France's government welcomed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday with promises of a new beginning in an old relationship, starting with investments to boost Iran's flagging economy that has been crippled by decades of sanctions. "It's a new chapter of our relationship," French president Francois Hollande said in a joint news conference following a two-hour meeting with Rouhani at the Elysee palace. "I want that relationship to be useful, useful to both countries, useful to the (Middle East) region affected by wars, crises and tragedies." Hollande added that he raised the issue of human rights and freedom during the meeting. "We must fight terrorism" in Syria and Iraq, Rouhani said during the joint conference. "We must help the Syrian people so that the Syrian people can build a sustainable future for the country," he said. Rouhani decried the sanctions his country was previously under, saying history has shown that they "never worked." He said the nuclear deal that led to the lifting of sanctions this month can serve as a model for solutions in other crises, notably in the Middle East. A total of 20 agreements were signed after Rouhani's meeting with Hollande.Despite the friendly atmosphere, Rouhani could not avoid facing protests as thousands of people denounced Iran's policy towards Syria and violation of human rights. Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, with headquarters outside Paris, held a demonstration, and 61 lawmakers signed an open letter to Hollande condemning Iran's human rights record, with executions on the rise, and what it called its "strategy of chaos" in the Middle East. An activist hung from a fake noose off a Paris bridge next to a huge banner reading "Welcome Rouhani, Executioner of Freedom." Femen, an activist group that originated in Ukraine with an emphasis on feminist issues, has won world notoriety for its topless stunts.Across the city, some 800 protesters waving Iranian flags joined a four-kilometer march to Les Invalides, the military complex that includes Napoleon's tomb where Rouhani was feted with military honors earlier in the day. Iran is the world's most prolific executioner of offenders convicted while juveniles, Amnesty International said Tuesday, accusing the Islamic republic of using torture and ill-treatment to extract confessions from minors. The rights group said Iran "tops the grim global table of executioners of juvenile offenders" with 73 recorded executions between 2005 and 2015, including at least four last year. "Iran is one of the few countries that continues to execute juvenile offenders in blatant violation of the absolute legal prohibition on the use of the death penalty against people under the age of 18 years at the time of the crime," said Amnesty's Middle East deputy director, Said Boumedouha.