Maryam Rajavi’s Message to the conference remembering the victims of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran November 28, 2017 –District 5 Municipality, Paris
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
I wish the best of success for your conference at 5th District Municipality in Paris.
I would like to thank Mayor Florence Berthout for welcoming the conference and exhibition.
I would also like to use this opportunity and extend my gratitude to our friends in France for their solidarity with the victims of the earthquake in Kermanshah. The inhabitants of the afflicted areas, particularly in Sarpol-e Zahab and Qasr-e Shirin, are furious over why the Iranian regime has abandoned them, as they are receiving help only from ordinary people, to whom I am deeply thankful for their efforts.
Dear friends,
It is very significant that today’s conference has focused on justice and truth about the victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran, because the United Nations Third Committee has once again censured the mullahs’ religious dictatorship for its violations of human rights. The UN resolution calls for action to end the impunity of perpetrators of these crimes.
We should not forget that the regime’s organs and incumbent leaders were all complicit in the massacre in 1988.
The UN Secretary General António Guterres has pointed out in his report in November 2017 that the UN has received many complaints from the families of the victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran.
Ms. Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, has also reiterated that, “The families of the victims have a right to remedy, reparation, and the right to know about the truth of these events and the fate of the victims without risking reprisal.”
This is why we need to have an international committee formed to investigate this massacre and bring its perpetrators to justice.
The international community’s appeasement of the Iranian regime and the immunity enjoyed by its officials over some 40 years has emboldened these criminals.
The mullahs who carried out the massacre in 1988, now hold world record in per capita executions.
Nevertheless, their dictatorship has become very vulnerable. The changing balance of power in Iran and the world has dismayed the mullahs.
For this reason, Rouhani has removed his mask of moderation to defend the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s ballistic missile program, and their destabilizing activities in the Middle East.
The time has come for the regime’s leaders to account for their crimes. The campaign calling for justice for the victims for the 1988 massacre is spreading in Iran. And dozens of protests are taking place every day with the demand of ending the rule of dictatorship in the country.
On the international level, France is right to be alarmed by the Iranian regime’s ICBM and its meddling in the region, particularly in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. The countries in the region and the United States share the same concerns.
Appeasement must be ended.
To detect any change in the regime’s behavior, it must be held accountable.
This is why it is imperative to place the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations. This is why this organ which is so vital to the Iranian regime must be sanctioned. The US Congress recently adopted bills which are effective in reinforcing sanctions against the mullahs’ ICBM. Another necessary step is to create serious obstacles against the presence of IRGC and its proxy militias in the countries in the region.
But the international community needs to move ahead, making all relations and trade with the regime contingent on end to torture and executions in Iran. The UN Security Council must undertake effective measures to have Iran’s criminal rulers face justice.
Ending impunity for the regime’s leaders will lead to the victory of human rights. At the same time, it will bring closer the end of this regime, and the end of all suffering of the people of Iran and the peoples in the region, paying the way for a free and democratic Iran.
Thank you.
