María del Carmen Quintanilla, President of AFAMMER, Spanish MP, and Senator until 2020, sent a message of solidarity to the IWD2023 event in Brussels to support Iranian women’s struggle for freedom. The text of her message follows:
Hello, good afternoon,
Ladies and gentlemen, officials from all over the world.
Dear President, Madam Rajavi,
I want my first words to be congratulations to you, especially at a time when there is March 4, an emblematic day that you are going to celebrate with all the exiled Iranian women, the Day of Women’s Equality.
That is why I want to tell you that I am very sad not to be able to accompany you. Still, above all, I want to express my absolute opposition to the government of Iran, a government that every day violates women’s human rights. A government that overwhelms and murders women simply for having a voice and wanting to live in freedom and the rule of law.
That is why I want to be by your side on this emblematic day. I want to tell you that I will always be by your side as I have been at other times and that at this moment, I cannot do it because I am flying to New York to participate in the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which is so important for us.
On the eve of March 8, you have my support, solidarity, and love. I will always be by your side. Thank you very much, and keep going, Madam Rajavi defending women’s human rights, but above all, defending forcefully and courageously, as you have always done, democracy and the rule of law for the Iranian people. Thank you.