At recent conference in Paris, hosted by the National Council for Resistance in Iran to mark International Women's Day, Theresa Villiers highlighted the injustice and human rights abuses being committed against women in Iran. In her speech she said:
"Thank you for inviting me to this important gathering as we approach International Women’s Day.
I would like to put on record my thanks for the support I received from the British Iranian community during my 19 years in the UK Parliament. I am hugely grateful to all of my Iranian friends. They inspired me to speak out on Iran many times. And I share their anger about the crimes of the Iranian regime and the tyranny it imposes.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day …we must not forget that there are still countries where women are treated as second class citizens.
It is disgraceful that women in Iran are denied so many basic rights …rights relating to marriage, divorce, child custody, employment, inheritance, political office - the list is a long one.
It’s appalling that punishments for domestic violence are wholly inadequate.
And it’s utterly repellant that the legal age of marriage for girls is 13, and that men can obtain judicial permission to force their daughters into marriage at an even younger age than that.
In the UK we’ve realized in recent years that there is much more that we need to do to ensure women’s rights are fully respected, and International Women’s Day has become a time to acknowledge that.
The demand for more effective ways to combat male violence against women and girls has become louder and louder in Britain recent years. Our new understanding and awareness that the battle for true equality of opportunity is not yet won even in our own country should make us more outraged than ever before about the plight of women in Iran.
We should view with horror the situation that women face there.
Not only are they subject to bullying and arrest if they defy the laws on Islamic dress, some never re-emerge from custody. That of course was the tragic fate of Mahsa Amini whose death at the hands of the so-called Morality Police provoked such massive protests.
I want to pay tribute to all the brave women who took part in those protests and who continue to defy the regime and call for a free and democratic future for Iran. They have my support.
“Women, life, freedom” was their rallying cry, and it was met by a brutal crackdown by the Mullahs.
The whole human rights situation in Iran is intolerable. As reported by Amnesty, people continue to be subjected to enforced disappearances, torture, and other cruel treatment.
The death penalty is used as a tool of political control and oppression. The BBC have reported that over 900 people were executed in 2024.
And systemic immunity prevails for ongoing and past crimes against humanity. The perpetrators of the mass killings of 1988 have never been held to account. Some even hold high office.
This is an insult to the memory of those who lost their lives, and to the families bereaved by this horror. It is an outrage that these terrible crimes have gone unpunished for so long.
But let us not despair. Let us remember that Tehran’s allies and proxies have been heavily defeated on the battlefield. These evil men cannot prevail forever. They are on the wrong side of history.
I truly believe that one day the goals of the “Women Life Freedom” movement will be fulfilled. One day we will see an independent judiciary and the rule of law. We will see the transition to free and fair elections. And we will see justice and equality for women.
These crucial aspirations are set out in the NCRI’s Ten Point Plan for a democratic, secular, non-nuclear Iran.
So let us once again give a big cheer for the brave dissidents and protesters who have kept the flame of hope and freedom alive in Iran, and for everyone working for a free and democratic future for the Iranian people."
Theresa was part of a UK delegation led by Baroness O'Loan, and which also included former MPs, Anna Firth and Helen Goodman.
