On November 20, 2024, the European Parliament welcomed Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s President-elect, to speak on the process of regime change and transition of power to the people of Iran.
Among dozens of meetings at the European Parliament, Mrs. Rajavi had a meeting with a group of women’s rights activists on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Ms. Asal Rezapour was among the speakers who addressed this meeting.
Following are the remarks by Ms. Asal Rezapour.
Dear Madam Rajavi, dear, Madam Tomašič,
and dear distinguished guests.
We have all witnessed the uprisings in November 2019 and September of 2022, where young women led the protests on the streets in Iran.
Many of the martyrs from these uprisings were young women and girls, and it was a time when women were united, and when they took the struggle for their rights, and their freedom into their own hands.
These struggles were neither coincidental nor spontaneous.
Behind all this courage, stands a long line of fighting women who never submitted to the ideologies of the two dictatorships, neither the Shah nor the Mullahs.
The struggle for freedom and equality started 120 years ago, including the 44 years of resistance against the misogynistic clerical regime. From all kinds of backgrounds, they have entered this fight to gain their fundamental rights.
Tens and thousands of them were mainly supporters of the PMOI across the country, and many were arrested and subjected to brutal torture and rape and were even executed.
This fight is also intertwined with the nationwide struggle to overthrow the religious dictatorship.
And I think that we can all agree that without democracy and freedom in Iran, with the misogynistic clerics, women’s rights will never be recognized.
During the uprisings, many times the regime tried to derail the uprisings by promoting false slogans. However, the Iranian women countered this plot with slogans, “whether with the veil or without, onward to the revolution,” standing firm against the regime schemes.
Like many of us, they were inspired by Madam Rajavi, who has long emphasized, “No to the compulsory religion, no to compulsory government, and no to the compulsory hijab.”
Another scheme of the regime, is the promotion of fake alternatives, exploiting events of unclear origin to transform decades of women’s struggle into a battle over the hijab or without the hijab, creating divisions among women, weakening the movement, and diverting the path to render it ineffective.
Fortunately, however, Iranian women have recognized the symbols of resistance: pioneers such as Fatemeh Amini, Ashraf (Rajavi), and Saba Haftbaradaran, all of whom declared, “We will stand until the end.”
Particularly, our courageous sisters in the Resistance Units within the country and role models such as thousands of PMOI members in Ashraf 3.
I want to emphasize that I personally, and like many other girls, have chosen to be a part of this movement that is seeking freedom for women, to be part of a movement that has roots within Iranian history.
Together with my sisters and the Resistance Units, I would like to declare that we, the daughters and the women of Iran, with the slogan, “Women resistance, freedom,” will not rest until the misogynistic regime is overthrown and freedom and democracy is installed in our homeland.
