During a news conference held at the Italian Parliament on April 13, key lawmakers announced that a bipartisan majority of senators have officially backed the ongoing, and months-long, uprising by Iran’s democratic coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, or NCRI.
“We recognize the fact that over the past four decades, the democratic coalition of the National Council of Resistance of Iran has constantly and tirelessly pursued democratic change (in the country). In this respect, we believe the Ten-Point Plan articulated by the NCRI’s President, Maryam Rajavi, deserves our support. It stands for free elections, freedom of assembly and expression, the abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, the separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iran’s ethnicities and a non-nuclear Iran,” said the Italian senators’ official statement, adding, “We 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 the deposed Shah or the current theocratic regime, and thus reject any association with either.”
The declaration urges the international community to stand with the Iranian people in their quest for change and to take decisive steps against the current regime. This includes blacklisting the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and holding regime officials accountable for their crimes against humanity.
Several prominent members of the Italian Senate and Parliament from various parties across the political spectrum participated in the conference, including Giulio Terzi, head of the Senate European Union Affairs Committee and the former Foreign Minister of Italy, Lucio Malan, the foreign direct investment group leader in the Senate, and Marco Scurria, who previously was a part of Italy’s delegation on relations with Iran, as well Parliamentary representatives, Elisabetta Gardini, Emanuele Pozzolo, and Stefania Ascari.
Rajavi, designated to serve as Iran’s transitional president following the overthrow of the current regime, addressed the conference via video, noting that the joint declaration of the Italian Senate majority is a significant show of support for the Iranian people and their efforts to reject all forms of dictatorship in favor of a democratic republic.