On the sidelines of an event at the European Parliament marking the International Day of Human Rights, Simay Azadi spoke with Kumi Naidoo, former Secretary-General of Amnesty International.
In the interview, Naidoo underscored the urgency of halting executions in Iran, highlighted the central role of women in the struggle for freedom, and drew a direct line between today’s executions and the 1988 massacre—described as crimes against humanity. He stressed that ending the killing of prisoners must be the immediate priority, while accountability for past and present crimes remains essential.
Read the full text of the interview below.
Exclusive Interview with Kumi Naido— Simay Azadi
Simay Azadi: Thank you very much for this interview. How did you find the event at the European Parliament on the occasion of the International Day of Human Rights?
Kumi Naidoo:
I think this is a very positive event that is urging all countries around the world, especially the European Union, to put encouragement to stop the executions of the people that are in prison. So, I found that this is the most urgent thing. There are many bigger things that we need to do—to secure genuine democracy and all of that—but the first step is: stop the killing of human beings that are in prison. And that message was very loud.
I also liked the fact that we celebrated women—women who are in prison, women who are facing death sentences, women who are rising up in the streets and villages and towns of Tehran on forced veiling and many other things. And I was very inspired by the presence of a large number of women here who have been struggling over the years. What we must recognize is that no struggle has ever succeeded without an equitable participation of women in those struggles. The image that Iran presents to the world right now is a completely male-dominated society, but that’s not the reality on the ground. It was also inspirational.
The last thing I would say is that after so many years, something that I wanted to say and I didn’t say, which was I wanted to express my solidarity with the people who go through the pain of exile. I experienced only three years in exile as a young student between the ages of 22 and 25. I can tell you that was so painful—not being able to go home to your country. And I hope that events like this bring human rights back to the center of what we do, but also create the basis for the tens of thousands of Iranian exiles distributed across the world to finally be able to return home. So I hope that this event has contributed to that bigger agenda of a society that is governed on the basis of human rights, democracy, inclusion, gender equality, and so on. Thank you.
Simay Azadi: Thank you very much for your remarks. You talked about the executions raised here. As we all know, you were the Secretary-General of Amnesty International when the report on the 1988 executions was released. How do you connect those executions—described as crimes against humanity—with the current wave, and what should be done?
Kumi Naidoo:
Obviously, if 30,000 people get killed in a very short time span, that figure shocks and horrifies people a lot. But what we have now is a legacy of that kind of practice. For me, one execution is one execution too many. And for that reason, we need to resist this pattern that is rebuilding.
The reason this can happen on this scale—which is already high—is connected with that legacy. Government media recently said in Farsi that “we need another 1988.” What’s striking is that there isn’t even an attempt to deny the legacy. If state media says, “Let’s do this,” that speaks for itself.
It’s true the report was released by Amnesty in 2018 or early 2019. I was very pleased with the work of colleagues who had researched this for almost three decades to ensure absolute factual accuracy. When state media now says we need another 1988, it is the strongest evidence that what we documented genuinely happened.
My only regret is that the report didn’t come out 25 years earlier. It might have had more immediate impact then. There was significant media coverage when it was released, but earlier, we lacked the depth of research that later made it irrefutable.
Simay Azadi: Thank you very much for your remarks. Thank you—it was a pleasure.