Maryam Rajavi: The case of the judicial proceedings of June 17 has collapsed
In honor of the lives and sacrifices that were offered in the past eleven years in defense of the necessity of resistance for freedom.
Dear Compatriots,
The biggest investment of the religious dictatorship regime of Iran in France has been lost.
The case of the judicial proceedings of June 17 has collapsed.
And the demonization campaign has been defeated.
The virtue of this persistence has been confirmed.
And the moral clarity and transparency of this movement has elicited everyone’s respect.
The world has recognized the legitimacy of resistance for overthrow of this regime.
Dear Friends,
The French Judiciary’s investigation and its fourteen-year case against the Iranian Resistance is an historically comprehensive document that reveals shocking facts of the ongoing struggle between the Iranian people and resistance on the one hand, and the religious dictatorship and its appeasement supporters on the other.
First fact in this file is that there was a deal with the Iranian regime.
The investigation that opened in 2001 with no evidence and the attack that unfolded on June 17, 2003, had no other reason than this deal. This was an underhanded pact concluded by the then French government to protect its interests in the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq and the region’s new political order.
It was blackmail paid to the mullahs to expand commerce with them.
The June 17 attack directed against offices of the National Council of Resistance of Iran took place precisely five days after the signing of huge commercial deals with the mullahs in Iran. Based on testimony by the former editor of Journal du Dimanche, who was personally present in the meeting of the French and Iranian foreign ministers in Tehran two months earlier, de Villepin, the French Foreign Minister at the time, had promised his Iranian counterpart in Tehran to conduct this attack.
Three days after the attack, an internal Iranian Intelligence Ministry memo referenced the fact that the French intelligence services had shared intelligence on this operation with the MOIS and even expressed knowledge that the French agency would present the cases of sixteen of the arrested individuals for trial.
Wherever you look, it becomes clear that this case involved the Iranian regime in every single detail.
And so it is that the victory of justice and resistance and the defeat of the demonization campaign is a triumph for all humanity that is threatened and suffers from tyranny, fanaticism and terrorism.
The second fact is that the French Judiciary, or its diplomatic corps, or its intelligence services were duped by the Iranian regime.
In the tragic invasion of Iraq by the US and as the US media have reported, it was this same Iranian regime that fooled the world about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq with an avalanche of misinformation in one of the biggest intelligence operations in the history of the modern world that led to the war against Iraq.
In France too, it was this same Iranian regime that unleashed an avalanche of misinformation and instigated a serious miscalculation by the then French government to attack the offices of the NCRI.
Michel Tubiana of the French League of Human Rights said at the time that the Iranian dictatorship regime was distributing heaps of documents and various propaganda leaflets from its embassy in France and he accused the French Judiciary of being “poisoned” by the regime.
Nevertheless, I am happy that as Henri Leclerc said: the French public prosecution service showed that it can refrain from bowing down to political considerations as this is a country of law and democracy.
The time has come now for French politics, diplomacy, and its intelligence services to save themselves from this poison of the Iranian religious dictatorship. It is time for them to be firm and to dismantle the Iranian regime’s network of agents and the IRGC’s front companies and organizations in France and Europe.
The third fact is that the source of all accusations and slanders against us is in Tehran under the rule of the mullahs.
In the two years after the June 17 attack, a committee under the egis of the regime’s Supreme National Security Council produced some 1500 pages of lies and false documents that it then entered as evidence in the case against us. Judge Bruguiere who was in charge of this file facilitated the flow of false information into the file.
In later years, this same committee introduced seven agents of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry as witnesses to the presiding judge and the bulk of the accusations in the case file are based on this false testimony.
Some of these agents were interviewed more than five times to gather false testimony and the interviews were visibly guided.
In the following years, in addition to demand of extradition by Khatemai, the regime’s presidents at the time, according to available evidence, Dori Najafabadi, the murderous Prosecutor General of the regime, had on numerous occasions sent messages to the French Prosecutor General requesting extradition of members of the Iranian Resistance. The Tehran prosecutor general at that time, Saeed Mortazavi also presented the French prosecution service with false documents about money-laundering by members of the resistance.
