Maryam Rajavi’s Message to the Iranian Rally- Sweden

In the name of God, in the name of Iran and in the name of freedom
In the name of 120,000 martyrs to the cause of Iran’s freedom
In the name of the great Iranian nation, resolved to topple the ruling religious dictatorship

Dear compatriots,

Your gathering today is another powerful indication of our people’s yearning for freedom that is gaining momentum everywhere, from Iranian cities to Iranian communities across the world.

This unrelenting campaign, this burning conviction, and this unending desire hold aloft the flag of resistance and the love of freedom in Iran by Iranians. Today, you have gathered to voice the national resolve to bring down the ruling theocracy and herald democratic change in Iran.

The Iranian nation is crying out that the era of repression, flogging, execution and discrimination had come to an end and must give way to a republic based on the separation of church and state, established through free elections.

Presidential Elections
Thus, the mullahs’ presidential election farce planned by the velayat-e faqih system is absolutely illegitimate; it is neither an election, nor free, nor fair and nor legitimate. An election whose candidates are handpicked by the Guardian Council is not an election.

The Iranian nation’s response to such an election masquerade is rejection and boycott.

Even now, those running this farce predict that no more than 20 percent of the eligible voters would take part in the election. The actual figure, however, would be much lower.

Elections in the velayat-faqih regime have always acted as a means to justify the usurping of popular sovereignty. This time, however, the general apathy is so great that the election farce is headed for a major defeat even before being held.

The candidates, all of whom are responsible for the killings and atrocities of the past 26 years, show the scandalous nature of the election. [Akbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani was among the principals in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners and in the 1990s chain murders as well as one of ringleaders of those who have stolen from the Iranian people. He was implicated in a court in Berlin in 1997 as one of the masterminds of the Mykonos murders.

Other candidates are either commanders of the Revolutionary Guards or among the most loathed officials of the regime. Thus, all candidates are already discredited, rendering the election even more farcical and exacerbating discord within the regime.

Nevertheless, those who look to Rafsanjani are pinning their hopes on him out of absolute desperation. Eight years ago, at the end of Rafsanjani’s second term, they claimed that the era of reform had begun within the regime.

The obvious reality is that there are no saviors within this failing regime. Neither is there any solution that would ensure the survival of the regime. This time, the mullahs cannot escape the looming crisis: The real prospects of their overthrow.

In light of all these, I call on the international community to reject the mullahs’ presidential election sham.

I also call on all government to declare the election farce illegitimate and stand with the Iranian people as they stand for democracy and freedom.

Appeasement policy
Those who would be trying to portray Rafsanjani as pragmatic, or calling Revolutionary Guards commanders as moderates in order to justify the policy of appeasement, are not merely mollifying the regime. They are staining their hands with the blood of the Iranian nation.

The other reality is that the election farce is tantamount to a funeral for the policy of appeasement and reform-maneuver within the religious dictatorship. This means that appeasement and reform pretenses are no longer tenable and the mullahs have no way out this time.

An example of such bankrupt and deceptive undertaking was the disgraceful report by a so-called human rights group in the United States, Human Right Watch, which has known links to the Tehran regime’s lobby and Rafsanjani’s faction. It amounted to the oft-repeated lies by the regime’s operatives in order to accuse the Mojahedin of violating human rights.

Interestingly enough, the timing of the report coincides with the mullahs’ election farce. Without even asking the National Council of Resistance of Iran or the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran any questions on the allegations it has raised, or reviewing the facts presented by the Iranian Resistance, the report has demonstrated the political agenda the Human Rights Watch is pursuing. Its press release noted that the call for removing the name of the Mojahedin from the list of terrorist organizations was gaining growing support in Europe and the United States, and underscored that the report was designed to confront such efforts.

If Human Rights Watch were concerned about human rights violations by the Mojahedin, it would have replied affirmatively to the invitation by the Iranian Resistance Leader for a visit to Mojahedin camps eleven years ago. On October 28, 1994, Massoud Rajavi wrote to Human Rights Watch and invited it to visit Mojahedin’s camps. Fully aware that those allegations were unfounded, Human Rights Watch never responded to the invitation.

As far as the report is concerned, such fabricated fairy tales would fail to tarnish the Iranian Resistance. If that were to be the case, Khomeini and [Assadollah] Lajevardi [the Butcher of Evin] would have already succeeded. The first person to fabricate such lies was Khomeini who said the Mojahedin tortured themselves.

Third Option
The scandalous nature of this effort by the regime and its allies and the mullahs’ discredited election reconfirm that there is only one solution to the Iranian problem: Democratic change by the Iranian people and Resistance. This is the proper response to the burning desire of the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people, namely freedom, change and demands for something new.

In the face of this decisive national resolve, the policy of appeasement, which seeks to preserve the mullahs’ regime, must come to an end. The terrorist label against the Resistance’s pivotal force – the primary hallmark of this ominous policy – must be removed and inhuman policies against Iranian refugees – a byproduct of the appeasement policy – must be stopped.

Iranian Refugees
These policies have put our fellow asylum-seekers under very difficult circumstances. In Sweden, we see how government policy vis-à-vis refugees has become more strict than other European countries. Opposing requests by refugees has caused great fear and much confusion among them. In collaborating with the mullahs’ dictatorship and exerting pressure on asylum-seekers, the Swedish government has even arrested and deported asylum-seekers. The regrettable suicide by a number of Iranian asylum-seekers is the result of such policy for which the Swedish government is responsible. A large number of asylum seekers, whose applications were rejected have been marginalized and endure a difficult life. Many of them have been imprisoned. It is truly unfortunate and intolerable that our fellow compatriots, particularly our sisters, are subject to such humiliation and assaults against their dignity and that there is no authority to complain to.

The children of many such families have been afflicted with mental problems. The Swedish government has refused to accept the asylum request by a number of defenseless children and is planning to deport them. These are the results of the policy of appeasement, which run counter to human values cherished by Europe. They also trample upon international covenants vis-à-vis human rights and the right to asylum.

What has really changed in Iran to prompt European governments to change their policy toward Iranian asylum seekers? Have the violations of human rights and repression not escalated? Do they not open fire on young people for taking part in peaceful protests in the streets? Did they not kill 62 people during the uprising in Khuzistan? Do European governments who have decided to deport asylum seekers consider the situation in Iran to be safe? Why then these decisions? The answer is quite clear: This reflects a policy of appeasement and collaboration by the Europeans, which has rendered those governments’ treatment of asylum seekers similar to fascistic conduct.

Dear compatriots,
Supporters of the Resistance

Outcry for freedom
The Iranian people are no longer interested in paying the price of appeasers’ profiteering.
The Iranian people no longer tolerate this illegitimate, repressive and anti-human regime.
It is the right of the Iranian people to be able to bring to power a regime through their free vote.
It is the rights of the Iranian people to end the corrupt and criminal reign of the velayat-e faqih regime and its judiciary and enjoy all that freedom and democracy would bring.
It is the right of the Iranian people to enjoy freedom of speech, association, press and religion.

Now, the cry of the Iranian nation is reaching everywhere. The voice of the oppressed and those massacred, the voice of the voiceless, is calling everyone to battle and sacrifice. From Iranian communities across the world to Iran, from Tehran to Ashraf city, everywhere, the unflinching resolve and determination to erect a free, prosperous Iran free of oppression is overflowing. We have given up everything so that the Iranian people would gain everything.

No force is capable to stop those who have arisen to resist for their people’s freedom and prosperity.
Your efforts and sacrifice will bear fruit. Suffering and pain of the Iranian nation will come to an end, freedom will prevail.