Maryam Rajavi Uses UN Rally to Call for Political Change in Iran Without Foreign Intervention
The NCRI president-elect used a rally during the UN General Assembly to outline her opposition movement’s vision of political change, human rights and a democratic republic.
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), addressed thousands of demonstrators outside United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday in an audio message, calling for political change in Iran while rejecting foreign military intervention.
“The solution to the Iranian crisis is not war or foreign intervention,” Rajavi said, arguing that the Iranian people and what she described as their “organized Resistance” have the capacity to bring about political change themselves.
Rajavi sharply criticized the presence of Iranian government representatives at the United Nations and said Iran’s seat should instead belong to the Iranian people and those seeking what she described as “peace, freedom, and a democratic republic.”
She accused Iran’s leadership of responsibility for serious human rights abuses, citing international reports concerning executions, political prisoners and the suppression of protests.
Rajavi also called on the international community to recognize what she described as the Iranian people’s right to overthrow the current government and the right of opposition groups to confront the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
She said the opposition rejects both Iran’s current theocratic system and a return to monarchy, declaring that its objective is a democratic republic.
The remarks came as Iranian Americans and NCRI supporters gathered at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza across from the United Nations during the 81st session of the UN General Assembly. Organizers announced demonstrations for Sept. 22 and 23 focused on executions, human rights and political change in Iran.
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