Thank you very much.

With your permission, I will do my talk in French.

Freedom of expression is the bedrock of democracy. In Iran, freedom of expression never existed, not during the Shah's time, nor—and even less so—since the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The first victims of repression were women and the press.

Today, I want expressly to speak, as have my colleagues, in fact, about the sexual apartheid that reigns in Iran, that is, a system of systemic and institutionalized segregation of women. The obligation to wear the veil in public is only the visible part of the discrimination that exists in Iran. Since the establishment of the Islamic theocracy in Iran in 1979, women have been legally worth half as much as men. Women inherit half of what men inherit. In terms of legal testimony, it takes two women for their testimony to be equivalent to that of a man, even in the case of premeditated murder. If a man murders his daughter, he will not be punished, because she belongs to him. A mother cannot apply for legal documents, such as a passport for her children, because the woman's signature has no legal value.

Furthermore, a woman has no right to be a judge. Ms. Shirin Ebadi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, is a case in point. She lost her right to practise after the revolution. Nor are women allowed to run for the country's presidency. Many sports are forbidden to women. A woman cannot study, work or travel without her husband's permission. Polygamy is permitted for men. A man can divorce his wife at any time, unconditionally, without her even knowing, whereas a woman must convince a judge, with valid reasons, to obtain the right to divorce. Incidentally, this partial right was obtained after many years of feminist struggle in Iran. After a divorce, custody of the children is given to the father or any other male in his family, unless the child is disabled.

These are just a few examples. Iranian women are resisting, and despite the systemic discrimination they experience, 60% of those on university benches are girls, and much to the chagrin of the authorities, women are occupying the country's social and economic scene.

I've told you about women's rights, but human rights in general are flouted, and repression is brutal. Freedom of expression and the right of association do not exist. The media are censored. Internet access is controlled. Any protest is violently repressed. You've probably heard more about it since the assassination of Mahsa Zhina Amini and the Women, Life, Freedom uprising.

In four months of protests, 600 people were killed in the streets, including more than 50 children. Tens of thousands have been arrested, of whom 22,000 have been granted amnesty, according to the Iranian government. Many received death sentences. Incidentally, several of you have taken part in the campaign to sponsor political prisoners threatened with execution, and we are very grateful to you.

Over the past two years, the government has also attempted to disfigure the protest movement. It specifically targeted the eyes of demonstrators in the street. More than 500 people have lost their sight.

Iran is now under electronic surveillance. More than a million women who continue to resist the regime's diktats and who appear in public without wearing the veil have received violation notices by text message, they have had their cars confiscated, they have been fined and sent to prison, and they continue to resist.

Every year, the UN Special Rapporteur denounces the violation of human rights in Iran. Prisons are full of prisoners of conscience. Amnesty International regularly denounces the use of torture, rape, electric shocks, mock executions, forced confessions and arbitrary executions.

In recent years, chemical torture has been added to physical and mental torture. Strangely, several suicides were recorded on release from prison; prisoners were committing suicide within days of their release. These same chemical weapons were used during the Women, Life, Freedom uprising. The aim was to spread terror in girls' schools. Thousands of pupils were poisoned and hospitalized between January and April 2023. I'm talking about underage girls here.

In 2013, the Canadian Parliament recognized the massacres of political prisoners in the 1980s as crimes against humanity, where around 9,000 prisoners were executed and thrown into mass graves in Khavaran. These 44 years of Islamic rule have been accompanied by 44 years of resistance. People have tried everything: confrontation, reform and civil disobedience. Iranian society is young, ebullient and, above all, determined to put an end to this regime of terror. However, we are facing a monster.

I hope to have time to talk more about this as I answer questions from committee members.