Maryam Rajavi: After years of adversity, the credibility of French justice has once again been restored

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

“In every corner of the world, where rights of human beings are trampled upon, and where people are robbed of their freedoms and sense of security, there exists one and only one recourse: resistance.
… Every child that is murdered, every human being that is tortured or executed, deserves our attention. We cannot observe in silence, while enjoying our wealth and freedoms, as other human beings are tortured or killed.

The struggle of the Iranian Resistance is a struggle for human rights. It is a struggle that belongs to all of us. It concerns every nation. … When conscience speaks and thrusts into action, there is no force out there that can defy it.”
These words were spoken in July 1984 across from a court in Créteil, France, which was hearing a case defending the activists of the Iranian Resistance.
The man who uttered those words is among us here today: Henri Leclerc, who has become a symbol for French conscience and justice.

At the time, no one could predict that two decades later, it would again be up to Henri Leclerc to stand up to the injustices against the Resistance in France. During the June 17, 2003 fiasco, Mr. Leclerc leveraged all of his experiences and expertise, summoning his conscience and love for freedom, to rush to our support. This time, too, his most significant contribution was to defend the legitimacy of the resistance of the Iranian people to overthrow the religious dictatorship ruling their country.

The defense raised by Henri Leclerc, who is also the honorary president of the League of Human Rights, proved relentlessly loyal to the legacy of the great French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. And, we witnessed his victory when French judges declared, in an order dismissing all charges laid in the June 17 case, that the act of resistance against a regime that terrorizes its own people not only does not amount to terrorism, but is considered legitimate resistance against tyranny.

We have gathered here today to honor justice. The word justice, which we all cherish so dearly, has been the subject of heroic struggles that have written the histories of various nations. No nation can lay claim to happiness in the absence of justice.

In France, after long and arduous years, justice finally regained its credibility. The incompetence and unethical conduct of a few politicians had turned the judiciary into a tool that, coupled with the collaboration of the Iranian mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence, the same people who torture and execute our sisters and brothers in prisons in Iran, designed a plot against the Iranian Resistance.

During this period, there were times when we could have rightly abandoned hope in the judiciary after facing a judge who had chosen to serve at the whim of government, sacrificing fundamental values for the sake of economic interests. Yet we chose instead to wage a struggle to end such an injustice. Sadly, for over a decade, these injustices, buoyed by an extensive campaign of demonization and the propagation of a hotchpotch of lies against the Resistance in the media meant to rationalize those injustices, diverted the Resistance’s energies, leading to pressures, challenges and obstacles that could only be overcome through perseverance and sacrifice.

Today, we are victorious because we represent a resistance movement that is just and virtuous. And we prevailed because we had vigorous advocates of justice on our side. As the Leader of the Iranian Resistance, Massoud Rajavi, once said: wherever there is an ounce of fairness and rule of law, the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance will prevail.

By propagating their lies, they attacked us in order to rob us of our basic asset, our moral worth. But, you, who represent the moral worth of France, stood up to the politicians and some of the judges and agents who tried to destroy it.
By choosing to defend the Iranian Resistance, you have carved out a place for yourselves in the history of our people, who yearn for justice. It is justice and freedom of the Iranian people that has been usurped by the mullahs’ theocracy. We have won a battle. But the struggle for justice must continue until it shines in Iran. The people of Iran have paid the price for these injustices through enormous suffering and thousands of executions.
This judicial case had constrained the Iranian Resistance for 14 years. Camps Ashraf and Liberty were attacked and placed under siege, especially an inhumane medical blockade.

The latest victim of the medical siege is Farideh Vanai. She was diagnosed with cancer but was denied treatment, and suffered enormously as a result. Through the efforts of the Resistance, she was transferred to Albania at the eleventh hour. But it proved to be too late, and she died on November 5.
Yesterday, another resident of Camp Liberty, Yaqoub Torabi, who had previously been the subject of the blockade on Camp Ashraf, died. We honor their memories.

