On September 16, 2025, Members of Parliament, peers, legal experts, and representatives of the Anglo-Iranian community gathered in Westminster to mark the third anniversary of Iran’s 2022 nationwide uprising. Opening the event, Narges Rahmanfard honored the sacrifice of protesters killed since the death of Mahsa Amini and underscored support for the Iranian Resistance, particularly the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its president-elect, Maryam Rajavi.
Rahmanfard reminded the audience that “hundreds of people gave their lives for freedom, justice, and dignity in 2022,” and emphasized that Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan offers a viable democratic alternative: “rejecting both appeasement of the clerical regime and foreign military intervention.”
Conservative MP for Harrow East and Co-President of the International Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran, Bob Blackman, paid tribute to the courage of Iran’s women in leading the 2022 uprising, noting that “three years on, the demand of the Iranian people has not changed — it has grown stronger.” Despite mass arrests, executions, and brutal crackdowns, he said, protests and strikes continue.
He warned that the Iranian regime “poses a direct threat to UK security and democracy,” citing assassination plots, bomb threats, and intimidation of journalists. Blackman rejected both appeasement and military intervention, describing them as tactics the regime exploits to either buy time or portray itself as a victim.
Instead, he championed Rajavi’s “third option”: “Stand with the Iranian people and the organized resistance movement for democratic change in Iran.” He underlined that the NCRI, with its Resistance Units, is “the decisive factor in the fight for Iran’s future” and highlighted the Ten-Point Plan as “a roadmap for a free, secular, democratic republic with an orderly transition of power.”
Blackman said: “The people are not seeking a return to the past dictatorship of the Shah, but the birth of a democratic republic.” He also warned against “supporters of the son of the late Shah, who wishes to return to the same position as we had with the Shah. We want a democracy in Iran with the people having the say.”
Honoured to chair a meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Iran’s 2022 uprising.
3 years after Mahsa Amini’s tragic death, the Iranian people’s courage endures.
The UK must back their right to resist, proscribe the IRGC & support Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan for a free Iran. pic.twitter.com/xRoQrGOwUs
— Bob Blackman (@BobBlackman) September 17, 2025
Member of the House of Lords Baroness O’Loan highlighted two realities: that the regime’s repression and executions continue, while protests and Resistance Units persist inside Iran. She praised the courage of political prisoners, particularly those involved in the “No to Executions Tuesday” campaign across dozens of prisons.
She warned of the regime’s preparations for another mass killing reminiscent of the 1988 massacre of thousands of PMOI members, which UN investigators have described as crimes against humanity, possibly genocide. “International intervention is both urgent and necessary,” she said, calling on the UK to lead at the UN General Assembly.
Reading from recent Foreign Office correspondence, O’Loan noted that the UK has supported UN resolutions condemning Iran’s execution spree and extending mandates for investigations. Yet she pressed for more decisive action: “The regime’s supreme leader is directly responsible for these crimes and should be prosecuted as the main perpetrator.”
She concluded: “The NCRI and Madame Rajavi recognised decades ago that Iran’s future depends on a democratic alternative. Their struggle is not just for themselves but for global peace and security. The regime sees them as the greatest threat to its survival, and so should we.”
MP and Chair of the APPG for Freedom of Religion or Belief Jim Shannon said he was encouraged by the courage of Iranians and Rajavi’s vision, noting that he had promoted the Ten-Point Plan in a Commons debate earlier this month. He described the regime as part of an “axis of evil,” guilty of transnational repression and persecution of minorities.
Speaking as chair of the parliamentary group on freedom of belief, he condemned the regime’s violations against women, girls, and religious minorities: “It never fails to grieve me, aches my heart, to hear of these abuses.” He thanked NCRI representatives for testifying to Parliament about surviving terrorism, saying: “Your courage terrifies the regime because it knows Iranians will fight until Iran is free.”
Shannon insisted that the regime is at an impasse, unable to meet the people’s demands except through violence. “The regime has never sought peace or cooperation. It cannot be trusted,” he declared. Instead, he called for engagement with Maryam Rajavi and the NCRI, stressing that “a democratic Iran is in all our best interests.”
He closed with hope: “I pray one day we can walk the streets of a free Iran, in freedom and peace.”
Honoured to attend & mark Iran’s 2022 uprising. The regime has never sought peace, only repression & executions. I pledged my support for Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan & the NCRI as the true democratic alternative. The UK must adopt a firm policy of support & proscribe the IRGC. pic.twitter.com/oIpiKdQKWi
— Jim Shannon MP (@JimShannonMP) September 17, 2025
Former Cabinet Minister Theresa Villiers saluted the women who led the 2022 uprising, calling them “brave young women who risked, and in many cases gave, their lives for justice and democracy.” She stressed that despite mass executions, “the mullahs have been unable to silence the growing demands for change.”
She emphasized that Iranians reject “tyranny, whether that’s from a monarchy or a theocracy,” and instead seek democracy. Drawing on her experience on Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, Villiers cited its July report, which concluded that “Iran poses a wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat to the UK.”
She warned that the regime’s intelligence services are “ferociously well resourced,” operating through proxies and criminal networks. Since 2022, there have been “at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap of UK-based opponents of the regime.” Villiers urged robust enforcement of new laws against covert Iranian influence, the reimposition of UN sanctions, and proscription of the IRGC.