They filled the case file with slanderous accusations such as cult, criminal enterprise, terrorism, violence, massacre of Kurds and Shi’ites in Iraq, torture and murder and suspicious killings within the resistance.
Therefore, every single letter that has been penned in these accusations came from Khamenei, the regime’s leader, and the allegation of cult is a code word that seeks to mask the face of Iran’s religious despot.
The charge of terrorism and violence is an alias for dirty deals signed between this same regime and its Western appeasers. Torture and murder inside the resistance is the same internal practices rampant at the regime’s intelligence agency that is being apportioned to their opposition.
These charges from the French Judiciary have now been exposed and repudiated. But we have not forgotten that this regime has martyred 120,000 of the best among our nation on these same false charges and continues to employ the same lies to arrest, execute, and massacre our people.
So if justice is really to be served then all the material and emotional damages that have been incurred on the Iranian Resistance due to this case must be compensated.
It is true that the mullahs have deceived many in this world and enticed many with the wealth of our deprived nation.
It is true that they have produced loads of false documents, lies, and deceptive websites and publications and books full of nonsense against this movement.
But a much more important reality is that our resistance has exposed and defeated the demonization and lies of this regime in one of the world’s most prominent courts of justice and these lies are no longer effective.
The fourth fact is the transparency and democratic nature of this movement’s relations.
Eleven years ago, when I was freed from prison, I told a huge crowd in Auvers sur Oise: terrorism allegation is unfounded and I stressed that the resistance’s money is absolutely and fully owned by the Iranian people and the supporters of this resistance all over the world and I am certain that this resistance shall clearly account for every single cent to the relevant authorities and you shall see that in this area as well we have nothing to hide.
The French judiciary and intelligence service and several other government departments have in these years mobilized to scrutinize all financial, organizational, and political functions and operations of this resistance. They monitored and controlled the bank accounts of hundreds of people. But they did not stop at that. They enlisted the help and collaboration of judicial and intelligence agencies in the United States, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg, Turkey, Jordan and the UAE. They reviewed the contents of hundreds of computers, hard disks, millions of pages of NCRI archives, extensive surveillance of telephone calls by resistance members, and the resistance’s internal relations in the most cynical manner and fabricated a file containing hundreds of thousands of pages.
All this led only to the French judiciary issuing a decree last week to dismiss the case and to emphasize that “there is no reason for the prosecution of this case not only on the charge of money-laundering but also for all other financial charges under investigation.”
That means that all accusations, false information and false witnesses were discredited.
The French judiciary had previously dismissed terrorism related charges in a decree and said that “the Mojahedin Organization has used its legitimate rights in its struggle against the brutal regime ruling Iran and the operations of the National Liberation Army of Iran cannot be construed as terrorism.”
So if the internal and external relationships of this movement were not as transparent and ethical as it is, if this movement was not nurtured in democratic ideals and freedom of choice as it is, it would have been impossible for it to endure under such scrutiny.
So the victory of justice and resistance is not only a defeat for the demonization campaign, but also an opportunity for our tireless struggle for freedom and democracy.
The fifth fact is that appeasers pave the road to Islamist fanaticism.
We have repeatedly insisted that this case be brought to open trial so that we can reveal the truth and facts in a court of justice.
But our attorneys correctly foresaw that this trial would be a scene for the further discrediting of the religious fascism ruling Iran, and so would not be allowed to take place.
So now one case has been closed but another has been opened and the real criminals should be tried in the court of history and in front of the supreme judge which is the conscience of humanity. The same people responsible for opening such a case and plotting to wrongly investigate the legitimate resistance at the behest of the Iranian regime.
Those who contributed to laying the ground for more executions in Iran and six massacres in Ashraf and Liberty by fabricating such file.
Those responsible for orchestrating some of the media in line with the Iranian regime in the demonization campaign against the Iranian resistance.
Those who discredited France’s honor and beheaded the angel of justice as far as the resistance was concerned.
Yes, Messieurs, you are all accused.
It was you who were eliminated from the scene due to this huge crime. Now look at what your deeds have begotten you:
Your crime is not only breaking the law and defying justice.
Your crime is not summarized in your abuse of power and the judiciary.
But a hundred times worse, a thousand times worse, your crime is to have paved the way for the monster of Islamist fanaticism.
