In the youth gathering titled “Free Iran 2025,” held in Paris on October 25, 2025, with the presence of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, representatives of more than 30 youth associations from various fields — including medicine, law, sports, and academia — shared their perspectives.
The conference, which also featured online participation by several political figures and live connections with simultaneous gatherings in Bonn, London, and Zurich, included a speech by Neda Amani, representing the delegation of young athletes supporting the Iranian Resistance.
From Childhood to Awareness: The Journey That Led Neda Amani to Resistance
I am Neda Amani, a goalkeeping coach in Switzerland.
I come from a family of freedom fighters. My grandfather did not remain silent in the face of injustice during the Shah’s time and was imprisoned. My father and my uncle are political prisoners who support the PMOI, and my maternal cousin was also one of the martyrs of the 1988 massacre. Yes, that is correct. I come from a family of freedom fighters.
But the question is: is a family background alone sufficient to choose the path of struggle?
I have never seen Iran. I spent my childhood in the PMOI’s offices. I did not know much about the struggle or about Iran’s dark history. Out of curiosity, I watched the kind and warm faces of the women and men who used to come to the office at that time. Those same unfamiliar women and men soon became like aunts and uncles to me. Aunts and uncles whose absence I would miss, without understanding why they no longer came to see me.
As I grew a little older, I understood that each of them had become a direct arrow to the heart of reactionary forces. Their fate, choices, and self-sacrifice changed my view of the world. I wanted to know why and to gain what? and at what cost? This is how I came to know the PMOI and fell in love with their cause.
The foremost leader of the Mojahedin, dear Zahra Merrikhi, once said: “The People’s Mojahedin have no right except the right to pay.” This is not just a slogan. It is our enduring legacy and the measure of our ethics.
Today, as young supporters of this organization, we stand proudly behind this resistance with full awareness and freedom. Because we have gained deep understanding, because we have experienced this struggle in our flesh and blood. But most importantly, we have understood the pain of our people with the PMOI, and for the immense sacrifice of all those who fell for freedom, we draw a line against both the Shah and the Sheikh.
At the beginning of my remarks I asked: is family background alone enough to choose this path? No. On this path one needs a higher understanding of the struggle and knowledge of the enemy. As the resistance movement progresses, the enemy’s conspiracies become more complex every day. Each day they try to strike at the assets of this resistance. By demonizing, they portray their highest values as anti-values. If the Mojahedin women are symbols of courage and sacrifice and rescue their children from under bombardment, they brand them as unfeeling. If they could not remove them from the field through imprisonment, torture, and execution, they attempt to blacken their image with fabricated polls and rumors manufactured by think tanks affiliated with the IRGC.
They claim: the Mojahedin have no social base inside the country. No one asks them: gentlemen, if the Mojahedin have no social base, why do you have no other thought or concern except conspiracy and spreading lies against the Mojahedin? And why do you frighten young people day and night from approaching the Mojahedin?
We say: you have every reason to be afraid, because you are facing a generation that has chosen the ideal of a free Iran.
And our role models are those thousands of pure-hearted Mojahedin women and men in Ashraf 3.
The Real Champions of Iran: From Athletic Glory to the Fight for Freedom
For us athletes, the highest championship medals belong to the heroes of Ashraf 3 who sacrificed everything to bring everything to the people of Iran.
In closing, from here we send our greetings to heroes such as Javad Vafaei Sani, a champion and boxing coach who was arrested during the 2019 uprising. Like Habib Khabiri, Forouzan Abdipour, and Navid Afkari, he has stood bravely not only in the sporting arena but also against the machine of repression.
A 30-year-old youth whose struggle for truth, freedom, and justice became the greatest battle of his life. Today Javad is on the verge of execution in Iran. But we will not cease our struggle for a moment until he and the other resistance units condemned to death are free.
Dear Maryam Rajavi, we are confident that with your “we can, and we must” thinking, we will soon reclaim Iran.
