Press dispatch
Rally Outside the Iranian Embassy, Saturday 31 July 2010

Hundreds of people from Iranian community in UK gathered outside the Iranian Embassy in London to commemorate the execution in 1988 of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran, as well as the deaths of 11 residents of Camp Ashraf by Iraqi security forces in 2009. The families of the victims of the Iranian regime gathered with friends and activists to oppose the continued violation of human rights in Iran and to demand democratic change.

The first speaker to address the gathering was Mr Malcolm Fowler, a solicitor from the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee. Mr Fowler said the state of human rights in Iran was utterly appalling and had raised the ire of thousands of solicitors in England and Wales. He went on to demand that the international community bring the leaders of the Iranian regime to justice for crimes against humanity.

Dr Jocelyn Scott, an eminent human rights barrister and scholar, followed Mr Fowler in demanding the “UN honour its responsibility to the people of Ashraf city and honour its Charter of human rights by ensuring that the people of Ashraf city can stay in peace.” She went on to state that no regime can ever be legitimate if it does not allow for dissent. Dr Scott reminded the gathering that the people of Ashraf were the opposition to the Iranian regime and the voice of the Iranian people.

Other speakers included Mr Reza al-Reza, a Shiite Iraqi leader, Mr Hossein Farshid, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, 13 former Iranian hunger strikers as well as community leaders from the Iranian and Iraqi exile communities in the UK.

In a very moving tribute to the 120,000 members of the PMOI executed by the Iranian regime and the 11 men killed by Iraqi security forces in Camp Ashraf, red roses were placed in front of photographs of the fallen men and women in their memory.

In conclusion, speakers and those assembled took to the streets holding placards and flags in a colourful procession through Kensington and Hyde Park, demanding democratic regime change in Iran. Those gathered raised their voices in support of the brave men and women in Camp Ashraf and repeated the chants of millions of Iranians who are taking to the streets of towns and cities across Iran demanding freedom and democracy.

Those gathered resolved to continue their opposition to the Iranian regime until the day when the democratic rights of the Iranian people were fully realised.
The march and rally came to a conclusion with the protesters reiterating that Ali Khamenei, the current supreme leader of this regime, and the majority of the regime’s Judicial officials were amongst the henchmen responsible for the genocide carried out in 1988 and the torture and murder of political prisoners who have been arrested during the uprising since last summer under the pretext of Mohareb (waging war against God) and sentenced to brutal execution.

The demonstrators in London strongly endorsed the call by Mrs Maryam Rajavi, head of the main opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran, on international authorities, various governments, jurists and human rights advocates to convince the UN Security Council to form a tribunal to put on trial the criminals responsible for the massacre of 30,000 people in 1988.

Anglo- Iranian Community in UK
31 July 201