Debate: International Women's Day
Date: WEDNESDAY, 15 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Shirin Ebadi
Language: EN

Your excellencies, honourable President of the European Parliament, honourable Members of the European Parliament and dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour for me to be among you on such a day and once again addressing you, the Members of the European Parliament. I would like to thank you for having given me this opportunity. It’s an honour for me. It is as a result of the fight and protests by my people in Iran – it was the Iranian women who started a revolution, as a result of which the voices of the Iranian people have been heard throughout the world, including yourselves. It has guided me to this chair today from where I’m speaking to you. As you’re all aware, the revolution in Iran was sparked by the killing of a young girl, who was arrested on the street by the morality police only because a part of her hair was visible from under her scarf and she was killed. The family of this girl filed a complaint, but to no avail. However, the lawyer who was representing the family of this young girl has been prosecuted and has currently been released on bail. Moreover, two young reporters – who had published a photograph of this young girl while she was lying on a hospital bed and had filed a report on the funeral of this young girl in the domestic media in Iran – were both arrested on the charge of espionage. To date, they are still in prison. I am talking about a country where its government kills with impunity, while the profession of journalism and the legal profession are deemed a crime. Of course, I am sure you representatives of Europe are well aware of the conduct of the Islamic Republic, and you know how many of your nationals are currently being held hostage in our prisons. Unfortunately, so far, at least two of them have been sentenced to the death penalty. Why? Because the government in Iran, by taking you European nationals hostage, wants to achieve its political objectives. In that country, what is not important is justice – because our courts are not independent, they follow the security forces in Iran, and they only implement the ambitious policies of the regime. Lack of independence, of course, is one of the most important issues in Iran. In my country, Iran, in the past 43 years, a large number of people have lost their lives for opposing such a government. Now, the regime never publishes any statistics, and we only find out after verification from the families of these victims and how many have been killed. In this revolution, which was sparked by this young girl called Mahsa, which started in September 2022, to date, over 550 individuals have been killed and at least 70 of them were juveniles under the age of 18. Moreover, at least 20 000 protesters have been arrested. Recently, in this very month, the Iranian Government, in a bid to deceive public opinion, announced that they have pardoned some of these prisoners. Of course, yes, some were pardoned and released, however, what is so tragic is that the same number of people that they released, they went on and arrested exactly the same number again. And even more importantly, the protesters who were very influential in these recent protests remain behind bars. Freedom of expression in Iran is so restricted that since September 2022 alone, 18 lawyers have been arrested merely for defending these protesters. They’re being prosecuted at the moment. Some of them remain in prison. And I would like to name one of them, who has been a colleague of mine, and at the moment, he is on hunger strike. His name is Mohammad Najafi. The rest have been freed on bail. This stems from the lack of independence of the judiciary in Iran. In this very week, they announced that 35 artists, filmmakers, actors and actresses – simply because they had supported the people and supported the protests – have had their assets confiscated and their bank accounts frozen. Dozens of journalists, bloggers, vloggers – writers – are currently in prison. Why? Because freedom of expression in Iran is extremely limited. The people’s efforts in the past years to change and reform the status quo have been in vain. At the moment, the people continue to stage the protest which started in September 2022. And the people’s demand is that the regime be changed – because they know that, unfortunately, this regime cannot be reformed. The constitution of our country has to change. With this current constitution, no reform is possible. For this very reason, the Iranian people want regime change. Their slogan is ‘Woman, life, Freedom’. You can look at this slogan from two perspectives. The first is that it rejects despotic theocracy in Iran. We do not want a theocracy in Iran. Because such a government does not bring the people welfare or freedom. They have even invaded the privacy of people in their own homes. And the positive aspect of this slogan is that we want a democratic government in which religion is separate from state – because, after 43 years of experience, the Islamic Republic has shown us and the Muslims in the region that if a government is mixed with ideology or religion how dangerous it will become. This is