Speech in the Grand gathering -Villepinte- Paris

Dear Compatriots,
Supporters of the Resistance

My warmest greetings to all of you!

Today marks the momentous birth of Imam Hussein, the third Shiite Imam, the eternal messenger of freedom, the historical flag bearer of “no to humiliation”, and an inspiration for all generations to persevere and to shun surrender. Today also marks the thirty-first anniversary of the start of the resistance against the religious tyranny in Iran.

On this day and at such a magnificent gathering, I want to share with you my feelings as I watch your overwhelming enthusiasm.

I see in you and with you the tens of millions of Iranians who are yearning for freedom.

I hear the voices of my brave sisters across our homeland.

I hear the voices of proud prisoners of conscience resisting in the dungeons of Ali Khamenei.

And I hear the outcry of students, workers, teachers and all those who long for freedom and liberation.

Indeed, all of us hear your outcries from the four corners of Iran and your voice echoes in our ears.

Indeed, the cry of every Iranian is Freedom, Freedom.

In you, I see the enraged peoples of the Middle East who have risen up against the principal threat to the whole of the region, namely the religious fascism ruling Iran. I mean those in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other regional countries whose representatives are here with us today.

And in you, I see the tremendous force of humanity, justice, love and faith that is alien to fatigue and decrepitude. Instead, it inspires and steers forward the largest assemblies, the longest sit-ins and the strongest movements; it crumbles the thick wall of impossibilities and is determined to march forward until ascending to the pinnacle of victory.

Fellow Compatriots,

The most recent important development has been the judgment issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, against the unlawful label against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). This was a landmark and historic achievement in the struggle between the Iranian people’s resistance and the clerical regime.

The court made it clear that this label is illegitimate and ruled that if the State Department does not make a decision, it would unilaterally revoke the PMOI’s designation.

Such is the sound of the breaking of the chains, the crumbling of the dark houses of demonization, and the spectacular defeat of the velayat-e faqih regime.

This designation was meant to deny the right of the Iranian nation to change the regime. But your resistance proudly legitimized that right.

It is said that no court had in the past two hundred years issued a writ of mandamus on matters of national security and foreign policy.

Nevertheless, a movement that has sacrificed everything for the cause of freedom and liberation of its nation lit the light of truth and justice in the depth of darkness.

I had said before that “We will pluck out the rights of the Iranian people even if you hide them in the dragon’s belly.”

Now, we have not come to chastise this shameful designation and policy. We have come to say that this policy must be uprooted in its entirety.

Was it not the State Department that fed an assortment of lies fabricated by the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security to some in the U.S. media in order to justify maintaining this label?

Was it not anonymous State Department officials who repeatedly churned out false claims against the PMOI?

And did it not resort to the lie before the U.S. court that perhaps Camp Ashraf has not been fully inspected?

Now, it is our turn to ask whether these lies serve any purpose other than setting the stage for the massacre of other Ashrafies.

Which law and which ethical and humanitarian principle, would allow the State Department to defer the removal of the PMOI until Camp Ashraf is evacuated?

In the occidental culture there is a famous saying that, “the laws of the Torah tie man’s hands from committing sin and the laws of Bible block one’s thought and intent to commit sin.”

Now, what kind of modus operandi and beliefs govern the State Department, on the basis of which officials feel that they have free reins to break the law and resort to fabrications and slander?

Indeed, were it not for Members of the House and the Senate and distinguished former U.S. officials rising in support of the Iranian people, the Iranian Resistance and the Ashrafies, what would have remained of the 33-year U.S. policy towards the mullahs except the disgrace of appeasement?

This is an unparalleled bipartisan coalition which has challenged the official policy and is honorably and courageously the delisting and the Ashrafies. Yes, we recognize the United States through you.

Of course, it is my hope that Secretary Clinton would turn this oppressive and unfair page in the history of U.S. policy and personally bring an end to this unlawful designation.

Nevertheless, far beyond any decision, regardless of whatever is done, the decisive factor is the resolve of the Iranian people and Resistance which is bringing an end to this designation and this it will accomplish.

