At the 106th Congress of Mayors in Paris, 580 French mayors, including prominent figures such as Michaël Delafosse (Mayor of Montpellier), Martine Aubry (Mayor of Lille), and Jean-Michel Baylet (Mayor of Valence d’Agen), signed a powerful statement calling for an end to executions in Iran. This initiative, spearheaded by the Committee of French Mayors for a Democratic Iran (CMFID) in collaboration with the Committee to Support Human Rights in Iran (CSDHI), highlights the alarming escalation of executions under Iran’s current administration.
Citing Amnesty International, the statement revealed that Iran accounted for a staggering 74% of all recorded executions worldwide in 2023. The trend has worsened under the presidency of Massoud Pezeshkian, with 386 executions in just the first three months of his tenure—far exceeding annual figures in previous years. Among those executed was Reza Rasaei, a political dissident arrested during the November 2022 uprising in Shahriar, Tehran Province.
“Iran holds the grim record for the highest number of political executions and per capita killings globally,” stated the mayors, noting how these actions, carried out in the name of religion, serve as tools for spreading fear and suppressing dissent. The mayors condemned these executions as inherently political and called for stronger international action to counteract this systematic repression.
📢 #Breaking Over 580 French mayors sign a declaration supporting @iran_policy's president-elect, Mrs. @Maryam_Rajavi ’s call to end executions in Iran, citing UN reports of the regime's crimes against humanity.
The statement condemns the regime’s political use of executions to… pic.twitter.com/lrKptJRzoV— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) November 26, 2024
The mayors expressed their full support for Maryam Rajavi’s call to end executions in Iran, praising her Ten-Point Plan for a democratic future that includes the abolition of the death penalty. “We endorse and support Maryam Rajavi’s firm commitment to abolish capital punishment as outlined in her roadmap for Iran’s future,” they stated. This plan was reiterated by Rajavi during an international jurists’ conference in Paris on August 24, 2024, where she emphasized the urgency of the campaign against executions.
In their statement, the mayors emphasized the political motivations behind Iran’s executions, underscoring the regime’s intent to stoke fear and suppress potential uprisings. “Every execution carried out under this regime is fundamentally political,” the statement declared, calling on the international community to take decisive action. They pointed out that global inaction has emboldened the regime to continue its crackdown, with executions being a central pillar of its oppressive rule.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran reported in March 2024 that the regime’s actions, including killings, torture, and sexual violence, constitute crimes against humanity. Additionally, in July 2024, Professor Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, characterized the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners as a genocide, further underscoring the regime’s history of human rights violations.
🇮🇷 Peine de mort : 580 maires de France signent un appel pour dire « non aux exécutions » en #Iran https://t.co/eAQqh8QYsy
— Philippe Rioux (@technomedia) November 23, 2024
Inside Iran, a growing movement of political prisoners in 20 prisons has joined the “No to Executions” campaign, holding hunger strikes every Tuesday since the start of 2024. Internationally, this campaign has garnered significant momentum, with civil society groups and political figures rallying to amplify its message.
“The situation in Iran concerns us all,” the mayors stated, referencing the widespread protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. This campaign, led predominantly by women, continues to inspire resistance against the regime’s oppressive practices, including its escalating use of capital punishment.
The collective call from French mayors underscores a growing international consensus: the global community must act decisively to hold Iran accountable for its human rights abuses and support the Iranian people in their fight for justice and democracy.
