On Saturday, October 11, 2025, coinciding with the World Day Against the Death Penalty, a conference was held at the historic Church House in London.
Speakers included Baroness O’Loan, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI); John Bercow, former Speaker of the UK House of Commons; Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian presidential candidate; Theresa Villiers, former UK government minister; along with several other political figures, members of parliament, and human rights advocates.
The main themes of the speeches at this event focused on condemning human rights violations and the growing number of executions in Iran, calling for the halt of death sentences against political prisoners for supporting the PMOI/MEK, the designation of the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and the prosecution of Ali Khamenei and other regime leaders for crimes against humanity and genocide.
What follows is the full text of Ingrid Betancourt’s speech at this conference:
Honoring Human Dignity, Condemning Injustice
It is an honor to be with you today in this Church House, a place steeped in history where the United Nations Security Council first met to defend peace, freedom, and human dignity in the darkest hours of the last century.
On this World Day Against the Death Penalty, we gather not only to denounce an instrument of barbarism, but to affirm the sanctity of human life and the power of conscience—principles that no regime, however brutal, can destroy.
Today in Iran, 17 men, prisoners of conscience, freedom fighters, human beings of extraordinary courage, await execution.
Their crime? To think. To claim justice, dignity, and freedom. To support the MEK, the Iranian opposition movement fighting for the people’s right to choose democracy.
The MEK: A Moral Force Beyond Politics
For more than six decades, the MEK has carried the torch of liberty through oppression, imprisonment, and exile, confronting two dictatorships: the Shah’s monarchy and the theocracy that followed.
That is why we always say: “No Shah, No Mullahs.”
The MEK is not merely a political movement, it is a moral force rooted in values that transcend time and borders. The regime fears them because truth always threatens tyranny.
Our 17 Heroes: Voices of Courage
Our 17 now facing death are the voices of courage in a land silenced by fear. They have endured years of torture, deprivation, and solitary confinement, yet their spirit remains unbroken.
Their defiance reminds us that freedom is never granted; it is won.
Justice is never offered, it is demanded.
Will the world remain silent while the innocents are condemned? Or will we rise, speak, and act so that their right to live becomes a turning point in the global struggle for freedom?
The Power of Resistance: “No to Execution Tuesdays”
Across Iran, thousands more languish in prison for daring to think freely. Yet even behind bars, the human spirit refuses to yield.
From within prison walls, a remarkable movement has emerged: “No to Execution Tuesdays.”
Every Tuesday, for twenty consecutive months, prisoners have refused food, turning hunger into a weapon to accuse their executioners. They have transformed a day of horror into one of resistance, dignity, solidarity, and hope.
Maryam Akbari Monfared: A Beacon of Defiance
Among them there is a name I want the world to cherish. That name is Maryam Akbari Monfared.
She has spent sixteen years in prison, separated from her three daughters, who have grown into young women without their mother’s embrace. Her crime again: supporting the dream of a democratic Iran and seeking justice for her four siblings, three brothers and one sister, executed by the regime for the crime of being of the MEK.
Two were among the 30,000 political prisoners massacred in 1988, a genocide condemned by the UN.
When her 15-year sentence ended, the regime fabricated new charges and extended her ordeal. Yet, from her cell, Maryam continues to inspire courage.
“Justice stands stronger than love,” she wrote, “even higher than a mother’s love for her children. And precisely because I love my children, I have risen in the name of justice.”
Her words turn grief into strength, pain into purpose. Maryam Akbari Monfared and our 17 are the conscience of Iran.
A Moral Obligation for the Free World
For too long, the international community has looked away, placing short-term interests above human rights.
We must be clear: the death penalty in Iran is not justice; it is a political weapon used to instill fear and crush dissent.
Those condemned today are not criminals; they are members of a movement representing hope and an alternative to dictatorship.
They could save their lives by renouncing the MEK, but they have said no.
No, because the MEK embodies their dream of a democratic, secular, nonviolent, and non-nuclear Iran under the leadership of Maryam Rajavi.
Hope Beyond the Walls
As we stand here, let us think of the faces of the 17 on death row, of Maryam Akbari Monfared, and of thousands more whose names we may never know.
Silence in the face of execution is complicity. But within each of us burns a spark of outrage, of compassion, that spark is hope.
When prisoners fast on Tuesdays, when a mother endures years of separation yet raises her voice, that is hope.
The Promise of Freedom
Today, let us make a promise to never forget them, to carry their stories to every parliament, every diplomatic table, every street corner.
Let us demand that no person be executed for wishing freedom, for the measure of our humanity is seen when we stand for the powerless.
And the day will come, when the blood of martyrs becomes the seed of freedom, when the dawn of a free Iran breaks, our 17 will not be forgotten.
They will be the first names engraved in the foundation of a new land of liberty.
