Message by Maryam Rajavi to the Iranian Gathering In Houston

Dear Compatriots,
Political personalities, representatives of associations and Iranian organizations in Texas

I salute you as you have gathered to support democratic change in Iran and to convey the outcries of our oppressed nation for freedom.

Your gathering and the series of conventions by Iranians in other parts of the United States and Europe have emanated from a massive force within Iranian society that seeks to turn the page on the history of oppression and injustice in Iran.

The powerful wave of freedom by the Iranian People in support of democratic change has not only frightened the mullahs but also their appeasers. So much so, that in recent weeks they have explicitly expressed concern over the Iranian Resistance’s successes.

One can see the reflection of this concern in a report, which by relying on lies by a number of operatives of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, has accused the Resistance movement of torturing and killing its own members. The objective is to impede the advancement of democratic change, which has found many supporters on both sides of the Atlantic.

That report stated, “It would be a huge mistake to promote an opposition group that is responsible for serious human rights abuses.” Indeed, the primary political motivation is to hinder the growing support for the Resistance and the option presented for change in Iran.

Thus, by trampling upon the most basic criteria and ignoring the right to defense as well as response by the Resistance, they have hastily attributed such unwarranted charges to it.

However, if the Resistance movement were to be damaged because of fabricated charges, it would be destroyed many years ago in the face of Khomeini’s unparalleled demagoguery.

In the four decades of unrelenting struggle for freedom by this movement, the oppressors and henchmen have combined shedding the blood of the Resistance’s members with allegations and slanders. Lies, labels and smear have accompanied the whip, the noose and the firing squads.

Under the Shah, the execution of the movement’s founders was justified on the charge of Marxist-Islamic. When Khomeini assumed power, he massacred the Mojahedin by calling them hypocrites and worst than infidels.

With utmost demagoguery, Khomeini would wrap the bodies of our martyrs in the U.S. flag and accuse the Resistance of spying for the Soviet Union and Iraq.

In subsequent years, the Resistance’s bases were hit by missiles or bombed because of the terrorist label.

Amid all this, a plethora of lies and slanders fabricated by the Intelligence Ministry in hundreds of volumes has justified the torture, hanging and the assassination of 120,000 victims.

Nevertheless, neither the tortures nor the executions extinguished the flames of our Resistance. Those accusations failed to tarnish the image of the Iranian Resistance. Quite to the contrary, Khomeini was condemned as the most hated ruler of our time and his regime was condemned fifty-one times by the United Nations for violating human rights.

For this reason, the allegation of abusing human rights against the Iranian Resistance has aroused outrage against those who appease Tehran and those who have manipulated human rights for political gains.

Hundreds of parliamentarians, political personalities, human rights advocates, lawyers and jurists as well as thousands of our compatriots have testified to the innocence and righteousness of the combatants of freedom in Ashraf City.

Indeed, they testified to the commitment of the members of this resistance to the Iranian people and to democracy and freedom as well as to their faith and dedication to human values.

In a joint statement with a number of distinguished members of the European Parliament, Dr. Alejo Vidal Quadras, EP’s First Vice President wrote, “The most basic impartiality has not been observed in the preparation of this report, which reveals vividly its political nature. These indications seriously undermine the conduct of the Human Rights Watch as an independent human rights organization.”

They revealed that they had been on the receiving end of the same allegations against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and that a number of those allegations were disseminated by the Iranian embassy among members of the European Parliament.

In a declaration, 15 members of the British Houses of Lords and Commons denounced the acceptance “at face value the claims of individuals with ties to the Iranian secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), who have already been exposed.”

Mr. Paulo Casaca, head of the EP delegation to NATO wrote, “The mullahs’ notorious secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, has an active disinformation campaign…. against its main opposition, the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran.”

He emphasized, “In the European Parliament, many members have been bombarded by a string of allegations against the Iranian Resistance groups, particularly the PMOI, in a manner that clearly points to an orchestrated smear campaign.”

Mr. Mash’an Al-Jabouri, head of the reconciliation and liberation parliamentary group in Iraq’s National Assembly described the report by the Human Rights Watch against the Mojahedin as being devoid of credibility and shocking. He invited HRW to engage in new investigations and set up a committee to visit the Resistance’s bases in Iraq.

In his most recent letter to Human Rights Watch, Lord Avebury, the renowned member of the House of Lords, recalled his earlier letters in 1994 and 1997 to Human Rights Watch in which the repeated invitations for visiting PMOI camps were raised. He added, “This investigation is disreputable and biased, and it has seriously tarnished the reputation of Human Rights Watch.”

These testimonies amid a poisonous onslaught waged to trample upon human rights, freedom and resistance are truly commendable because they safeguard the noblest human values.

They are an all-out defense of the right of our people to resist, to rid themselves of religious dictatorship and to attain freedom. The martyrs to the cause of freedom sacrificed their lives for this very right. The combatants of freedom have persevered and continue to persevere in this path.

This is the very truth that arouses the admiration of any fair-minded observer. I mean the perseverance of the combatants of freedom in Ashraf City who were the target of as assortment of attacks and conspiracies, from bombings to encirclement to expulsion and extradition schemes as well as a multitude of abhorrent slanders.

However, they proved their righteousness and genuineness. Every time, they stood up more upbeat and resolute than before and kept aloft the flag of freedom and democracy in Iran.

The testimony by the Iraqi people is a historic affirmation in this respect. Some 2.8 million Iraqis affirmed, “The Iranian Mojahedin has been waging a legitimate struggle, for the past 19 years, to liberate its homeland, doing so with honor and dedication.”

The Iranian nation is demanding democratic change. By boycotting the sham presidential election the Iranian people will in effect be voting for the need for democratic change.

Naturally, the clerical regime and those opposed to democratic change in Iran are not sitting idle and are using all their power to thwart that change. But, the time has run out on the mullahs and the option for democratic change is continuing to advance.

The widespread opposition to allegations attributed to the Iranian Resistance is in reality an achievement by those who represent a front for democratic change.

It is your duty to strengthen this front on the international scene. In streets and alleys tell every parliamentarian or political personality or any social or religious figure about the need for democratic change in Iran and urge them to support this call.

The end to the clerical dictatorship is within reach. The establishment of a republic based on the separation of church and state is within reach. Creating a society based on democracy and human rights is within reach. The Iranian people and Resistance are qualified to realize that goal.

Indeed, the dawn of the Iranian people’s fortune and prosperity will come.

Freedom will triumph.

God bless you all.