Maryam Rajavi’s message to the conference at the Italian Senate Defending the Resistance for Iran’s freedom is indispensable to the fight against the main enemy of global peace and security

I would like to appreciate your attention to the question of Iran, human rights, freedom and Iranian Resistance. By underscoring the need to confront the religious dictatorship in Iran, you have pinpointed an issue on which the world’s peace and security, the Middle East’s liberation from war, terrorism and instability, and the Iranian people’s freedom, all depend.

The experience of the past three decades attests that the West’s turning a blind eye on the oppression of the people of Iran has always facilitated and paved the way for the mullahs’ export of terrorism and fundamentalism to the region and jeopardized the world.

After years of experience, the West must open its eyes and realize that the Iranian people’s yearning for freedom and their Resistance for regime change, are their essential ally for freedom and peace in the Middle East and the world. Just as the suppression of this movement and obstruction of its path paved the way for the growth of fundamentalism and emergence of evil phenomena such as Daesh (ISIS/ISIL), and led to one of the bloodiest conflicts in the Middle East.

Today, there is an ongoing protest movement all across Iran. Workers, teachers and people whose savings have been plundered by institutes affiliated with the IRGC, the oppressed ethnic minorities, the retired, and other strata of people join these protests more and more every day.

The mullahs are not able to fulfill their demands which ultimately amount to freedom. Instead, they resort to execution of prisoners and indiscriminate arrests to contain the society.

At least 3200 people have been executed during Rouhani’s tenure, including young men who were minors at the time of committing the crime. The victims also include at least 81 women.1

Of course, this is part of the crackdown on women. Harsh discriminations are in force against women in all political, legal, and economic realms, as well as in the family. Imposition of the compulsory veil and a plethora of misogynous measures are at work every day in accordance with the Sharia laws of the clerical regime.

The mullahs clearly know that without these pressures on women, they would not be able to rein in an enormously disenchanted society.
In fact, they are at war with the people of Iran, a war that is carried out by the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as the theocratic regime’s main instrument. This is the same force that cracks down on every freedom in Iran, and is engaged in war and slaughter in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, Afghanistan and other parts of the region. The West’s silence and inaction vis-à-vis this destructive and ruthless force, has paved the way for its aggressions and invasions.

Western governments have rightly recognized Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) as a threat to the entire world and undertaken an essential role in the fight against it over the past two years. The truth is that the IRGC is a much greater threat than Daesh, and without confronting it, the Middle East and the world will not experience peace.

For this reason, we urge the Italian government and companies to refrain from engaging in any deals with the IRGC. The lion’s share of Iran’s economy, particularly the exports and imports, are handled by the IRGC. Italy and other countries’ commercial trade with the Iranian regime does not create jobs for Iran’s ten million unemployed. These deals do not improve the lives of ten million people who are living under the poverty line in Iran. But the deals will benefit the IRGC in confronting the freedom movement in Iran and in escalating war and terror in the Middle East. The IRGC is the prime instrument of slaughter, suppression and terror and it must be blacklisted and face comprehensive sanctions.

We also urge the government of Italy and all parties, personalities, and institutions that defend human rights in that country to support the Iranian Resistance’s call on the United Nations to form a committee to investigate the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, so that the officials in charge of this crime against humanity would face justice. We urge the Italian Senate and National Parliament to officially declare the massacre as a crime against humanity. And we urge Italy to condition its relations with the religious fascism ruling Iran on an end to executions and torture.

Once again, I sincerely thank the honorable senators, representatives and personalities of Italy who have risen in defense of the establishment of freedom and democracy in Iran. These efforts lay the foundations for the deepest friendships among the nations of Italy and Iran.

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(1) Commission des femmes du Conseil national de la résistance iranienne, 19 septembre 2017