Speech at CASA AMERICA – Madrid

Dear Friends,

I am very happy to be meeting you here.

On behalf of the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance, I salute the great people of Spain.
The history of the world consistently remembers the nation of Spain with reverence for the very heavy price that they have endured for the cause of democracy and progress.
That is why there are discernible common links between our people and the nation of Spain.
Our people have been struggling against the religious fascism ruling Iran for the past three decades, and over 120,000 of their children have lost their lives in the course of this struggle.
It is fortunate that in Spain, members of parliament, personalities and human rights organizations have offered extensive support for the Iranian people, specially for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) activists in camps Liberty and Ashraf.

Leading the way has been Dr. Alejo Vidal Quadras, the Vice President of the European Parliament. In the eyes of the Iranian people, he is a revered symbol of solidarity between our two peoples.
The history of the resistance for freedom of the Iranian people will continue to regard Alejo Vidal Quadras in high esteem.
During the darkest hours, he hoisted the flag of defending Ashraf, and freedom and democracy in Iran, face-to-face with the policy of appeasement. The solidarity among our peoples is also represented by Dr. Juan Garces, the leading human rights lawyer, who achieved great victories as an advocate for the residents of Cam Ashraf.
I would also like to thank senators Chikio and Sanodo as well as member of parliament Mr. Chokla and other senators and parliamentarians in Spain who I had opportunity to meet in my visit and I would like to express my gratitude to them for their support for the Iranian people and resistance.
I also want to mention Spain’s human rights institutions which have been among the leaders of defending Ashraf:
The Federation of Active Associations Defending and Promoting Human Rights in Spain, Spain’s United Nations Association, Spain’s Human Rights Association, Association To Defend Freedom of Religion, The Spanish Committee to Help Refugees, Catalonia’s Human Rights Institute, Spanish League of Human Rights, Institute for Political Studies on Latin America and Africa, Justice and Peace Society, The Peace Movement, Disarmament and Freedom, The Movement for Peace and Welfare, World’s Number One Organization, UNESCO Center in Basque, Platform of Women Artists against Sexual Violence and Spain’s Human Rights Society.
I hail them all.

Dear Friends,
This conference is held at a time when the people and country of Spain is suffering from the aftermath of an economic crisis.
We share their grief and pains.
At the same time, I would like to talk about a great affliction that has plagued the world today, the fundamentalist threat emanating from the regime in Tehran.
In recent months, the confrontation of two antagonistic fronts has peaked over the Iranian issue and its future:
On the one side, there is the velayat-e faqih regime and all those who benefit from its persistence.
On the other side, there are the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance who are determined to overthrow this regime; they are joined by all those who consider democracy, peace and tranquility in the region and the world contingent on change in Iran.
Within the region, this confrontation continues with the extensive meddling of the Iranian regime to save the Syrian regime, which is on the brink of collapse.
At the international level, this confrontation can be seen in the unending attempts of the regime to develop nuclear weapons.
But, more than anywhere else, this conflict has been revealed between this regime and the Iranian society.
On the one hand, there is a society adrift in dissatisfaction, harboring a potential for uprisings.
On the other side stands a weakened regime that can depend on nothing but committing executions and torture.
Amnesty International reported in January that thousands of people in Iran are awaiting executions. This is a realistic assessment.
Using executions as a leverage, the clerical rulers are regulating the degree of repression in society.
These executions are generally carried out under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking.
But it is clear for us that many of those executed are young rebels and protestors, and even political prisoners.
Moreover, torture and rape against prisoners remain a bedrock of the same policy.
The death of Sattar Beheshti under torture last month, which shocked the world, is an example of the ceaseless torture that leads to deaths in prisons.
Last summer, the mullahs even arrested young people who had rushed to Azerbaijan province to help victims of an earthquake. The regime feared that their collective efforts would lead to the formation of a larger movement against the regime itself.
The recent resolution passed by the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly clearly shows that this regime has obliterated human rights in Iran from all angles.
Another important aspect of the confrontation between the velayat-e faqih regime and the Iranian people is their plots and suppressive pressures imposed on the freedom-seekers in Liberty and Ashraf.
The mullahs’ puppet government in Iraq, on the orders of Tehran, has turned the camp where Mojahedines reside into a prison. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions recently issued a report, declaring for the second time that the conditions in Liberty are tantamount to a detention center, that they violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that they are in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The ruling mullahs continue to harbor the illusion that by destroying the opposition they would guarantee their own survival.
This strategy, however, has failed.
That is why the movement to bring down this regime should be expanded to everywhere.
By obliterating the terrorist designation, the Iranian Resistance dealt a heavy blow to the clerical regime at the international level. This attack must be extended to cover all fronts.