Like an ominous coil, this designation kept in place numerous allegations against the Iranian Resistance or fabricated and rehashed them, acting as the greatest obstacle to the freedom of the Iranian people. In all these years, the mullahs ruling Iran or their accomplices said and wrote repeatedly that members of this Resistance torture and murder themselves.

They alleged that this is a sect suffering from a cult of personality, and it lacks popular support inside Iran.

They alleged that it has murdered the Kurds and massacred the Shiites in Iraq. They alleged that it had hidden chemical weapons in Camp Ashraf and that 70 percent of Ashraf residents had been kept there against their will.

All these slanders emanated from the label and served to preserve the mullahs’ regime.

Nevertheless, it was only the suffering and perseverance of the resistance movement which broke through this colonial and reactionary siege and onslaught against the Iranian people’s resistance movement.

Subsequent to the unprecedented rulings of the English and EU courts, last year, the French Judiciary issued a brilliant judgment, acknowledging the legitimacy and righteousness of the Iranian people’s resistance against religious fascism. And this year, the U.S. Judiciary also testified against a historic injustice done to the Iranian Resistance.

You know that in the long and painful history of demonization against freedom-seekers and resistance movements, from Jesus Christ to Spartacus, from the heroes of the anti-fascist resistance here in France to the combatants of Iran’s freedom, an exceptional experience has been gained.

This is because this is the first time that a movement has succeeded in its own time, through sacrifice and raising awareness, and of course abiding by international law, to go before the courts in Europe and the United States and succeed in unchaining itself from the heavy burden of these lies.

Yes, we succeeded in putting an end to the suppressive siege against the resistance movement.

And we succeeded in elevating the standards of justice in today’s world.

We succeeded in breaking apart the cycle of slander and ruse.

We succeeded in crafting a new plan and opening a new chapter.

This is a plan based on transparency, truth and justice, based on respect for mankind’s achievements and virtues, based on the return of international institutions to defending human rights, based on restoring the rights of the peoples and reviving the value of resistance and sacrifice.

Indeed, the force of humanity and justice has come to the fore, and history has turned a page. Dictators are falling one after another and therefore policies which preserved them must also change. And we have the wherewithal to bring about that change and we will realize it.

This is the meaning of a change in our era and the era of change.

At this moment, we must pay homage to the memory of Danielle Mitterrand, the First Lady of human rights, Raymond Aubrac and his comrade in arms Lucie Aubrac, Lord Corbett and Lord Archer, all of whom passed away in recent months. They were among the pioneers of this global struggle and the founders of a policy based on justice and humanity. Their names and valuable roles will never be forgotten.

Dear Compatriots,
The change in our era also manifests itself in the Iranian Resistance’s triumphant shattering of the multi-faceted conspiracies by the Iranian regime and its puppet government in Iraq.

As all of you know, in the past year there was a plan to dismantle and destroy the People’s Mojahedin.

There was a deadline to finish off Ashrafies. And there was the seven-point pact between Tehran and Baghdad to either force this movement into surrender or to destroy it altogether.

Today, I am delighted to tell you and the great nation of Iran that, with God’s blessing, the resistance movement against the clerical regime, which symbolizes the heroic struggles in Iran’s history, has been saved from being pillaged, massacred and destroyed. And now, in order to carry out its historic mandate, it is hundreds of times more effective, resolute and solidified.

And now I ask all of you supporters of Ashraf: are you also prepared to live up to the responsibilities of this era, namely a struggle and effort hundreds of times greater to liberate the Iranian people?

So, much to the chagrin of the enemy, Ashraf has multiplied and there are now countless Ashrafies.

In recent months, in order to neutralize the conspiracies of the mullahs’ regime and its puppet government in Baghdad, the Mojahedin accepted relocation from Camp Ashraf in the framework of an international solution.

To advance this solution, the residents of Ashraf gave up their 25-year right to residency in Iraq to comply with the European Parliament plan. They also agreed to leave Camp Ashraf, which they had built and improved upon through much work and hardship.

Nevertheless, owing to the conspiracies of the religious fascism ruling Iran, the repeated breaches of the Iraqi government and the passivity of the United Nations and the United States, what was supposed to be a voluntary relocation became a forcible transfer.