an experience and I hope that the other Islamic countries in the region will learn from us. Now, you European states can rest assured that if Democracy is established in Iran, there will be fewer refugees entering your countries. Currently, one of the main problems of the Iranian people is emigration. We are suffering from brain drain. There is no employment in Iran. Even those who manage to find jobs, their earnings are so low that they cannot eke out a living. Only yesterday, the chancellor of one of the most important universities in Iran announced that only in one year, 70 professors have fled the country and emigrated. Now, if we have democracy in Iran, the people will no longer need to emigrate or seek asylum elsewhere. Therefore, please support the establishment of democracy in Iran. Not only would that reduce the number of refugees in Europe, but we will also be able to build our country. Democracy in Iran will not only be to our benefit, but will also bring about peace and calm in the region. Because we, the Iranian people, oppose the regime’s intervention in other countries. We are against the ambitious policies of the Iranian regime. We oppose Iran’s nuclear programme. They have spent so much money on this and to no avail. Nuclear bombs will not solve Iran’s problem. Our problem will only be solved through democracy. Democracy, I repeat, is not only good for us, but it will also be good for Europe. What I have said is just a small fraction of the problems faced by the Iranian people. I now use this occasion to call on the democratic states throughout the world: please do not remain indifferent to the violation of human rights in Iran, please do not ignore what the Iranian people are saying, please do not sign any commercial and trade contracts with the Iranian Government until the human rights situation in that country improves. A few years ago, in Iran, they signed the JCPOA nuclear accord. As a result, a great deal of money was sent to Iran and for three years, sanctions were lifted against Iran. However, in those three years, the situation of the Iranian people did not improve. Why? Because any money received by the Iranian Government is either spent on major embezzlement by the Iranian regime or it will be used in order to assist Lebanon’s Hezbollah and paramilitary groups in the region, which has disrupted peace in other countries. You, honourable MEPs, have you asked yourself why the Iranian government has not joined FATF? Have you asked yourself why we have not joined the Palermo Convention? The answer to this question is very simple: if the Iranian Government joins the FATF, it will not be able to continue with its embezzlement. Money laundering will end in Iran. Therefore, until we join these conventions, please, I urge you, do not forge any contracts with Iran. Because be sure: the money will not be spent on the welfare of the people. There is extreme poverty in Iran. However, the Iranian Government wants to ascribe all these problems to the sanctions. That is not right. The people’s poverty stems from the major embezzlement, corruptions and the wrong policies of the government. Sanctions are effective. In conclusion, in the recent protests, for the first time, we saw high school children taking to the streets to join the ranks of protesters. Why? Because they know that they have no future. Now, to create fear and intimidate those children and their families, they have been using chemical gases to poison young girls at their schools. Please write in your history books what this regime did to teenage girls. They’re using chemical poisonous gases against women. Initially, the Iranian Government denied these reports. They said, ‘No, they’re fake. That’s not happening.’ However, when the number of these girls who were poisoned grew and the families and the teachers protested, they said, ‘What is going on?’ Then they had to accept that this had happened. But as usual, they gave the usual rhetoric: that this is the work of our enemies inside and outside the country and they arrested a few people. But everyone knows who the real culprits are. They’re not the ones that the government has arrested, pretending they were responsible. But knowing that these poisoning of the girls is continuing, it shows that those arrested were not the real culprits. I hope that my remarks have helped in a way to convince you honourable MEPs to stand on the right side of history. Please make sure that the IRGC, the Revolutionary Guards, are named as a terrorist group. The IRGC, based on the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran – I repeat, the IRGC, based on the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran – are tasked with protecting the regime. They’re separate from the military and the army, which is to protect Iran and the people of Iran. These violent acts are being committed by the IRGC. Once again, I urge you: do not ignore the widespread violation of human rights in Iran. Democracy in Iran, once established, will not only bring calm to Iran, but bring peace and calm to the whole region. And without any doubt, the situation with the current government in Iran is not any help for the situation in Ukraine either. Thank you very much for having listened to me.