The story of Maryam Rajavi, Iranian Resistance Movement Fighter

Text of speech by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, at the meeting of Liberal Party Group at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Strasbourg,

Video Report

Mr. President,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honor for me to be here among you today.

I wish to thank Lord Russell-Johnston for his kind remarks and his efforts in support of the Iranian people's Resistance. 

I thank also the liberal group for organizing this meeting. 

I came today to speak to you in the name of a people whose rudimentary rights have been denied by the ruling religious dictatorship. 

I am speaking about a country where freedom advocates are tortured and executed, and where women are stoned to death on bogus pretexts.
 
I came to convey the Iranian people's cry for freedom to this assembly of the representatives of the European people.

The Iranian regime's threats and the third option

Ten days ago, the United Nations Security Council of UNO issued a unanimous statement calling on the Iranian regime to suspend the uranium enrichment.  But the mullahs continue to defy the international community and are rejecting its calls.

Today, the world is facing a dangerous dilemma:  the prospect of a fundamentalist dictatorship acquiring the world's most dangerous weapon or the prospect for a disastrous war in the region. 

Today, I have come to say that the international community is not required to choose between the nuclear-armed mullahs or a war. 

There is a third option:  Democratic change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance. Making concessions to the mullahs is not the way to avoid war. It would increases the possibility of a war.  It is necessary to react quickly. We do not have much time.

The mullahs seek to acquire atomic weapons as a lever to preserve the religious dictatorship. Nuclear weapons are effective tools to export of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism.

The mullahs deceived the international community about nuclear program for 18 years until the National Council of Resistance of Iran exposed their lies. 

We are speaking about a regime which has repressed its population for 27 years.  It has executed 120,000 people for political reasons and violated the most fundamental rights of the Iranian people. 

The regime has also assassinated dozens of Iranian dissidents abroad.

Recently, a Swiss Investigative Magistrate handling the case of the assassination in April 1990 in Geneva of Prof. Kazem Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance representative in Switzerland, issued an international arrest warrant for Ali Fallahian, former Intelligence Minister and Khamenei's current advisor on security affairs, for his role in organizing the killing.

The Investigative Magistrate confirmed that in early 1980s, Fallahian had issued a death sentence for Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Repression in Iran is not limited only to political executions, torture of political prisoners or even public executions and stoning to death.  In Iran, the violations of human right are institutionalized in the law.  Flogging, limb amputation in public and eye gouging are sanctioned by the law. 

The regime's misogynous laws subject women to gender apartheid.  Women are humiliated and flogged in public for not abiding by the mandatory dress code. 

The Iranian regime is the epicenter of exporting Islamic fundamentalism and the most active state sponsor of terrorism in the world.  It is hostile to peace in the Middle East. Its president has called for the destruction of the United States and wiping Israel of the map. It is a regime, which is trying to set up a satellite fundamentalist regime in Iraq.

And to this end, it has engaged in extensive meddling and carried out terrorist activities in Iraq, including fomenting a sectarian war between the Shiites and the Sunnis as well as establishing secret detention and torture centers.

I must emphasize that the danger of the Iranian regime's meddling and terrorism in Iraq is a hundred times more dangerous than its nuclear threat.

In order to confront such a regime, the world, has only one logical choice: Acting decisively and quickly.  The Security Council must impose sanctions on the regime and the international community must recognize the right of the Iranian people to resist for freedom. 

I urge you to join this effort so that together we could prevent a tragedy.

The terrorist list:  Greatest obstacle to democratic change

Despite brutal repression, change in Iran is within reach.  In a futile hope for moderation, the West, made offered every possible concession to the Tehran regime. The result was the empowerment of the most totalitarian faction within the regime. The inclusion of Iran's main opposition in the terrorist list was at the heart of these concessions.

British Foreign Secretary acknowledged recently that it had proscribed the Mojahedin at the behest of the Iranian regime.

