In a powerful show of transpartisan solidarity with the Iranian people, the 5th District Town Hall of Paris hosted a major conference on Friday, April 11, under the banner “1,000 French Cities Against the Death Penalty in Iran.” The event gathered dozens of French mayors, elected officials, human rights defenders, legal experts, and international dignitaries to condemn the clerical regime’s execution spree and affirm their support for the Iranian Resistance.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), delivered the keynote message via video, warning that silence and inaction from the international community have only emboldened the regime. “Every execution in Iran is political,” Mrs. Rajavi declared. “They are meant to crush dissent and preempt a popular uprising.”
Message to the Paris Conference “1,000 French Cities Against the Death Penalty in Iran”
The protests of more than a thousand honorable French mayors against executions in Iran are a powerful cry—one that echoes the voice of thousands of death row inmates in Khamenei’s prisons.… pic.twitter.com/fGlAHqHsXP— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) April 11, 2025
She emphasized that more than 1,150 executions in the past year alone are part of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s strategy to preserve power against growing resistance, led by the MEK’s Resistance Units inside Iran. Mrs. Rajavi praised the statement signed by more than 1,000 French mayors as “a powerful cry that echoes through Khamenei’s prisons and reaches thousands on death row.” She called on European governments to make all diplomatic and commercial relations with Tehran conditional on halting executions and freeing political prisoners, warning, “The day this regime halts executions will be the day it collapses.”
Mayor Florence Berthout of Paris’s 5th District welcomed participants with a speech rich in symbolism and conviction. Speaking both as host and as co-president of the Mayors’ Committee, she emphasized that the Latin Quarter’s legacy of human rights and openness made the venue especially fitting. “Three-quarters of the world’s executions today occur in Iran,” Mayor Berthout reminded the audience. Amid rising inflation, poverty, and daily power cuts that have crippled hospitals and schools, she noted that intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and rape have become routine. Yet, she also spoke of “cracks appearing in the wall,” pointing to rare instances of public celebration during Nowruz and a temporary pause in the enforcement of the hijab law. “More than ever,” she concluded, “we stand with the women and men of Iran.”
Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian senator and ex-hostage, offered a passionate plea for principled support to the Iranian Resistance. Describing the clerical regime as the architect of a systematic hostage diplomacy, she criticized Western governments for their silence and complicity. “There is only one solution to end this nightmare: the fall of the Iranian regime,” she said. Betancourt stressed that the NCRI, led by Mrs. Rajavi, has proven to be the only viable democratic alternative. “She has sacrificed her life for this cause. Without her, we wouldn’t be able to gather here today and speak out.”
@CNRIFrance @Florence Berthout @jeanFrancois Legaret @Azadeh Alemi @Geoffroy Boulard @Ingrid Betancourt @Jacques Boutault + de 1 000 maires représentant 7 Millions de nos concitoyens.nes ont signé STOP aux exécutions en Iran 🙏✊🇮🇷 pic.twitter.com/d7M2lUtRdi
— Dominique Attias (@AttiasDominique) April 12, 2025
Jean-François Legaret, former mayor of Paris’s 1st District and president of the Foundation for Middle Eastern Studies, commended the massive mobilization. He acknowledged Mayor Berthout for hosting the event in a “symbolic space of the Republic.” Legaret emphasized that despite nuclear threats dominating headlines, “the real tragedy lies in the daily executions and mass repression endured by the Iranian people.” Since Masoud Pezeshkian took office, he noted, the regime has executed over 1,500 people. “This is a regime at the edge of collapse, propped up only by terror,” he warned.
Bruno Massé, mayor of Villiers-Adam and one of the earliest signatories of the Mayors’ Declaration, recounted his long-standing commitment. “I have displayed a banner on my town hall demanding freedom for Iran for over ten years,” he said. Massé acknowledged the tenacity of the Resistance Units inside Iran and Mrs. Rajavi’s democratic vision. He called on fellow mayors to join the cause: “The regime will fall, and it is thanks to those on the ground who fight every day for democracy and secularism.”
Gilbert Mitterrand, president of the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation and son of the late French president, praised the mayors’ initiative as part of a global awakening. He described the world as divided between those who normalize state terror and those who fight it. “We are here to say NO to executions in Iran and YES to universal justice,” Mitterrand said. He reminded the audience that over 1,000 executions occurred in 2024 alone, with another 400 since the beginning of this year. “Let the martyrs of Iran know they are not alone,” he said. “Even if the world’s voice seems faint, our hearts are with them.”
