More Than 100 Former World Leaders Urge Support For Uprising In Iran With Practical Steps – OpEd

Two former Presidents of the European Commission and dozens of European leaders are among signatories of the open letter

The international community must support Iran’s pro‐democracy protesters and blacklist the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), more than 100 distinguished former world leaders representing 45 nations announced in a new global initiative. The call was made in a collective letter to the leaders of world powers on Tuesday, just days after the regime executed three protesters.

The three men were executed for taking part in the nationwide uprising that began last September. In the past three weeks, there has been an alarming surge in state‐sanctioned executions, exceeding a staggering count of 100 as the regime tries to suppress protests with impunity.

The collective letter by 107 former heads of state or government called on the leaders of Canada, the EU, UK, and US to hold the “leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran to account for its crimes.”

“We encourage you to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran in their desire for a secular and democratic republic where no individual, regardless of religion or birthright, has any privilege over others. Through their slogans, the Iranian people have made it clear that they reject all forms of dictatorship, be it that of the deposed Shah or the current theocratic regime, and thus reject any association with either,” the open letter states.

The former leaders stipulated that the 10‐point plan for the future of Iran articulated by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President‐elect of the democratic coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran, deserves international support.

“We believe it is for the Iranian people to decide their future. However, we recognise that for four decades, the democratic coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has constantly and tirelessly pursued democratic change. In this respect, we believe the Ten‐Point Plan articulated by the NCRI President, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, deserves support. Its commitment to free elections, freedom of assembly and expression, abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iran’s ethnicities, and a non‐nuclear Iran is in line with our own democratic values,” the former world leaders wrote.

Signatories to the letter include 50 former Presidents, 47 former Prime Ministers, one former Chancellor, and nine other former Heads of State from across the world. Two former Presidents of the European Commission and three Nobel Peace Prize laureates are among the signatories.

European signatories to the letter include the former Prime Ministers of the UK, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Ukraine. In South America, signatories include the former Presidents of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico and two former Secretaries–General of the Organization of American States (OAS). Other notable signatories include two former Prime Ministers from Canada.

Highlighting the crackdown on the “popular uprising in Iran,” which includes the death of some 750 protesters and the arrest of another 30,000, the former world leaders reiterated that the international community has a “responsibility” to support the Iranian people’s human rights.

“Decades of apparent silence and inaction by the international community have helped fuel a culture of impunity in Iran. Since the 1980s, the authorities in Iran have executed tens of thousands of protesters and political prisoners. Tragically, in the summer of 1988 alone, over 30,000 political prisoners ‐ the vast majority of whom were members of the opposition MEK ‐ were brutally massacred,” the letter said.

The signatories condemned the Iranian regime’s meddling in the Middle East and Europe, including its provision of drones to assist Russia’s war against Ukraine and its terrorist attempts and cyber‐attacks in Albania.

“We urge your nations to stand with the Iranian people in their quest for change and to take decisive steps against the current regime. This includes blacklisting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and holding regime officials accountable for their crimes against humanity,” the letter added.

Names of co‐signatories:

