Maryam Rajavi’s Message to the Iranian Convention in California

Dear Compatriots,
Political personalities,
Delegates of Iranian communities in western United States

I send my greetings to each and every one of you. The different conventions and gatherings by Iranians in support of democratic change in Iran, held so far in London, Brussels, Washington DC, Berlin, Stockholm and now in California, reflect the consensus of Iranians over the most important demands of the Iranian nation.

Your gathering is being held at a time when the clerical regime is facing an acute crisis as the sham presidential election and prospects of an all-out boycott have turned into a funeral for the game of “moderation” and the policy of appeasement. They have put the spotlight on the clerical regime’s unprecedented political impasse.

In such circumstances, your activities around the globe have advanced the objectives of the resistance movement and the Iranian people’s cry for freedom. You have demonstrated to every one that appeasing Iran’s murderous rulers promotes fundamentalism and terrorism and undermines democracy, peace and stability. You have discredited the terror label. You have demonstrated that the answer to the Iranian problem, the viable and effective solution, is indeed democratic change. What you have fought for with dignity and selflessness, namely freedom and democracy, are the central goals of our movement.

The Iranian people should be proud to have you as their friends and children, because you are doing your utmost to open the gates to victory and freedom.

Each of you is fully aware of the impact of our movement’s advances in defending this option among our compatriots. As you are aware, Parliamentarians in Europe, Canada, Australia and in the U.S. Congress, as well as jurists, lawyers and human rights advocates throughout the world have offered their support for the goals of this resistance.

Conversely, the clerical regime and its apologists have grown increasingly concerned because they realize that the direct impact of your activities and the support offered by congressional and political dignitaries in the United States have made the terror label against the Iranian Resistance untenable and hollow.

Two weeks ago, the mullahs’ Foreign Minister said, “The Mojahedin have been recognized by the European countries and America as a terrorist organization. Therefore, there is no reason for them to have freedom of action, hold seminars and contact members of Congress. This proves that the U.S. is not serious about the fight against terrorism.”

These are comments by the mullahs’ Foreign Minister. But, what is the reality? What do your activities prove? They prove that your hard work and selfless sacrifices push aside the obstacles one by one. In other words, despite all pressures, conspiracies and slanders, you are opening the way and transforming the political environment everywhere by demonstrating the righteousness of the Resistance and the fact that it has been victimized.

In recent days, a so-called human rights group, with known contacts with the pro-regime and pro-Rafsanjani lobby, issued a hasty report on the Mojahedin and falsely accused it of violating human rights. This report is a reaction by appeasers of the mullahs’ dictatorship, who seek to prevent the removal of the terror label against the Mojahedin.

A senior official of this group showed his ire at the extensive support in the United States and Europe for removal of the absurd terror tag on the Iranian Resistance and at the fact that members of the United States Congress from both sides of the aisle addressed the national convention of Iranians in Washington DC and called for the removal of the Mojahedin from the list of terrorist groups. He said, “The Iranian government has a dreadful record on human rights. But it would be a huge mistake to promote an opposition group that is responsible for serious human rights abuses.”

It could only be said that regrettably human rights are being manipulated to prevent growing support for the Iranian Resistance.

Of course, considering the clerical regime’s crisis-riddled state on the eve of the presidential elections and the commendable advances made by the Resistance in different arenas, such angry reaction by the clerical regime and its proponents were predictable. That human rights have been so manipulated is truly regrettable. It is sad to see human rights, the noble achievement of human history, be put at the service of a bloodthirsty dictatorship. Is it not true that this report gives free rein to the mullahs’ henchmen to further repress, torture and execute members and sympathizers of the Resistance?

Any one with the slightest knowledge of the situation in Iran and in particular the mullahs’ disinformation campaign would easily notice that these lies have been fabricated and what their sources are. It was no wonder that members of the European Parliament said part of the accusations in this report had been previously distributed in the European Parliament by the Iranian regime.

The crux of the matter, therefore, is that the villains are being let off and the victims punished. We are not faced with an ordinary dictatorship but a regime whose distinctive feature is demagoguery.

Not only does this regime deny its crimes, but also it accuses the very victims of torture and execution of committing atrocities. Twenty-five years ago, Khomeini said the Mojahedin torture themselves. Continuing on the same incredible path, 15 years later, the clerical regime introduced a plan to turn human rights card against victims of its violations, seeking to accuse the Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance of human rights violations to divert attention from the unabated trend of torture and executions in Iran. And today, Human Rights Watch’s report is a blatant example of the same scheme.

Is it not true that human rights advocate would insist visiting places where there have been complaints over human rights violations? Why is it that despite official invitation by the Resistance’s leader 11 years ago, HRW was never prepared to visit Mojahedin bases, where it alleges there are prisons and torture chambers?

What is more, since when remarks by Iranian Intelligence Ministry agents are considered as human rights documents?

Since when has it become a common practice to target an enchained nation with a barrage of accusations while preventing the resistance movement from defending itself? Of course, it is quite clear that when political interests, as ominous as protecting a medieval dictatorship, are at stake, justice and humanity disappear.

Those who seek to appease the regime and accuse the Resistance of the Iranian people of terrorism and those who try to maintain this hollow charge against the Resistance, have taken a nation’s desire for freedom and democracy hostage. Is this not a betrayal of human rights?

Was it not the terror list, which licensed the bombing of freedom fighters? Is this list not the cause of all sorts of restrictions and threats directed at Iranian freedom fighters in Ashraf city?

Was it not the mullahs’ wholehearted desire for the past two years to get the members of the Mojahedin extradited, executed, murdered or at least expelled from Iraq? Is it not the case that now, the HRW report serves to revive the very same failed ploy.

However, the friends of this Resistance, those who have deprived themselves of every comfort for years in defense of this movement, will defeat the conspiracy of the appeasers of the regime in the same way they neutralized ploys to have the Mojahedin expelled or extradited.

Allow me at this point to offer my gratitude to our fellow compatriots in and out of Iran in who expressed outrage over the claims by this so-called human rights group. I also sincerely thank members of parliaments in Europe, personalities in the United States and human rights advocates across the globe who rejected this fabrication against the Iranian Resistance.

Resistance supporters, I again call on all Iranians to confront the medieval regime in Iran and its appeasers and to continue the fight for freedom and democracy. We need the support of each and every one of you. Democracy is our path, criterion and objective. Without the establishment of democracy in Iran, there will be no peace, stability and tranquility in the region.

Having sacrificed 120,000 of their most valiant children, the Iranian people and Resistance will no doubt overcome any obstacle on the path to democracy in Iran. There is an end to the long lasting suffering and calamities our nation has endured. We hear God’s tidings that dawn is near. Dawn is indeed near. Injustice and oppression will be defeated. Freedom will triumph.

May God bless you all