Paris: “Free Iran” with hundreds of top personalities, lawmakers and elected representatives from five continents
The magnificent annual grand gathering of Iranians and supporters of the Iranian Resistance was held in Paris on Friday, June 30, 2018. “Free Iran” featured Maryam Rajavi, and hundreds of top politicians and statesmen from five continents.
Five video reports on the extensive campaigns in various parts of Tehran and cities across the country waged by Iranian youth and supporters of the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance, declaring support for the Free Iran gathering, were among the most inspiring aspects of the rally, enthusiastically applauded by the audience.
The prominent personalities who addressed the grand rally included Rudy Giuliani, U.S. presidential hopeful and the former Mayor of New York; Newt Gingrich, U.S. presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House of Representatives; Governor Bill Richardson; Michael Mukasey, former Attorney General; Louis Freeh, former Director of the FBI; and Gen. George Casey, former U.S. Army Chief of Staff, from the United States; Stephen Harper and John Baird, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Canada; Bernard Kouchner and Philippe Douste-Blazy, former Foreign Ministers and RamaYade former Minister of Human Rights of France; Ambassador Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy; Eduard Lintner, former German Deputy Interior Minister; Rt Hon. Theresa Villiers, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland; Michele de Vaucouleurs and Philippe Gosselin, French parliamentarians; Senator Roberto Rampi, representing the Italian delegation; Anna Fotyga, former Foreign Minister of Poland and Member of the European Parliament; Pandeli Majko, Minister of State and former Prime Minister of Albania; Ben-Oni Ardelean, Vice-chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania; Saleh al-Qalab, former Publicity Minister of Jordan; and Nazir Hakim, General Director of the Syrian opposition coalition.
Delegation from United Kingdom Presented a plaque to Mrs. Rajavi bearing, expressing their support for the Iranian Resistance under her leadership and her ten-point plan for a free Iran.
Dozens of declarations of support by prominent personalities and politicians, European parliamentary delegations, and senior religious leaders from various countries were presented to Mrs. Rajavi, in support of the Iran uprising and the organized resistance, and the democratic alternative, the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
In addition to the American dignitaries attending the gathering, a bipartisan statement was signed by 33 prominent American personalities, including Senator Joseph Lieberman, former candidate for Vice President; General James Jones, National Security Advisor to President Obama and former Commander of NATO; Edward Rendell, former DNC chairman and Governor of Pennsylvania; and Tom Ridge, former Secretary of Homeland Security and former Governor of Pennsylvania. The statement reads in part, “We believe that democratic change in Iran would do more than any other single event to enable stability and calm the fires of extremism in the region… The resistance movement has demonstrated its widespread roots within Iranian society, its resilience in the face of unimaginably difficult circumstances, its impressive organizational prowess, and its ability to expose secrets that Tehran is determined to keep from the Iranian people and the world at large.”
Over 50 bishops in England, Scotland and Wales, including two-thirds of the religious leaders in the British House of Lords that oversees thousands of churches across the U.K., and 78 Church leaders in the U.S., joined the Right Reverend and Right Honorable Dr. Rowan Williams, the Arch Bishop of Canterbury, in his declaration condemning the flagrant abuses of human rights in Iran, especially the rights of religious minorities and their painful situation. The signatories urged the international community to base any improvement of relations with Iran on a cessation of oppression of minorities and on a halt to executions in Iran.
Jean-Francois Legaret, Mayor of 1st district of Paris, was accompanied by 100 French mayors and elected representatives, in the Free Iran gathering where they announced the support of thousands of their colleagues in solidarity with the Iranian people’s resistance and uprising against the mullahs’ dictatorship.
The secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
June 30, 2018