She concluded: “The people of Iran deserve far better than oppression. They need the kind of secular, democratic republic set out in the NCRI’s Ten-Point Plan, a blueprint for a free Iran with gender equality, rule of law, and fair elections.”
Member of the House of Lords Baroness Redfern described the 2022 uprising as “not about dress code, but about power, oppression and freedom.” She praised Iranians for seeking “not clerical reform, but a democratic, secular republic.”
She underscored that protesters are guided by an organized alternative: “They are rising with leadership, with structure and with a political alternative — the NCRI, led by Madam Rajavi.” She hailed Rajavi as “a Muslim woman who defies both misogyny and the false narrative that religion and democracy are incompatible.”
Redfern detailed the Ten-Point Plan as “a foundation for transition with grassroots support inside Iran,” covering universal suffrage, abolition of executions, gender equality, secular governance, and a non-nuclear policy. She called on Parliament to publicly recognize Maryam Rajavi’s leadership, engage diplomatically with the NCRI, support a UN inquiry into mass executions, prescribe the IRGC, and counter misinformation campaigns.
“The winds of change in Iran are real,” she said. “The regime is fragile, and an alternative already exists with vision, roadmap, and popular support. We stand with the Iranian people, with Madam Rajavi, and for women, resistance and freedom.”
Members of British Parliament met to mark the third anniversary of Iran’s 2022 nationwide
uprising. Lawyers, politicians, members of the Anglo-Iranian community, and representatives of
the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) also took part in the meeting held in the… pic.twitter.com/tbN19kq3zA— Hossein Abedini (@HoAbedini) September 18, 2025
Former Conservative MEP Anthea McIntyre described the 2022 uprising as “a democratic awakening that continues to shape the destiny of a nation.” It was not limited to hijab laws but “a massive, organized uprising calling for the overthrow of the clerical regime and the creation of a secular republic.”
She pointed to enduring protests in prisons, factories, and universities, matched by executions aimed at instilling fear. Yet defiance grows: “This is not fringe unrest. This is a national movement, a democratic tide, a generational demand.”
She emphasized women’s leadership, noting: “Over half the positions in the NCRI are held by women, reflecting the soul of the movement.” Praising Rajavi’s vision, she said: “At the heart of it is a slogan now etched in millions of hearts: Women, Resistance, Freedom.”
McIntyre urged sanctions on human rights abusers, accountability through the UN, and engagement with the NCRI: “We must end the myth of no alternative and give the Iranian people the benefit of belief.” She concluded: “Iran is changing, with or without us. Let us be on the right side of that change.”
Deputy Director, NCRI UK Office Hossein Abedini recalled Iran’s long struggle for freedom, from the 1906 constitutional revolution to the 1979 overthrow of the Shah. He stressed that today’s movement rejects both monarchy and theocracy: “People were chanting: down with the Shah, down with the mullahs, yes to a democratic republic.”
He warned against illusions in “moderate” figures like current president Masoud Pezeshkian, under whom executions have surged. He said the regime considers Resistance Units the main threat: “They are no longer small groups but the nucleus of a national liberation army.”
Abedini urged a firm policy: “The UK must endorse the NCRI as the democratic alternative, support Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, proscribe the IRGC, and reimpose snapback sanctions.” He concluded: “History is being written by brave women and men inside Iran who refuse to be silenced. Let us honor their courage with deeds, not just words.”
Members of Parliament mark anniversary of Iran’s 2022 uprising, urge firm UK policy on Iranhttps://t.co/AfMor1hDqF
— Academics In Exile Association (@iranianacademic) September 17, 2025
Sara Chandler, Honorary KC and Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society, emphasized the mounting UN evidence of regime crimes, including torture, rape, child abuse, and mass executions. “The perpetrators must be made to account for their crimes. The evidence is there,” she said, pointing to 38,000 documented items and nearly 300 testimonies. She warned that Iran’s judiciary is a “myth,” used only to enforce repression, and urged the UK to support accountability mechanisms through the UN and international law.
Former judge Jocelyn Scott rejected both monarchy and theocracy outright: “There never was a right in dictatorship under the Shah. There can never be a return to monarchy. There never was and never is a right in the mullahs’ theocracy.” She stressed that only the NCRI under Maryam Rajavi offers a democratic alternative, and urged the UK to back UN referrals, universal jurisdiction cases, and recognition of the NCRI. “Standing by while the regime commits crimes against humanity is unforgivable,” she warned.
Neda Zabeti highlighted the execution of minors during the uprising, noting “16% of those killed were under 18.” She urged the UK to “end appeasement, close the Iranian embassy, proscribe the IRGC, and recognize the NCRI as the democratic alternative.”
Roza Zabeti underscored the perseverance of campaigns like No to Executions Tuesdays inside prisons. She said: “Standing with the Iranian people is both a moral duty and a strategic necessity.”
Professor Chris Imafidon condemned the indifference of Western governments and media, warning that silence makes them complicit. “Ignoring Iran’s repression is almost criminal. We are betraying not just Iranians but our own values of democracy and equality,” he said. He stressed that Tehran’s oppression is exported abroad and undermines global democratic standards. Prof. Imafidon urged governments to “expose the regime’s corruption, publish evidence of its crimes, and stop treating Iran as a normal partner while it executes and tortures its own people.”