Remarks of Maryam Rajavi in a parliamentary conference on the occasion of ending prosecution of Iranian Resistance in French General Assembly Paris
Three years ago, the French judiciary declared in a similar preliminary decision that the conduct of the Iranian Resistance aimed at overthrowing the Iranian regime cannot be construed as terrorism. These rulings are a clear testament to the legitimacy of the ongoing resistance aimed at overthrowing the ruling theocracy in Iran.
The Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance have paid the price for these injustices through long periods of suffering and thousands of hangings. This 14-year-old judicial case had effectively tied up the Resistance’s hands and feet. Mr. Yves Bonnet’s important manuscript has brought to light many of the facts in the case.
The West is pursuing the wrong policy. The United States and the European Union have targeted the Iranian Resistance instead of the mullahs’ regime, which serves as the heart of fundamentalism.
Examples of this policy have been a sort of military expedition launched against the offices of the Iranian Resistance in Auvers-sur-Oise in 2003, that comprised of 1,300 police officers, in addition to a long process of intense financial and judicial controls, as well as the terrorist tag, the bombing of PMOI bases in Iraq by the US in 2003, and a demonization campaign.
This flawed policy has granted the mullahs the opportunity to expand the reach of their terrorist Qods Force, to equip the Lebanese Hezbollah with an arsenal of missiles, to advance their nuclear weapons program, and most important of all, to spread fundamentalism from the Middle East to Africa, a phenomenon that has today brought Iraq, Syria and the entire region to ruins.
I would like to use this opportunity to address three topics.
The first is the crisis that engulfs the region. This summer an extensive coalition was formed against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). But, the success of its objectives hinge on a clear understanding of the principal enemy as well as the root causes of the crisis.
ISIS is the consequence of a series of unprecedented crimes committed by the mullahs in Iran, Bashar Assad in Syria, Nouri al-Maliki in Iraq and their sectarian policies against vast segments of the population both in Iraq and also in Syria.
In 2011, the Iranian regime employed all of its weaponry, military, intelligence, financial and diplomatic means to prevent Assad’s downfall. In response, the West chose inaction.
After the 2003 Iraq War, the Iranian regime turned Iraq into a satellite state and overran the entire state apparatus through Maliki. Pro-regime terrorist militias, in collaboration with Maliki’s forces, have for years vanquished large swathes of Iraqi territory.
Not only did the U.S. refuse to voice its disapproval, but it actually praised Maliki for his conduct. The effect of the these swelling heap of crimes has been the spread of ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. This is the consequence of showing leniency and moderation toward the most evil dictatorship in contemporary history and its puppets.
Today, the Iranian regime is intent on exploiting the West’s tired old policy by watching ISIS retreat as a result of coalition attacks only to fill the resulting void through the presence of its militias.
So, in a situation where everyone knows that airstrikes alone are not sufficient, what is the solution? The mullahs’ lobbyists say that the solution is to bring the Iranian regime into the fold of the fight against ISIS. But, this would deal the greatest blow to the coalition, since the peoples of Iraq and Syria will see the coalition siding with their greatest enemy, the ruling mullahs of Iran.
In order to rid the region of terrorist fundamentalists, using the three political, military and cultural leverages is unavoidable.
Politically, it is imperative more than ever to highlight the real battle lines being drawn in the region. Governments and non-state actors in the region can be broadly divided into two opposing camps: In the first camp is the velayat-e faqih regime or the absolute rule of clerics in Iran, joined by its subordinate dictatorship in Syria and militias in Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen; and on the other hand, stand the nations and governments who are being threatened by fundamentalism. The main enemy of all Arab and Muslim countries and governments is the Iranian regime.
Defeating the terrorist fundamentalists in Iraq and Syria would not be possible without first evicting the regime from this region of the world.
Militarily, victory would not be attainable in the absence of the participation of anti-fundamentalist and patriotic forces. Sunni tribes and leaders in Iraq have repeatedly said that if the Iranian regime’s militias are set aside, they themselves can confront ISIS.
Culturally, in opposition to the extremism masquerading as Islam, there must out of necessity be a cultural and religious alternative; an alternative based on a tolerant and democratic Islam that respects gender equality and separation of religion and State. Otherwise, the clerical regime in Iran and the Sunni extremists would try to portray the fight against fundamentalism as a war on Islam.
By believing in such an interpretation of Islam and promoting it in Iran, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has been able to present a cultural and social antithesis to the ruling fundamentalist regime.
Support for the Iranian Resistance would help to raise awareness about this cultural alternative. It can also enable one to face up to the challenge of the recruitment of young Europeans by fundamentalist forces.
The second topic I would like to address is the nuclear weapons projects that the Iranian regime is trying to preserve by exploiting the West’s policy of appeasement and by employing all sorts of deceptive tactics. Although the regime was compelled to take a step back in its nuclear program due to domestic crises and the impact of sanctions, the regime’s own apprehension about the explosion of internal crises, coupled with the lack of firmness shown on the part of the U.S. and other western countries, have enabled Khamenei to make the circumstances for reaching a deal more difficult and its outlook more bleak.
We once again warn that any deal would have to include the unconditional implementation of UN Security Council resolutions, the complete halt of uranium enrichment and snap inspections of all suspicious sites. Otherwise, the regime’s path to obtaining a nuclear weapon would remain unimpeded.
Extending the deadline for a deal is exactly what the Iranian regime wants. The regime would take advantage of such an extension to complete its nuclear projects. As such, it is my hope that France, in line with its firm and principled positions in the negotiations, would prevent the regime from achieving its objective.
The third topic I would like to address here is the barbarous and merciless suppression of the Iranian people. This includes over a thousand executions during Rouhani’s term in office, especially the hanging on Saturday of Reyhaneh Jabbari, a young woman who had defended herself against a man trying to assault her.
The regime is also killing ill prisoners through the institution of gradual torture; it is persecuting religious minorities, suppressing and hanging Kurds, Arabs, and Baluchis; it is arresting and harassing lawyers, journalists, online activists, and in recent weeks it has been splashing acid on women‘s faces in Iran. Look at the faces of the innocent women burned and disfigured as a result of acid splashed by the mullahs’ criminal gangs. How can the West’s policy of inaction be justified in this regard?
The ruling mullahs in Iran have broadened suppression to outside of Iran’s borders. From assassinating opposition figures to the employment of European governments for the suppression of the opposition through the terrorism label, to using the Iraqi government to lay a siege on camps Ashraf and Liberty while murdering their residents. To date, 116 residents have been murdered, 1,400 have been wounded or injured, 21 have died a gradual death as a result of the medical siege, and one man and six women have been taken hostage.
Their so-called “crime” is their perseverance and resistance against the evil monster of fundamentalism as well as being an inspiration and a role model for women and youth in the struggle for freedom and liberty.
In view of the ouster of Maliki in Iraq, it is my hope that France uses all its resources to implement the following:
• Recognize Camp Liberty as a refugee camp under the supervision of the United Nations;
• Lift the siege on Liberty, especially the medical blockade;
• Ensure vital minimum requirements for safety and security of the residents are provided, so long as they reside in Iraq;
• Secure the release of the residents taken hostage on September 1, 2013;
• Adopt measures so that the UN investigates the great massacre of September 1, 2013, which occurred at Camp Ashraf, while bringing the perpetrators to justice.
I thank you all.