My beloved sister, Farideh, was a heroic, brave, and dependable woman, and one of the commanders of the Liberation Army. Gripping with a serious illness, she suffered for years under the cruel and brutal siege on Ashraf and Liberty. But, she persevered in that period of time by relying on her powerful spirit. She was then placed under treatment after being transferred to Albania. Sadly, however, her illness had already reached a critical point rendering the efforts of doctors fruitless, and she ultimately lost her life. And, Yaqoub Torabi, a former champion, a well-known hero of the Liberation Army and among the commanders and officials of the PMOI, who also suffered from a variety of illnesses at Ashraf in recent years, died yesterday.

They had each spent at least thirty years of their lives fighting against the monster of religious fascism in Iran. Their perseverance, courage, sacrifices, and the brilliant humane values they helped create, are a source of pride for Iranian society and an excellent example for young Iranians involved in the struggle for liberty.
I hereby once again call on the international community to take the following steps with respect to Camp Liberty:
• Recognize Camp Liberty as a refugee camp under the supervision of the United Nations;
• Lift the siege on the camp, especially the medical siege;
• Guarantee the fulfilment of minimum necessities to ensure the residents’ safety and security for as long as they remain in Iraq;
• Secure the release of hostages taken on September 1, 2013;
• And, the UN must conduct an investigation into the enormous crime committed at Ashraf and bring those responsible to justice.

Dear Friends,
Today, women whose faces have been disfigured by acid seek justice. The families of all those who have been hanged or executed simply for harboring opposing views seek justice. The families of the regime’s victims, like Reyhaneh, whose only crime was to defend herself against rape, seek justice. Women, youth, religious and ethnic minorities, and all those who have been deprived of freedom, equality and happiness, seek justice.

However, this regime cannot preserve its rule without executing youth and without suppressing women, because it is extremely fragile and it fears people who are prepared to rise up. This is a regime that is the godfather of fundamentalism, terrorism, and the ISIS group. It exports its practices and barbarity to Iraq, Syria and other places.
This represents a vital need for the regime, because it has been encircled by irremediable political, social, and economic crises.

The mullahs also insist on manufacturing a nuclear weapon, because they do not have faith in their own future, and see the bomb as a guarantor of their survival.

Last year, on November 24, the mullahs and the West signed an interim agreement. This agreement should have resulted in a comprehensive deal to end the mullahs’ ability to produce a nuclear bomb. But, at a certain point, the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, changed his tone. It happened when the mullahs realized that their puppet government in Iraq is about to fall. The mullahs sensed a threat and felt that the bitter repercussions of a nuclear agreement would be much more lethal for their regime than in the past.

Another factor that contributed to the mullahs’ intransigence was the series of concessions by western governments in the course of the talks. Instead of insisting on the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, including a halt to enrichment, they actually raised the number of centrifuges allowed for the regime.

This policy encourages the regime to press for more concessions or to buy time in order to keep open its path towards a nuclear bomb. There is now two weeks left for a final deal. On behalf of the Iranian Resistance, I must warn against any concessions to the regime by western governments. Any agreement must include full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, a halt to enrichment, shutting down the Fordow, Arak and Natanz sites, and international inspections of all suspicious sites in Iran.

Western governments have remained silent in the face of increasing human rights violations in Iran and the regime’s catastrophic meddling in the region in order to placate the mullahs during the negotiations. But, the result of this has only been a more emboldened Iranian regime in the course of the talks. Therefore, any deal must also include a call for an end to executions and torture in Iran and an end to the mullahs’ aggressive policies in the region.

Dear Friends,
Our struggle will continue until it ends the evil phenomenon of fundamentalism and the manipulation of Islam represented by the mullahs, and until a democratic system has been instituted, one that respects universal values such as individual freedoms, pluralism, separation of church and state, freedom of religion, and especially gender equality.

On that day, we would be delighted to greet you in Iran, and the people of Iran will extend you the gratitude that you so deserve.