Dear Friends,
allow me to address those who in the depths of their confusion and lack of wisdom, or due to their willingness to escape the heavy burdens of standing up to this regime, seek negotiations with the regime. Let me repeat to them that: If you can compel this regime to retreat even a single step from torture and executions, don’t waste a second.
If you can compel the velayat-e faqih regime to refrain from warmongering and terrorism in the region and its ominous nuclear program, then waste no time.
Please then proceed with negotiations.
But you have no right to strike a deal over even the least bit of rights of the Iranian people.
Therefore, we tell them that if you do not want a fundamentalist regime equipped with a nuclear weapon, then there is one and only one path in front of you:
Reorient yourselves with the will of the Iranian people to overthrow this regime.
The Iranian society harbors a volcano that is ready to erupt as a result of disillusionment.
But these protests will not in and of themselves bring about change and the regime’s overthrow. They require leadership and organization. And that is what the Resistance movement has prepared itself for.
There are three bright fountainheads that endow the Resistance with the necessary ability and competency to make the Iranian people’s pressing desire for overthrowing the regime into a reality.
The first factor is the backing and support that this Resistance enjoys among the Iranian people.
The second factor is the strength and tenacity of this Resistance. The perseverance in the face of three decades of cruel suppression has become possible on the basis of this strength.
And the third factor is advocating a democratic platform.
This platform presents the main outlines of a future for which we have arisen:

– The establishment of a republic
– Separation of church and state
– Gender equality with an emphasis on the active and equal presence of women in political leadership
– Pluralism
– A society based on human rights and specifically the abolishment of the death penalty and rejection of all of the mullahs’ Sharia laws;
– Providing equal economic opportunities
– Cooperation and friendship with all countries
– And, a non-nuclear Iran.

Allow me to sum up: We seek to establish freedom, democracy and equality.
But these are not simply words written on paper; they are principles which we have outlined during three decades of a painful and bloody struggle.
These are principles recognized and shared by the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people.
Our belief in equality for women gains its credibility from the blood of tens of thousands of female PMOI members and activists who have been tortured and executed over the past thirty years, as well as the suffering and perseverance of the heroines who have led during two decades Camp Ashraf and the entire Iranian resistance all over the world.
Our decision to abolish the death penalty is a decision made by a movement whose members have bore the brunt of executions by this regime.
This book contains the identities of 20,000 PMOI supporters who have been executed.
Moreover, the flag of separation of church and state has been hoisted by a movement whose main component is the PMOI, which represents the intellectual and cultural antithesis to Islamic fundamentalism, and advocates a democratic reading of Islam.
It advocates the true Islam, a religion that is based on compassion and tolerance, the principal message and teaching of Prophet Mohammad.
And, finally, the faith to establish a republic based on universal suffrage and popular sovereignty has been demonstrated in the course of our struggle to overthrow the velayat-e faqih regime.
Massoud Rajavi, the Leader of the Iranian Resistance, has said in this regard: “The PMOI deeply believes that in order to stay immune from the aberrations and deviations that have beset contemporary revolutions across the world, it must remain committed with all its being to the will of the people and democracy. It is not sufficient for it to have passed the test of the era of repression, imprisonment, torture and executions. The PMOI must also pass the test of general elections. … And, if (after the overthrow of the regime) the people refuse to elect us, we would remain in the ranks of the opposition, remaining true to our principles.”

Dear Friends,

The experience of Syria is an indication that the price for the absence of an organized and ready alternative and movement is the bearing of great afflictions and shedding of blood. In Iran’s case, fortunately, such an alternative exists. The biggest error in western policy vis-a-vis Iran and the entire region has been ignoring human rights in Iran and attempting to sideline a movement that has always had the key for change in Iran.

That is why I would like them to:
1. Make the continuation of your political relations with the regime contingent on its decision to stop execution and torture of prisoners;
2. Refer the dossier of human rights violations and particularly women rights violation in Iran to the UN Security Council;
3. Ensure the protection and safety of Mojahedines in Camps Ashraf and Liberty and specifically demand from th