A deadly mistake by French and Western governments in the past years has been the diversion of the fight against terrorism.
The growth and expansion of fanatic groups such as ISIL is a direct result of years of appeasement of the godfather of ISIL and the likes which is the religious dictatorship in Iran by Western governments.
You sowed the seeds of Al-Qaida and ISIL in all of the Middle East region and Africa, particularly in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, with your sham prosecution and empty and discredited dossiers against the only real solution, only real opposite and effective alternative to Islamist fanaticism.
Those who today call for collaboration with the Iranian regime against ISIL, or seek to provide incentives to the regime on its nuclear program, are inevitably mistaken.
It is as if someone were to invite the Nazis to resolve the French crisis during the occupation.
I warn those who insist on giving this regime a share. You are falling into the mullahs’ trap and this will not only not contain the crisis in Iraq and Syria but will enflame a Shia-Sunni war and reconstruct the Iranian regime’s domination in Iraq and aggravate the situation in Syria.
About a quarter century ago we declared that the new global threat was Islamist fanaticism and fundamentalism under the leadership of the Iranian regime.
Eleven years ago I warned that the threat of the mullahs’ domination in Iraq was a hundred times more dangerous that the Iranian nuclear threat.
But ironically, instead of confronting this threat, the Western governments bombed, disarmed, demonized, proscribed, and participated in misinformation against the opposite and alternative to this fanaticism, and hampered and shackled the Iranian resistance.
As Massoud Rajavi had said many years ago, the June 17 affair “is a black stain in the fight against terrorism in Europe and the highest incentive and encouragement for the religious-terrorist dictatorship in Iran.”
Yes, Messieurs, your great crime has been to deny the world the option of a genuine solution to the threat of Islamist fanaticism and fundamentalism.
The opposite and alternative to this fanaticism is democratic Islam represented by the PMOI.
A tolerant Islam removed from compulsion, intimidation, beheadings, and despotism. An Islam whose message is brotherhood, equality, forgiveness, and justice.
And finally the last and most vibrant fact is the great steadfastness of the resistance movement.
At the time of the June 17 attack, the mullahs had formed a coalition of 12 governments that cooperated with them. One of French authorities at the time officially said that the goal of the attack was the dismantling of the opposition organization.
French authorities sought intelligence against the Mojahedin from various countries. They kept the case open without any evidence and quite extraordinarily and of course quite unjustly.
In 2008 the British government and in 2009 the EU removed the PMOI from their terror lists after consecutive court rulings to that effect. The listings were of course part of the French justification for opening an investigation and launching the attack of June 17. But even after these listings were revoked, the French authorities refused to close the case.
In many ways you could say that this investigative case was a fatwa (a decree) for the resistance’s destruction. In a very cynical and corrupt way, they wanted to either destroy or degrade and hamper our resistance.
Politicians, parliamentarians, and anyone who had expressed any solidarity with our movement, even our neighbors in Auvers sur Oise and Mery sur Oise and other towns and cities of Val d’Oise faced the same sort of pressures. French taxpayers’ money was spent on a project that benefited the religious dictatorship in Iran, meaning the destruction of the Iranian resistance.
But in the end, after 14 years of struggle, it was the power of this movement to survive and its moral and spiritual force that became clear and prevailed. A movement that its members, especially in Ashraf and Liberty have been under severe pressure siege and suffered six massacres. Which other movement do you know that has stood in scores of courts and faced its challengers?
Which other movement has been continuously investigated by dozens of intelligence and law enforcement agencies and put under the most restrictive controls with the application of judicial powers, but finally prevailed and come through it all vindicated, spotless, and with its head held high?
Just as William Bourdon, the resistance’s attorney, has said: the dismissal order was issued based on the fact that the Iranian resistance is the embodiment of legitimate resistance to dictatorship and barbarism and this is unprecedented in the judicial history of France because it opens the way for similar judgments in the future and once again reinstates the power of law and rights. The decision by Judge Trevidic is also a rehabilitation of the Frances’ judicial system, which contrary to Jean Louis Bruguiere who represented government’s interests, demonstrated the independence of the judges in France.