This is a forcible relocation in every detail. The Memorandum of Understanding between Iraq and the UN lacks the minimum demands of the residents of Ashraf and even these provisions have not yet been implemented. In practice, the MoU became a plan to send them to a prison.

Several weeks ago, I said that the plan for a temporary transit facility has fundamentally failed and nothing is left of the MoU between the UN and the Iraqi government and it must be saved once again.

The residents of Ashraf have also said that so long as the violation of their most basic rights continues, they will not go to Liberty. But if their demands are met even today, they will relocate tomorrow.
These demands have been drafted in six points, are very simple, and have been sent to the UN Secretary General and the US government.

Simply said, instead of turning Liberty into a prison, classify it as refugee camp, provide water, electricity and other humanitarian needs of the residents, halt the interference of an enemy seeking to destroy this movement in our affairs, and finally inspect Ashraf, which you claim is not fully disarmed. Or at least retract what you have claimed.

Those who say that these demands by the residents of Ashraf are maximalist demands should explain since when protecting the lives and safety of people is considered to be special privileges?

They are telling you that you do not have the right to demand the inspection of Ashraf to absolve yourselves of allegations. Instead, they say, you must go to prison and recognize it as a humanitarian solution. And if you are opposed to going to prison, the unlawful designation may continue and you will be accused of cutting off dialogue and lack of cooperation.

In reality, they are again victimizing the victim. As though Jesus is being crucified again and the executioner claims that he was the real victim.

The residents of Ashraf have been forced into a detention center where like slaves they must carry the heavy loads of cargo on their shoulders. Yet, it is the residents of Ashraf who are blamed for the stalemate and the crisis.

Indeed, this is demonization on the one hand and a multitude of inhuman pressures on the other with the intent of setting the stage for another massacre in Liberty.

Let me underscore, however, that if you think under such pressures you can force the Mojahedin to surrender their own rights and the rights and freedoms of their fellow Iranians, you are gravely mistaken.

I must reiterate loudly and clearly that our Resistance’s code of conduct is such that when it makes a commitment, it adheres to it responsibly.

Thus, despite all the conspiracies carried out by the Iranian regime, the Iranian Resistance stands by all its previous commitments. It has been this Resistance that has fully paid the price of advancing this path and will continue along this path, demonstrating its full cooperation and understanding with the United Nations.

Thus far we have shown and continue to show the highest degrees of flexibility on the condition that the residents’ protection, security, safety and dignity are guaranteed.

But we hope that the United Nations and the United States will stand by their commitments as well. Of course, we do not identify the United States with the policy of the State Department, but with you distinguished personalities, many of whom are here today, who cried out that relocating the residents from Ashraf on the pretext of initiating the refugee process is unjust. You repeatedly lauded the brave children of the Iranian people and asked them to remain as steadfast as ever in their struggle.

For this reason, today, through you, I appeal to the people of the United States and the world to be the judge.

As for the commitment of the residents of Ashraf to the MoU what could truly be more telling than the fact that so far 2,000 have relocated to Liberty?

So, why are their protests over inhumane impositions not being heard?
Why can’t they have the right to their property?
Why have they been denied freedom of movement?
Why have the wounded and the disabled not been allowed to take with them the special equipment that they need?

I call upon all European countries, the United States and Canada to actively work to protect the residents of Ashraf and Liberty, to accept them in their countries and avert another catastrophe.

Dear Friends,

The changes in this era, realized in virtue of a painful perseverance and resistance, call for international institutions to restore their principal responsibilities, namely the protection of human rights.

We want the kind of international institutions would not blame the victim for not capitulating and would not engage the henchmen in discussions about the fate of the residents of Ashraf.

We ask them:

Why have you turned into passive and silent bystanders vis-à-vis despots and become the conduit for the destruction of the Iranian Resistance?
Why are you forcing the combatants of freedom in Iran to choose between being massacred and going to prison?

Please open your eyes and see why the mullahs have made the destruction of this movement their highest priority and are vigorously pursuing it. This is because in the era of change, they do not see any future for themselves, and for their allies and affiliates in the region. For this reason, building a prison and suppressing the People’s Mojahedin is part and parcel of a policy which includes the bombings and the killings in Iraq and the massacres in Syria.

