In a meeting held on December 5, 2024, in the Italian Senate, members of the Extraordinary Commission for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights met with Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), via video link. The session, described as “a very important occasion” by Senator Giulio Terzi (Fratelli d’Italia), underscored the Iranian regime’s ongoing use of executions and human rights violations as tools of repression.
In her address, Mrs. Rajavi highlighted the grave human rights violations in Iran and called for urgent international action to stop the regime’s atrocities. She described the clerical regime as “humanity’s fiercest enemy in the modern world,” citing over 100,000 martyrs for freedom, including the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. Mrs. Rajavi condemned the regime’s brutal repression, stating: “The campaign against executions, both within Iran and abroad, is a powerful movement: No to the daily hanging of youths, no to the execution of women, and no to the reign of the noose.”
On the eve of the International #HumanRights Day, Addressing the Hearing of the Italian Senate’s Human Rights Commission
I appeal to Italy, which has long been a leader in the global fight to abolish the death penalty, to take the initiative in halting executions in #Iran,… pic.twitter.com/5HDEcxVzLA— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) December 5, 2024
The NCRI President-elect underscored the weekly hunger strikes in 25 prisons across Iran that have continued for 45 weeks, as political prisoners demand an end to executions. Rajavi also detailed the over 870 executions in the past year alone, a figure she described as “a harrowing record aimed at ensuring the regime’s survival.”
Calling on Italy and the EU, Mrs. Rajavi urged decisive action: condition relations on halting executions, designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization and support an international commission to investigate Iran’s prisons. She concluded with a call for Italy, a leader in the abolition of the death penalty, to spearhead initiatives to halt executions in Iran. “The world must stand with the people and Resistance of Iran,” she declared.
The regime's new criminal, inhuman, and anti-Islamic hijab law stands in direct violation of the Universal Declaration of #HumanRights and international conventions rights. Through this oppressive law, Khamenei aims to subjugate society—especially #women, who are leading the… pic.twitter.com/SCol6ooGev
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) December 5, 2024
Senator Terzi pointed to the assassination of Mohammad-Hossein Naghdi, NCRI’s representative in Italy, who was murdered in Rome in 1993 by agents of Tehran’s intelligence services, as evidence of the regime’s cross-border terror activities.
The senator further called on Italy and Europe to take concrete action, stating: “The NCRI and its President-elect Maryam Rajavi are waging a battle of civilization and freedom. We must condition commercial and diplomatic relations with Tehran on an end to executions and torture, impose international arrest warrants for Khamenei and his regime under universal jurisdiction, and push for an international commission to investigate Iran’s prisons.”
He also urged the Italian government to lead efforts to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, highlighting its central role in domestic repression and regional destabilization.
Senator Terzi noted a recent letter signed by multiple Italian senators and MPs, including Alessandra Maiorino, Gisella Naturale, Cinzia Pellegrino, Marco Scurria, and others, addressed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk. The appeal stressed the urgency of preventing the imminent execution of six Iranian political prisoners, condemning Tehran for repeatedly violating international treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
#Iran: Terzi (FdI), incontro informale in Senato con Maryam Rajavi
Roma, 5 dic. (LaPresse) – Incontro informale, oggi in Senato, della Commissione straordinaria per la tutela e la promozione dei Diritti Umani, con la Presidente-eletta del Consiglio Nazionale della Resistenza… pic.twitter.com/yLmF9yMBjj— Giulio Terzi (@GiulioTerzi) December 5, 2024
Additionally, Senator Terzi referenced the presentation of the report “European Policy Toward Iran” by the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ), attended by Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former Vice-President of the European Parliament. Senator Terzi underscored that Vidal-Quadras himself survived an assassination attempt orchestrated by Tehran, further exposing the regime’s global reach in targeting dissidents.
The meeting marked a strong reaffirmation of Italy’s solidarity with the Iranian people in their fight for democracy and human rights. Terzi and other lawmakers echoed Mrs. Rajavi’s call for a firm stance against the Iranian regime’s atrocities, reiterating that “the time has come for decisive international action to hold Tehran accountable.”