Indeed, the victory of justice and resistance and the defeat of demonization of this resistance, is a victory for all of human society at large.
Dear Friends,
All of the years of suffering and sorrow and sacrifices have led to today’s victory and will not be forgotten.
The tears, cries, unwarranted arrests, hunger strikes, sleepless nights, anxieties and stress, those supporters who let go of their daily life from all corners of the world and found their way to the sit-in in front of NCRI offices in Auvers sur Oise, those heroines and heroes like Marzieh, Nader, Hamid, Mohsen, Hadi, Mohammad, Ali, Heshmat and others who burned in flames and still suffers the consequences, those blessed mothers who have now passed away like Mother Koushali and Mother Azari, that restless Ashrafi, Dr. Mandana, and dear Forough, the mother of Neda, I salute you all.
And those “beloved compatriots of ours and sincere friends” who as Massoud said “honored a tradition of loyalty and steadfastness in a time of difficulties and injustices, inside and outside our country. Those who opened their arms for the Mojahedin and gave them all that they did not have. Blessed be their hearts of mirror and their pure minds and their soft touches that soothed our wounds and took out the daggers from our backs and sides and foiled the conspiracies against us.” Hail to them all.
And finally I want to pay my respects to those who brought France’s honor and conscience to the aid of the Iranian resistance. To the symbols of humanity from France, Abbé Pierre, Danielle Mitterrand, Lucie and Raymond Aubrac, Adrien Zeller, Maurice Boscavert, Mario Stasi, Mouloud Aounit and my dear Ginette Lefebvre, and great women and men who stood by our movement from the start, and personalities who in these years defended French values and stood against appeasement and injustice with great sacrifices and courage.
Archbishop Gaillot, Jean Pierre Béquet, François Colcombet, Alain Vivien, Pierre Bercis, Gilbert Mitterrand, Yves Bonnet, Jean-Pierre Muller, Senator Jean-Pierre Michel, members of French Parliament Dominique Lefebvre, Gérard Charasse, Michel Terrot, André Chassaigne, le sénateur Alain Néri, Renée Le Mignot, Jean-Pierre Brard, Jean-François Legaret, Jean-Pierre Spitzer, Emile Blessig, Khalil Meroun, Taoufik Sebti, Dhaou Meskine and hundreds of other great persons. I salute them all and the majorities in the French National Assembly and Senate and fourteen thousand mayors and elected officials of France who stood with us, and the team of lawyers, especially Henri Leclerc, William Bourdon, Henri Leclerc, Patrick Beaudoin, Thierry Lévy, Bernard Dartevelle, Marie-Laure Barre, François Serre and other lawyers who were involved.
Dear Friends,
In today’s press conference I requested that now that France has stepped forward to do its share to resolve the Iraq crisis, we expect her to undertake a humanitarian initiative to protect the lives of the freedom fighters in Liberty and secure their rights.
We want that so long as they are in Iraq, the basic necessary security and safety of these freedom fighters to be guaranteed until such time that they are in Iraq.
The medical siege of Ashraf and Liberty has until now taken the lives of 21 residents. Just last week, Taghi Abassian, who had struggled for freedom all his life, succumbed to illness due to the siege.
We insist on the breaking of this inhuman siege of Liberty, particularly the medical siege, and an end to the prison-like situation in Liberty. We also demand that Liberty be recognized as a refugee camp under the supervision of the United Nations, that the seven hostages taken from Ashraf be freed, and that a full UN investigation of the six massacres that have occurred at camps Liberty and Ashraf be started.
We ask the French government to support these demands.
The Iranian people wants to see France with us and not with the religious dictatorship.
There can be no doubt that the future of Iran is in the hands of our steadfast resistance and the Iranian nation.
The great lesson to be learnt from our experience is that: Steadfastness as long as it takes, steadfastness everywhere, steadfastness at any price.
Steadfastness in the battle with the inhuman enemy, in the heart of his prisons, in streets of Iran and all over the world, in Ashraf, in Liberty, and in the most difficult of battles in courts throughout the world.
This is our tradition, this is our way, this is what inevitably leads to our victory and eventually opens the way for freedom, for justice, for international law and a humane world.
Long live freedom
Hail to the Iranian people
Thank you all
