The destruction of Iran's nuclear programmes opens the door to a better future for citizens like me
Twenty-eight years ago, I fled Iran to save my life and find freedom in the UK. I was arrested twice in Iran due to my outspoken opposition to the regime. Following my second arrest, I learned that it was planning to eliminate me. I had no choice but to leave.
You can never truly escape a regime of this nature, though. Iran's tentacles now threaten us here, with its active promotion of extremism, and MI5 have revealed that they have foiled more than 20 terror plots from Iran's brutal Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since 2022. It has heavily invested in British charities, mosques and communities in order to destroy the very foundations of what we stand for and destroy us from within.
Alert to the emerging threat, two and a half years ago, I made the difficult decision to sacrifice the very freedom I once sought for myself. I have lived on the streets ever since, away from my wife, the Conservative councillor Mattie Heaven, my home, and my family, risking my life every day that I am in the peace camp opposite the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Repeatedly subject to verbal and physical attacks by agents of the IRGC freely acting on British soil, I treat every day as my last. I've been threatened with beheading, with a large knife later discovered on one of the assailants by the police. A fatwa has even been issued against me.
The destruction of Iran's nuclear programmes opens the door to a better future for the citizens of Iran. This historic people have suffered for 47 long years. The butchers of Tehran have perpetrated grisly human rights abuses, with public hangings a daily horror and women beaten for the 'crime' of not wearing a hijab 'correctly.' Is it any surprise that 80 per cent of the Iranian public oppose the Iranian regime?
Shaken to its core, the regime has again turned to what it knows best. More than 700 people have been arrested over the last two weeks on spurious claims that they aided Israel, including rabbis and other senior Jewish leaders. Executions are also on the rise again.
It is nothing more than a desperate attempt to silence critics and forestall an uprising against the teetering regime. The internet was taken down for days on end. Human rights groups are sounding the alarm over unfair trials and forced confessions. Journalists and their families have been threatened, including those from the BBC. Internet access continues to be restricted.
We can ill afford not to prepare for the regime's impending collapse. The arduous work must be completed now to ensure Iran's next chapter is not written in blood or chaos, but in law, democracy, and the will of the people.
Iran's once great civil society has been mercilessly eroded by the regime and needs the support of the international community and the Iranian diaspora to usher in a new Iran. It is why the Iranian Front for the Revival of Law and National Sovereignty, which I recently launched in the European Parliament with cross-party support, is working flat out to produce the necessary legal framework to stabilise the country, protect citizens and pave the way for a freely elected Constituent Assembly. It is inspiring that representatives of Iran's richly diverse ethnic, religious and political groups are engaging with the initiative, as well as many of those who were forced into exile.
There can be no going back to the status quo, which has crushed the Iranian people and caused untold suffering throughout the region, including the deaths of British soldiers and British citizens wasting away in Iran's grim jails.
The UK Government must embrace this historic moment and join our groundbreaking efforts. After all, the advancement of democracy and equality in an unstable world is good for the people of Britain. It will also eradicate Iran's deep role in people smuggling and drug trafficking, which are destabilising British society.
The challenges of regime change are significant, but they are incomparable to the vast opportunities it would bring not only for the people of Iran but for the security, stability, and prosperity of the entire world. A free, democratic Iran would be a turning point for the region and a beacon of hope for global peace.
The Iranian people have shown remarkable resilience and it is our duty to prepare the ground for a better future – one of democracy, equality and freedom.
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