At a major conference in Paris's 5th Arrondissement, @FBerthout unveiles a statement signed by over 1,000 French mayors, condemning executions in Iran and supporting @Maryam_Rajavi’s call to abolish the death penalty. Follow our reporter for coverage! #FreeIran2025 pic.twitter.com/pb3EzRcMrG
— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) April 11, 2025
Dominique Attias, president of the European Lawyers Foundation, denounced the regime’s abuses with legal precision. Citing the legacy of Robert Badinter, she declared: “Executions, amputations, public hangings—these are the regime’s daily routine.” She called the NCRI the “principal democratic opposition” and warned against forgetting the 1988 massacre. “Since I learned of it in 2016, my support has been unwavering.”
Jacques Boutault, former mayor of Paris’s 2nd District and current deputy in the central sector, reflected on two decades of support for the NCRI. He stressed that diplomacy should never come at the cost of delegitimizing Iran’s democratic opposition. “If the price of freeing hostages is undermining the NCRI, then that is a price too high to pay,” he said. He denounced efforts to rehabilitate the former monarchy, affirming, “The alternative is not the return of the Shah but a democratic republic.”
Mayor Geoffroy Boulard of Paris’s 17th District reaffirmed his district’s visible and longstanding support for the Iranian people’s struggle, noting that a banner opposing executions in Iran has hung on his town hall for months. He praised the nationwide mayoral campaign as a vital expression of France’s democratic values and declared his full commitment to “an Iran that is free.”
Sarvnaz Chitsaz, Chair of the NCRI Women’s Committee, shared harrowing data: 33 executions in just three days from April 7 to 10, including three women. She underlined that every execution in Iran serves a political function: “It is a tool to sustain tyranny.” Chitsaz linked the campaign against the death penalty to the broader fight for a free Iran. “To oppose executions is to oppose the entire religious dictatorship,” she declared.
Conférence contre les exécutions massives en #Iran avec @FBerthout à la @Mairie5Paris annonce la déclaration de +1000 #Maires de France : #StopExecutionsInIran
en présence de @AttiasDominique Gilbert Mitterrand @Francelibertes & le message de @Maryam_Rajavi_F pic.twitter.com/ohigVu7pAy— Behzad Naziri (@BehzadNaziri) April 11, 2025
Nathalie Seff, Executive Director of ACAT-France, spoke of the structural use of torture and executions in Iran. She highlighted the cases of Sharifeh Mohammadi and Pakhshan Azizi, two women activists facing imminent execution, saying, “The death penalty itself is a form of torture.”
Gérard Lauton, a union leader, drew parallels between Iran and other authoritarian regimes in the world. He stressed the connection between the Iranian Resistance and global democratic movements, praising the NCRI for its transpartisan outreach. “From Iran to Ukraine, the fight for freedom is the same,” he concluded.
🚨Right now 👉 #Paris 5th district: Major meeting 1000 French Mayors announce their support for @Maryam_Rajavi's #FreeIran10PointPlan #FreeIran2025 pic.twitter.com/gRiCZe4VVC
— Hanif 𝕏 FreeIran (@HanifFreeIran) April 11, 2025
Pierre Bercis, president of the French group New Human Rights and a longtime supporter of the Iranian Resistance, emphasized that the campaign must go further. While celebrating the 1,000-mayor milestone, he reminded attendees that France has over 36,000 mayors. “This is just the beginning,” he said, urging continued mobilization and a stronger legal push on the international level. Reflecting on 45 years of solidarity with the MEK, Mr. Bercis reaffirmed his commitment: “We have fought in the streets and in the press; now we must fight through international law.”
Azadeh Alami, representative of the Committee for the Support of Human Rights in Iran, expressed profound gratitude to all participants and praised the unprecedented scale of French municipal solidarity. Alami noted that since 2024, the Committee has worked with the Mayors’ Committee and human rights organizations to gather over 1,000 signatures from mayors across France who have publicly declared, “Non à la peine de mort en Iran.” She cited the staggering figures reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI): 1,153 executions in Iran over the past year, including 961 under President Masoud Pezeshkian’s short tenure, with dozens of women and minors among the victims.
The conference ended with renewed calls for more mayors to join the campaign. As of the event’s conclusion, 1,011 mayors had signed the declaration. Mrs. Rajavi’s closing message was echoed by many: “The time has come for governments and parliaments to recognize the Iranian people’s right to overthrow the regime and support the youth fighting the Revolutionary Guards.”