The united alliance of genocide and massacre from Tehran to Baghdad to Damascus has been spiraling out of control. And widespread resistance against it reflects a world that has arisen for freedom.

This is a fight that neither we nor the peoples of the region started. Nevertheless, in order to liberate our people, we have no choice but to continue until victory. Therefore, we join the Iranian Resistance’s leader Massoud Rajavi who said, “In Ashraf, or in any other location in Iraq, or inside and outside Iran, whether now or in the future, so long as this regime is in place, the overthrow of the religious dictatorship is our own and our people’s inalienable right.”

Dear Compatriots,

The three recent rounds of negotiations between the P5+1 and the mullahs’ regime ended in failure and deadlock. President Obama’s four-year policy of engagement has failed.

Ten years ago, the Iranian Resistance exposed the clandestine nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak. Regrettably, Western countries wasted a significant 10-year opportunity. For a decade, they continued to give the regime an assortment of incentives. They appeased and engaged the mullahs in a futile 10-year negotiation.

So far, there have been 37 rounds of talks; talks for the sake of talks with a regime that has violated seven UN Security Council resolutions and is stockpiling at least 200 kilograms of enriched uranium each month.

In recent months, the policy of conciliation has found new forms, such as repeating the hollow notion that perhaps the ruling religious dictatorship has not yet made the decision to build the bomb. The other proclamation is that we will contain the mullahs after they get the bomb.

The ultimate result of this duplicity is only one thing: letting the religious fascism obtain the bomb.

But I want to repeat again that the Iranian people will never accept this option.

The stakeholders say that they aim to engage the mullahs. But they are following a desperate policy: one of praying and weeping; one of trumpeting the demagogic fatwa by Khamenei that nuclear weapons are prohibited. These mean feigning ignorance toward the mullahs who are racing toward taking the final steps.

Now, if you believe that the ruling mullahs will abandon their nuclear weapons program under the pressure of international sanctions, all the better. But to reach this goal you must demonstrate firmness.

Of course, the Iranian people would benefit from the mullahs drinking the chalice of the poison of retreating from their nuclear quest. But if you became confident that the mullahs are continuing on the path of building the bomb, the correct policy is once again greater decisiveness.

Thus, those of you who understate the dangers of the mullahs’ nuclear program are threatening global peace.

You are at fault in telling the world that there are no solutions to the mullahs’ nuclear crisis. You are at fault.

Thwarting the dangers of a nuclear mullah regime is possible. The only way to do so is to change the mullahs’ dictatorship, which is the responsibility of the Iranian people and the Resistance.

So, if you genuinely do not want to hand over a nuclear bomb to the mullahs, stand with the Iranian people’s resistance to bring down this regime and recognize their demands. They demand an Iran free of suppression, a non-nuclear Iran, and a non-theocratic Iran.

And finally, I want to address my daughters and sons in Iran.

I want to speak to you about your role and responsibilities in the new era.

The 1979 revolution came to fruition with the sacrifice of Iran’s young generation. The July 1999 uprising and the magnificent 2009 uprising were the outcome of your protest and anger. And undoubtedly, the Iranian nation’s spring will blossom through your enthusiasm and force.

To thwart your efforts, the mullahs have erected a thick and tall wall of suppression that is unprecedented in the contemporary world.

They have embarked on a widespread psychological warfare which has targeted your beliefs, determination and hopes.

The main purpose of unrelenting executions, such as the hanging of four brave compatriots in Khuzistan Province last week, is to intimidate you.

Obviously, the Iranian society is disgusted with the ruling henchmen and their backward culture and conduct.

But being disgusted is not enough.

You must at the same time set your eyes on the Iranian nation’s assets and real capital which is a history of struggle against dictatorship. You must have hope in a bright future and with that hope light the flames of resistance. This is what the mullahs are afraid of. For this reason, they are aiming at three main targets with their venomous assaults:

First, the proud history of the Iranian nation’s perseverance;
Second, the Resistance movement and organization; and
Third, the culture and values of resistance.

The mullahs’ regime intends to promulgate the idea that paying a price for freedom is futile and that the model to follow must be one that does not exact any price.

They have targeted the source of hope in Iranian society and at its zenith, Ashraf and its residents.

