officials accountable for their crimes against humanity,” the letter added.
