A large Iranian-American rally was held outside the U.S. Congress in Washington on Saturday, May 16, 2026, to protest the escalating wave of political executions in Iran and to support the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and a democratic republic.
Thousands of supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and the National Council of Resistance of Iran, along with members of the Iranian-American community, gathered near Capitol Hill and Upper Senate Park. Participants carried Iran’s lion-and-sun flags and banners calling for an end to executions, the release of political prisoners, and accountability for those responsible for repression and killings in Iran.
The rally took place at a highly sensitive political and humanitarian moment, amid a growing number of death sentences targeting political prisoners, PMOI members, and young protesters inside Iran. Its message went beyond human rights concerns and carried a clear political demand to U.S. and international public opinion: the Iranian people reject all forms of dictatorship, whether under the Shah or the ruling clerics, under the slogan “No Shah, No Mullah.”
Several prominent American political, human rights, and religious figures addressed the gathering, including former U.S. Congressman Patrick Kennedy; former U.S. Ambassador Carla Sands; General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander; and Reverend Manuel Nunez. The program also included remarks by Hejar Baranji, representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, youth speeches by Ali Ziaei and Kimia Arya, and artistic performances by Venezuelan artist Jonathan.
In her message to the rally, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the gathering sent a dual message: to the Iranian people that their struggle, uprising, and resistance enjoy broad support, and to the world that it must stand with the Iranian people and their democratic alternative. She said the clerical regime has entered a deadlock, unable to return to the situation before the uprisings and massacres, and has therefore intensified repression through mass arrests, internet shutdowns, street inspections, and the use of wartime conditions to carry out bloody prison purges.
Rajavi stressed that despite executing PMOI members and rebellious youth, the regime will not be able to prevent the next uprising or save itself. She called on the international community to recognize the Iranian people’s resistance, expel the regime’s agents, provide free internet access, and prosecute the regime’s leaders for crimes against humanity and genocide.
Patrick Kennedy said that standing in front of the U.S. Congress carried special symbolism, linking American democracy with the hope for a future democracy in a liberated Tehran. He described the “Free Iran” march in Washington as a declaration that Iranians have not surrendered, that tyranny has not prevailed, and that a democratic alternative exists to the religious fascism ruling Iran.
Kennedy referred to the execution of political prisoners Vahid Bani-Amerian and Abolhassan Montazer, saying that a confident regime does not rush political prisoners to the gallows. Such executions, he said, reveal not strength but deep fear of a new national uprising and of a generation that rejects dictatorship in all its forms. He also praised the role of Resistance Units inside Iran, saying they keep the flame of defiance alive across cities and provinces.
Carla Sands said the struggle for freedom in Iran is not an abstract political debate, but a human story written through sacrifice, endurance, and courage. She said the real “crime” of Vahid Bani-Amerian, Abolhassan Montazer, and their fellow PMOI members was courage and refusal to bow. The regime sought to send a message of fear through executions, she said, but instead turned them into symbols of resistance and moral endurance.
Hejar Baranji, representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, said the Iranian regime kills its own people at home, attacks Kurds, funds terrorism in the region, and uses diplomacy to buy time. He argued that the regime cannot be reformed, trusted, or moderated, and that the only solution is its overthrow and the creation of a free, democratic, secular, and federal Iran in which no people are denied, no woman is silenced, no prisoner is forgotten, and no dictatorship returns under a new name.
The rally featured symbolic displays and human rights banners, including a large English-language banner calling for an end to executions in Iran and the release of all political prisoners. Photos of victims and executed prisoners were displayed alongside red flowers in a symbolic tribute to those killed by the regime.
The Washington rally was therefore not merely a protest against executions. It was a political and human rights event reaffirming that the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom continues, that an organized democratic alternative exists, and that the path to peace in Iran and the region passes through ending the dictatorship of Velayat-e Faqih and restoring sovereignty to the Iranian people.
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