Jean Claude Juncker – Former Prime Minister, Luxembourg; former President of the European Commission 
Romano Prodi – Former Prime Minister, Italy; former President of the European Commission
Lech Wałęsa – Former President, Poland; Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Juan Manuel Santos – Former President, Colombia; Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Oscar Arias Sánchez – Former President, Costa Rica; Nobel Peace Prize laureate 
Liz Truss – Former Prime Minister, United Kingdom
Bernard Cazeneuve – Former Prime Minister, France
Yulia Tymoshenko – Former Prime Minister, Ukraine
Stephen Harper – Former Prime Minister, Canada
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Echeverría – Former President, Costa Rica; former Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS)
César Gaviria – Former President, Colombia: former Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) 
Matteo Renzi – Former Prime Minister, Italy
Mariano Rajoy – Former Prime Minister, Spain
Janez Janša – Former Prime Minister, Slovenia
Aníbal Cavaco Silva – Former President and former Prime Minister, Portugal
Guy Verhofstadt – Former Prime Minister, Belgium
Mary McAleese – Former President, Ireland
Micheline Calmy‐Rey – Former President, Switzerland
Heinz Fischer – Former President, Austria
Marie‐Louise Coleiro Preca – Former President, Malta
Ricardo Lagos Escobar – Former President, Chile
Mauricio Macri – Former President, Argentina
Danilo Türk – Former President, Slovenia
Sebastián Piñera E. – Former President, Chile
Vicente Fox – Former President, Mexico
Haidar Abu Bakr al‐Attas – Former Prime Minister, Yemen
Carlos Alvarado Quesada – Former President, Costa Rica
Giuliano Amato – Former Prime Minister, Italy
Pedro Angulo Arana – Former Prime Minister, Peru
Andrus Ansip – Former Prime Minister, Estonia
Mercedes Aráoz – Former Prime Minister, Peru
Rosalía Arteaga Serrano – Former President, Ecuador
Alexandru Athanasiu – Former Prime Minister, Romania
José María Aznar – Former Prime Minister, Spain
Gordon Bajnai – Former Prime Minister, Hungary
Nicolás Ardito Barletta – Former President, Panama
Jaume Bartumeu‐Cassany – Former Prime Minister, Andorra
Gian Nicola Berti – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Georgi Bliznashki – Former Prime Minister, Bulgaria
Emil Boc – Former Prime Minister, Romania
Luca Boschi – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Felipe Calderón – Former President, Mexico
Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier – Former President, Costa Rica
Kim Campbell – Former Prime Minister, Canada
Miro Cerar – Former Prime Minister, Slovenia
Laura Chinchilla Miranda – Former President, Costa Rica
Matteo Ciacci – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Emil Constantinescu – Former President, Romania
Carlo Cottarelli – Former Prime Minister, Italy
Édith Cresson – Former Prime Minister, France
Iván Duque – Former President, Colombia
José María Figueres – Former President, Costa Rica
Ántero Flores‐Aráoz E. – Former Prime Minister, Peru
Federico Franco – Former President, Paraguay
Mario Frick – Former Prime Minister, Liechtenstein
Carlos D. Mesa Gisbert – Former President, Bolivia
Lawrence Gonzi – Former Prime Minister, Malta
Dalia Grybauskaitė – Former President, Lithuania
Alfred Gusenbauer – Former Chancellor, Austria
Geir H. Haarde – Former Prime Minister , Iceland
Avdullah Hoti – Former Prime Minister, Kosovo
Osvaldo Hurtado – Former President, Ecuador
Toomas Hendrik Ilves – Former President, Estonia
Enda Kenny – Former Prime Minister, Ireland
Andrej Kiska – Former President, Slovakia
Bronisław Komorowski – Former President, Poland
Andrius Kubilius – Former Prime Minister, Lithuania
Milan Kučan – Former President, Slovenia
Aleksander Kwaśniewski – Former President, Poland
Zlatko Lagumdžija – Former Prime Minister, Bosnia and Herzegovina 
Vytautas Landsbergis – Former Head of State, Lithuania
Yves Leterme – Former Prime Minister, Belgium
Moritz Leuenberger – Former President, Switzerland
Igor Lukšić – Former Prime Minister, Montenegro
Jamil Mahuad – Former President, Ecuador
Pandeli Majko – Former Prime Minister, Albania
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz – Former Prime Minister, Poland
Moncef Marzouki – Former President, Tunisia
Giuseppe Maria Morganti – Former Captain Regent, San Marino 
Mireya Moscoso – Former President, Panama
Michele Muratori – Former Captain Regent, San Marino
Joseph Muscat – Former Prime Minister, Malta
Jiří Paroubek – Former Prime Minister, Czech Republic 
Pedro Passos Coelho – Former Prime Minister, Portugal 
Andrés Pastrana – Former President, Colombia
Ernesto Pérez Balladares – Former President, Panama
Jorge Fernando Quiroga Ramírez – Former President, Bolivia 
Iveta Radicova – Former Prime Minister, Slovakia
Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé – Former President, Bolivia 
Taavi Rõivas – Former Prime Minister, Estonia
Petre Roman – Former Prime Minister, Romania 
Eduardo Frei Ruiz‐Tagle – Former President, Chile 
Francisco Sagasti – Former President, Peru
Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera – Former President, Costa Rica
Vladimír Špidla – Former Prime Minister, Czech Republic
Hanna Suchocka – Former Prime Minister, Poland
Aníbal Torres Vásquez – Former Prime Minister, Peru
Aminata Touré – Former Prime Minister, Senegal
Elbegdorj Tsakhia – Former President and former Prime Minister, Mongolia 
Guntis Ulmanis – Former President, Latvia
Raimonds Vējonis – Former President, Latvia
Vaira Vīķe‐Freiberga – Former President, Latvia
Juan Carlos Wasmosy – Former President, Paraguay 
Andrea Zafferani – Former Captain Regent, San Marino 
Rosa Zafferani – Former Captain Regent, San Marino 
Guerrino Zanotti – Former Captain Regent, San Marino 
Valdis Zatlers – Former President, Latvia

JVMI (Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran) is an association of families of the victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, former political prisoners, international lawyers and legal experts with an interest in obtaining justice over the massacre and for all the victims of executions in Iran.