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Canadian MPs, Senator Torricelli, and Iranian-Canadian representatives at Parliament’s “Iran at a Crossroads” conference in Ottawa— November 6, 2025
Ottawa, October 29, 2025 — A cross-party parliamentary conference titled “Iran at a Crossroads: Geopolitical Shifts and Human Rights Realities” was held in Canada’s Parliament, bringing together Members of Parliament from different political parties, Senator Robert Torricelli of the United States, and representatives of the Iranian-Canadian community.
The meeting, organized at the invitation of Judy Sgro, senior Liberal MP, and Michael Cooper of the Conservative Party — co-chairs of the Canadian Parliamentary Committee of Friends of a Democratic Iran — focused on Iran’s worsening human-rights situation and the need for a democratic alternative to the current regime.
Opening the session, Michael Cooper noted that recent months had seen both a sharp increase in executions and a significant weakening of Tehran’s regional influence. He referred to new United Nations sanctions and the reactivation of the “snapback” mechanism by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom under the JCPOA framework. At home, he said, decades of corruption and mismanagement had pushed millions of Iranians below the poverty line, with inflation and power shortages now part of daily life. More than a thousand executions have reportedly taken place in the first nine months of 2025.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our powerful parliamentary briefing on Iran at the Crossroads.
The testimonies shared by victims of the Iranian regimewere deeply moving and a stark reminder of the ongoing persecution faced by countless Iranians today. pic.twitter.com/fRGS21ZXGW
— Judy Sgro (@honjudysgro) November 4, 2025
MP Cooper emphasized that Canada must stand firmly with the Iranian people and with opposition leader Maryam Rajavi and her Ten-Point Plan, which he described as a credible democratic roadmap for Iran’s future.
MP Judy Sgro said the wave of executions, while brutal, revealed the regime’s fear of its own people rather than its strength. She referred to the hunger strike launched by 1,500 death-row prisoners in protest of the executions, calling it “a symbol of extraordinary courage.” Sgro underlined that the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has long provided detailed, verifiable information on human-rights abuses, Iran’s nuclear activities, and its regional destabilization efforts — work that has earned recognition from parliamentarians in 34 parliaments, 50 countries, and 137 former world leaders.
She urged Canada to continue a principled policy defending democracy and human rights, citing the case of political prisoner Zahra Tabari, sentenced to death after a ten-minute trial, as emblematic of the regime’s contempt for justice.
🇨🇦 Ottawa: An impactful parliamentary briefing chaired by @honjudysgro & @MichaelCooperMP, with guest speaker former Senator @bobtorricelli, titled
“IRAN AT THE CROSSROADS – Geopolitical Shifts & Human Rights Realities,”
reviewed the regime’s fading influence, UN SnapBack… pic.twitter.com/EqW3E5qwU4
— Iran Democratic Association (IDA) Canada 🇨🇦 (@IDA_Canada) October 29, 2025
Guest speaker Senator Robert Torricelli, a former U.S. senator and long-time advocate for human rights in Iran, gave an extensive overview of Tehran’s domestic repression, its international posture, and the shortcomings of Western policy. He said Western governments bore historical responsibility for supporting the Shah’s dictatorship, which paved the way for clerical rule, and now had a duty to help end this cycle of despotism.
Torricelli recalled that the 1979 revolution had been intended to establish democracy and improve living standards but was “stolen” by the clerical establishment. Today, he said, the Iranian Resistance has become a global movement committed to democratic values, including gender equality, free elections, and peaceful coexistence with neighboring states. He warned against efforts to promote monarchist restoration as an alternative, arguing that portraying the choice as “mullahs or monarchs” serves only the interests of the current rulers.
“The NCRI and the PMOI,” he said, “have articulated a non-nuclear, democratic vision that aligns with universal principles of governance and human rights — the very outcome the world should support.”
The Honourable Judy Sgro @honjudysgro rose today in the Canadian Parliament and denounced the heartbreaking case of Zahra Shahbaz Tabari #Zahra_Tabari :
“who has been sentenced to death by the Iranian regime. Her so-called trial lasted only ten minutes and was conducted via… pic.twitter.com/ASJCuNhR2E
— Iran Democratic Association (IDA) Canada 🇨🇦 (@IDA_Canada) November 5, 2025
Conservative MP Costas Menegakis highlighted the personal grief within Canada’s Iranian diaspora, many of whom lost family members to repression since 1979. Surrounded by photos of executed loved ones brought by attendees, he stressed that change must come through the Iranian people’s uprising — not through another autocratic system or violent rule, but through democracy and popular sovereignty.
Members of Parliament Ron McKinnon, Andrew Lawton, and Mark Dalton also expressed support for human rights and accountability, including an international investigation into Iran’s 1988 prison massacre.
Among community representatives, Mohsen Masouri, whose relatives have spent decades in Iranian prisons, recounted his family’s history of persecution. His nephew Saeed Masouri has spent 25 years in detention without a single day of furlough and remains active in a campaign by political prisoners called “Tuesdays for No to Executions.” Mansouri urged Canadian lawmakers to support the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee resolution on Iran and to ensure that “the voices of victims are finally heard, and mass killings no longer happen in silence.”
🙏 Our deepest thanks to The Honourable @HonJudySgro for her powerful statement in Parliament on the heartbreaking case of #Zahra_Tabar unjustly sentenced to death in Iran. https://t.co/Lio7mGO18V
— Mohsen Masoori (@mmasoori07) November 6, 2025
Morad Mansourpour, a computer science student at Concordia University, spoke for Iranian youth associations in Canada. Named after an uncle executed at age 28, he described the sacrifices of the 1980s generation as a moral obligation for young Iranians today. He presented a video message from Iranian youths abroad who had recently taken part in the Free Iran Youth Gathering with Maryam Rajavi, pledging continued advocacy for democracy in Iran.
Ahmad Hasani, father of fallen activist Neda Hassani, recounted his personal experience under both the Shah and the current regime. Arrested at 17 for student activism during the monarchy, he spent months under torture and was later imprisoned again under clerical rule. His younger brother, jailed for possessing a PMOI newspaper, was executed in the 1988 massacre after seven years of imprisonment. “I have seen two dictatorships,” he said, “and both crushed the youth who dreamed of freedom.”
The session concluded with the screening of footage from the recent mass rally of Iranian expatriates in Brussels and short clips from inside Iran showing activities of resistance networks. Participants jointly called for a halt to all executions, the release of political prisoners, and international recognition of the Iranian people’s right to democratic change.