A group of 75 Nobel laureates has sent a letter to leaders around the world, urging them to support the people of Iran in their fight for democracy and freedom.
The letter expresses deep concern about the worsening human rights situation in Iran, where 80% of the population lives below the poverty line while the regime continues to execute one citizen every six hours.
The Nobel laureates join the global support for the Iranian people’s democratic uprising, including statements from 117 former world leaders, the majority of the US House of Representatives, and many European parliaments.
They support Maryam Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, which reflects the Iranian people’s desire for a secular republic based on freedom and democracy, universal suffrage, free elections, a market economy, gender, religious, and ethnic equality, a non-nuclear Iran, and a foreign policy based on peaceful coexistence.
The signatories, including prominent individuals from five continents, express their solidarity with the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy and recognize their four-decade-long fight that rejects both the ousted dictatorship of the Shah and the ruling clerics. They also call for the IRGC to be listed as a terrorist organization by free nations around the world.
Joint Letter of the Nobel Laureates
To the World leaders
May 30, 2023
To:
Joe Biden, President of the United States
Charles Michel, President of the European Council
Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
Copies to:
Leaders of 27 member states of the European Union
Excellencies,
We, the undersigned Nobel laureates, express our deep concern over the appalling and deteriorating state of human rights in Iran.
In a context where 80% of the population in Iran lives below the poverty line, the current theocratic regime has resorted to a disturbing tactic to quell the ongoing public uprising. In the last month alone, the regime has initiated massive executions, aiming to intimidate and terrify the populace. Shockingly, every six hours, a young man is hanged, resulting in a staggering number of 144 executions in Iran in May, making it the country with the highest number of executions per capita in the world.
But despite such brutality, the people of Iran are determined to pay the heaviest price to achieve freedom and democracy.
For nine months now, the Iranian people have been leading a nationwide uprising for a democratically elected republic. Despite facing a brutal crackdown by the theocratic regime and heavy human casualties – with 750 killed, including at least 70 children, and more than 30,000 arrests – the brave young men and women of Iran have persevered in their quest for democracy, inspiring solidarity from people around the world.
Forty-four years ago, millions of Iranian people rejected the despotic rule of the Shah and its brutal secret police (SAVAK) by participating in mass demonstrations. Today, during the ongoing nationwide protests, they chant “No to Monarchy, No to Theocracy! Yes to Democracy, Equality.”
We, the Nobel Laureates, join the international support for the democratic demands of the Iranian people, including the statement of 109 former world leaders, the majority of the US Congress, and many European parliaments who have welcomed the 10-point plan of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. This plan, which includes the great desire of the Iranian people, calls for universal suffrage, free elections, and a market economy, and advocates gender, religious, and ethnic equality, a foreign policy based on peaceful coexistence, and a non-nuclear Iran.
Also, we join the global demand of blacklisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity by the free world states. The IRGC is the main source of brutality and suppression of the Iranian people and the export of violence to other parts of the world.
