“We support Mrs Rajavi 100 percent” – EP Questor

Higins«We support Mrs Rajavi 100 percent and I have no doubt that with the internal and the external momentum and the combined efforts, we will eventually see the realisation of her dream and that is a democratic Iran,» said Jim Higgins, MEP, in the European Parliament in Brussels on November 11.

The EP Questor was speaking in a meeting organized by the parliamentary intergroup «Friends of a Free Iran» chaired by EP Vice President Alejo Vidal-Quadras. Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the Iranian Resistance, was the special guest.

Here are excerpts from Mr. Higgins’s speech:

I want to thank you first of all Mr President, because I think that what you have done is you have encapsulated for all of us exactly what our collective feelings are. It was a very, very powerful oration indeed and a very powerful demonstration of our solidarity and support for the PMOI and your ongoing campaign which I don’t have any doubt, giving all the internal pressure in the country itself, and giving the external political pressure, which is absolutely crucial, that this joint partnership will eventually deliver what we want and that is the vision of Mrs Rajavi who is extremely welcome indeed. And that is a secular, pluralistic and non nuclear Iran and that is what we are here for today to push that particular agenda and we will keep pushing that agenda until such time as we realize that particular dream.

What we are looking for, at the end of the day, is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. What we are looking for is a free democracy to rid Iran of the tyrannical regime that unfortunately tramples on the rights of the people.

I want to first of all say that I am in all admiration of the fact that you have managed to keep the uprising going. Sometimes it can be easy to start an uprising, but a real test is whether or not that uprising and the momentum can be kept going.

We this week celebrate in Europe the demolition of the Berlin wall over 20 years ago. We remember that when we had uprising in 1956 in Hungary what happened, the Russians moved in and suppressed it over night and that was the end of the revolution.
That was the end of the uprising.

We had the same situation in relation to Czechoslovakia led by Dubchek.
This was suppressed too, and that was the end of the uprising. What I admire about the surprising in Iran, is that you have managed to keep it going, and that is crucially important.

From the point of view of the residents of Camp Ashraf, again I admire them for their solidarity and the resistance against the invasion of an area which should have been an area with absolute territorial integrity. Unfortunately that was not recognized by the troops and by the police who invaded that territorial integrity and essentially we’ve seen the price in terms of loss of lives, the hunger strike and etc.

I had the pleasure of speaking in the European Parliament in support of the hunger strikers on day 66, just after they had gone on dry hunger strike. And we know from experience in Northern Ireland that once you go on dry hunger strike it is a totally different situation and you are talking about a matter of days.

And I do believe that the international pressure exerted by the European Union and exerted by the United Nations was crucial in terms of making the authorities see the light and allow this people to come out of hunger strike with dignity and to release them. Because they had already defied several court orders in relation with their release. So there’s no doubt that, had it not been for international pressure, those brave hunger strikers wouldn’t have been in their place today, so pressure absolutely pays. And last but by no means least: because there is a December deadline in relation to their displacement, it is vital that we keep the momentum and that we keep the pressure to ensure that this displacement does not take place. Because if displacement takes place, we are talking about a massacre, so we don’t want that to happen, what we want is actually on international front to ensure that this doesn’t take place so again we support Mrs Rajavi 100 percent and I have no doubt that with the internal and the external momentum and the combined efforts, that we will eventually see the realisation of your dream and that is a democratic Iran.