At the request of her British Iranian constituents, Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, attended a mass rally in Paris at the weekend, calling for freedom for Iran. This annual Grand Gathering brings members of the Iranian diaspora from around the world. An audience of over 80,000 people gathered in a conference centre in Villepinte on the edge of Paris to hear from a series of speakers, including former Mayor of New York, Rudi Guliani, and former Vice-Presidential candidate, Joe Lieberman.
Standing alongside a UK delegation including Conservative MPs, Matthew Offord, David Amess and Bob Blackman, Theresa said: “I have the highest regard for the British Iranian community in my constituency in Chipping Barnet and I thank them warmly for the support they give me. The Iranian Government is a tyrannical and repressive regime which brutalises much of its population. It leads the world in executing children, and hundreds of women a day are arrested for failing to comply with the country’s compulsory dress code.”
“The regime in Iran is also the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism and is truly a source of evil in the world. I sincerely hope that one day the people of Iran will be able to free themselves from its grip and together build a brighter future based on the principles of freedom and democracy”
The Grand Gathering is hosted every year by the National Council for Resistance in Iran, led by Mrs Maryam Rajavi. The NCRI advocate equality and respect for human rights, abolition of the death penalty, and a non-nuclear Iran. Theresa Villiers has pledged to continue to work with her British Iranian constituents and others to campaign against human rights abuses in Iran.