Sincerely,
Signatories:
- Lech Walesa, President of Poland 1990-1995, Nobel Prize, Peace 1983, Poland
- Oscar Arias Sanchez, (President of Costa Rica 2006-2010), Nobel Prize, Peace 1986, Costa Rica
- Professor Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Prize, Literature 2015, Belarus
- Professor Harvey J Alter, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2020, USA
- Professor Robert Aumann, Nobel Prize, Economics 2018, USA-Israel
- Professor Barry C Barish, Nobel Prize, Physics 2017, USA
- Professor Georg Bednorz, Noble Prize, Physics 1987, Germany
- Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Nobel Prize, Peace 1996, East Timor
- Professor Bruce Beutler, Nobel Prize, Medicine, 2011, USA
- Dmitry Buratov, Nobel Prize, Peace 2021, Russia
- Professor Emmanuelle Charpentier, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2020, Germany-France
- Professor Thomas Cech, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1989, USA
- Professor Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2004, Israel
- Professor John Maxwell Coetzee, Nobel Prize, Literature 2003, South Africa
- Professor Elias Corey, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1990, USA
- Professor Johann Deisenhofer, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1988, USA-Germany
- Professor Peter Doherty, Nobel Prize, Medicine 1996, Australia
- Professor Gerhard Ertl, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2007, Germany
- Professor Jerome Friedman, Nobel Prize, Physics 1990, USA
- Professor Joachim Frank, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2017, USA
- Madam Leymah Roberta Gbowee, Nobel Prize, Peace 2011, Liberia
- Professor Reinhard Genzel, Nobel Prize, Physics 2020, Germany
- Professor Sheldon Glashow, Nobel prize, Physics 1979, USA
- Professor John Lewis Hall, Nobel Prize, Physics 2005, USA
- Professor Oliver Hart, Nobel Prize, Economics 2016, USA
- Professor Alan Heeger, Nobel prize, Chemistry 2000, USA
- Professor Dudley Herschbach, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1986, USA
- Professor Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1981, USA
- Professor Jules Hoffmann, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2011, France
- Professor Robert Huber, Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 1988, Germany
- Professor Tim Hunt, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2001, UK
- Sir Kazuo Ishiguro, Nobel Prize, Literature 2017, UK-Japan
- Elfriede Jelinek, Noble prize, Literature 2004, Austria
- Professor William Kaelin Jr., Nobel Prize, Medicine 2019, USA
- Professor Takaaki Kajita, Nobel Prize, Physics 2015, Japan
- Professor Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize, Economics 2002, USA-Israel
- Professor Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel Prize, Physics 2001, USA-Germany
- Professor Brian Kobilka, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2012, USA
- Professor Roger D. Kornberg, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2006, USA
- Professor Finn Kydland, Nobel Prize, Economics 2004, Norway
- Professor Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, Nobel Prize, Literature 2008, France
- Professor Anthony Legett, Nobel Prize, Physics 2003, UK-USA
- Professor Morio Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize, Literature 2010, Peru
- Professor David MacMillan, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2021, UK-USA
- Professor Eric Maskin, Nobel Prize, Economics 2007, USA
- Professor John C. Mather, Nobel Prize, Physics 2006, USA
- Oleksandra Matvichuk, Nobel Prize, Peace 2022, Ukraine
- Professor Morten P. Meldal, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2022, Denmark
- Professor Michel Mayor, Nobel Prize, Physics 2019, Switzerland
- Professor Patrick Modiano, Nobel Prize, Literature 2014, France
- Professor Paul Modrich, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2015, USA
- Professor William Moerner, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2014, USA
- Herta Muller, Nobel Prize, Literature 2009, Germany
- Professor Alice Munro, Nobel Prize, Literature 2013, Canada
- Professor Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Nobel Prize, Medicine 1995, Germany
- Professor Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Prize, Literature 2006, Turkey
- Professor Christopher Pissarides, Nobel Prize, Economics 2010, UK-Cyprus
- Professor John Polanyi, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1986, Canada
- Professor David Politzer, Nobel Prize, Physics 2004, USA
- Professor Sir Peter Ratcliffe, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2019, UK
- Professor Charles Rice, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2020, USA
- Professor Sir Richard J. Roberts, Nobel Prize, Medicine 1993, UK-USA
- Professor Michael Rosbash, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2017, USA
- Professor Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2016, France
- Professor Randy Schekman, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2013, USA
- Professor Richard Schrock, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 2005, USA
- Professor Gregg Semenza, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2019, USA
- Professor Vernon Smith, Nobel Prize, Economics 2002, USA
- Professor Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize, Literature 1986, Nigeria
- Professor Jack Szostak, Nobel Prize, Medicine 2009, USA
- Professor Joseph Taylor, Nobel Prize, Physics 1993, USA
- Professor Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize, Literature 2018, Poland
- Professor Eric Wieschaus, Nobel Prize, Medicine 1995, USA
- Professor David J. Wineland, Nobel Prize, Physics 2012, USA
- Professor Robert Wilson, Nobel Prize, Physics 1978, USA