They want to make you Iranian youth to believe that “there is nothing you can do and every effort for struggle is futile.”

But what is the truth?

In reality, your are the young and forward looking force of a nation which relies on a century-long struggle for freedom, from the Constitutional Revolution to the National Movement led by the great Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq. As far as the richness of the struggle and the capacity to bring about change are concerned, you are among the wealthiest and most able nations anywhere in the world.

I want to say that you are not alone. You are relying on an organized resistance movement, which has in the past three decades kept the flame of resistance for freedom burning despite the mullahs’ medieval suppression. This is a movement that abounds in human values and has the force to bring about change.

This is a movement with 120,000 martyrs and with 30,000 massacred prisoners, with heroes and heroines such as Sediqeh, Neda and thousands upon thousands of other roses.

This is a movement built on the ideal of freedom, which ever since Khomeini stole the revolution, has drawn its lines against regress, monopoly of power and dictatorship.

This is a movement whose leader rejected all pseudo-leftist pretentions and said the crux of the matter as far as the Iranian revolution is concerned is the issue of freedom.

A leader who persevered and never relented in the pursuit of “one ideal” and “one commitment”: the ideal of freedom and the commitment to pay the price for freedom.

This commitment was of course based on maximum awareness and revolutionary foresight, with knowledge about all the dangers which might lie ahead.

Listen to what Massoud Rajavi has said about this ideal and commitment: “When our Resistance achieves victory, one of the greatest obstacles to contemporary liberation movements and perhaps the most important factor in deviation and implosion of those movements, namely transgression against the sacrosanct ideal of ‘freedom’ under various pretexts, would be eliminated. Indeed, in an anthropology based on unity, reviving freedom is tantamount to reviving humanity.”

So, we are following a path that is leading towards the revival of the ideal of freedom and the revival of humanity and human values.

Indeed, we are proud of this ideal, of this path and of this leader.

Indeed, in virtue of this lofty horizon, many complications in the realm of politics, struggle and ideas have already been resolved. These are contradictions that recent movements and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa are starting to grapple with.

The Iranian society has gone through the experience of defeating the pretenses of reactionary Islam and demagogic anti-western sloganeering.

It has gone through the experience of forming the most enduring political coalition in our nation’s history and the collaborative effort of a diverse group of political entities and personalities with varying beliefs within a democratic set of relationships embodied in the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

It has gone through the experience of confronting and exposing the export of reactionary ideology and terrorism by the mullahs as today’s global threat.

It has especially gone through the experience of the Mojahedin’s organizational undertaking in a democratic set of relationships.

And it has gone through building advanced humane experiences which in his visit to Ashraf, the Vice President of the European Parliament, Mr. Alejo Vidal Quadras, described as “a moral and spiritual example for the world.”

For this reason, from the mullahs’ perspective, Ashraf is the most prohibited term in today’s Iran.

Let me reiterate that the aim of this movement has never been and still is not to grab power at all costs. Our aim is to guarantee freedom and democracy at all costs.

As we have said time and again, as far as our future is concerned, merely being with our martyrs at Khavaran Cemetery would suffice for us. Our ideal is the ideal of freedom, equality and people’s right to vote. Our aim is to establish a republic based on the separation of church and state where all religions and denominations would enjoy equal rights.

And our platform is summed up in three words: Freedom, democracy and equality.

So, my fellow compatriots,

Liberated women of Iran, teachers, educators, students, workers and toilers who are enduring the escalating pressures of high prices and privations as well as reactionary impositions, and you brave young people of Iran, the time has come to rise up.

Face-to-face with religious fascism, you enjoy the greatest backing, the piercing force of the resistance for liberty.

So, I call upon all of you to rise up to free our enchained people and nation.

The key to victory is the word “freedom.” Indeed, freedom, the glorious ideal of freedom.

So, we can and we must rebel against despondency and submission. We can and we must break apart the mullahs’ intimidation. And we can and we must secure the victory of freedom over darkness and destruction.

This is the magic of love and light which “revitalizes and rejuvenates the tired soil.”

This is Ashraf and its traditions, and it is as such that they get multiplied.

Hail to the people of Iran
Hail to the Mojahedin in Ashraf and Liberty
Hail to freedom,
Hail to all of you.