Five hundred pre-eminent lawyers and more than 1,000 parliamentarians in Europe declared their opposition to the terror label against the Mojahedin, because it allows the mullahs to suppress a legitimate resistance. 

In February, the regime announced the execution of a Mojahedin member who had been incarcerated for four and a half years and tortured while in captivity. Two weeks ago, another Mojahedin member was sentenced to death and more prisoners are facing execution.

Putting restrictions on the main Iranian opposition force is the greatest obstacle to democratic change in Iran.  At issue is limiting an organization but targeting the resistance of a people for freedom.  As 2.8 million Iraqis declared in a statement, the "Mojahedin are an important political and cultural barrier to the influence of fundamentalism."

The removal of the terrorist label is the legitimate demand of the Iranian people and the litmus test of abandoning the policy of appeasing the mullahs. 

The Resistance's capabilities to bring about change

We ask foreign countries for neither money nor weapons.  The Iranian Resistance has the potential and the elements necessary to bring about democratic change in Iran: 

First, it has a vast popular base; a nationwide social network and enjoys widespread support among Iranians abroad. For this reason, absolute repression and the mullahs' back channel deals have failed in crushing the Resistance movement. More than 4,000 acts of protest in Iran last year, despite the repressive atmosphere, demonstrated that Iranian society is ripe for change.

Second, it has a political alternative, the national Council of Iranian Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a Parliament in exile. Women comprise 52 percent of the Council's 530 members. Representatives of various sectors of Iranian society, different political tendencies, religious and ethnic minorities are represented in the NCRI. 

Third, it has an organized force in Iraq, in the Ashraf City, close to the Iranian frontier, which allows it to exert the greatest influence on the events in Iran. 

Fourthly, the pivotal force within the Resistance movement is People's Mojahedin (PMOI) with 40 years of struggle for freedom. It advocates a tolerant, democratic and antifundamentalist Islam. It has is working to establish a republic based on the separation of church and state. 

The positions and programs of the Resistance movement

 Ladies and gentlemen,

Before anything else, our Resistance movement is a humanist movement that is striving to revive the human values destroyed by the fundamentalists ruling Iran.  We believe freedom is the greatest human attribute. Profound faith in freedom gives us the power to confront the hardships in the struggle against a religious dictatorship. We do not aim to assume power at all costs. Our goal is to guarantee freedom and the democracy no matter what the cost.  Thus, the National Council of Resistance of Iran is committed to hold free elections for a constituent and national legislative assembly within six months of the current regime's overthrow and hand over the affairs of the country to their elected representatives.

Allow me to summarize briefly our views for future Iran

1. From our point of view, the ballot box is the only criterion for legitimacy. Accordingly, we seek a republic based on popular vote.
2. We want a pluralist system, freedom of parties and assembly.  In Iran of tomorrow, we will respect all individual freedoms.  Expression of opinion, speech and the media are completely free and any censorship or inquisition is banned.
3. In the free Iran of tomorrow, we support and are committed to the abolition of death penalty.
4. The Iranian Resistance will establish the separation of the church and the State.  Any form of discrimination against the followers of all religions and denominations will be prohibited. 
5. We believe in complete gender equality in political and social rights. We also committed to equal participation of women in political leadership.  Any form of discrimination against women will be abolished. They will enjoy the right to freely choose their clothing. 
6. We want to set up a modern legal system based on the principles of presumption of innocence, the right to defense, and the right to be tried in a public court. We also seek the total independence of judges.  Cruel and degrading punishments will have no place in the future Iran.
7. We are committed to the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights, and international covenants and conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of discrimination Against Women. 
8. We recognize private property, private investment and the market economy. 
9. Our foreign policy will be based on peaceful coexistence, international and regional peace and cooperation, as well as respect for the United Nations Charter. 
10. We want the free Iran of tomorrow to be devoid of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction. 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

I would like to mention a quote from Sir Winston Churchill, the founder of the Council of Europe. Upon Neville Chamberlain's return after signing the Munich Pact with Hitler in 1938, Churchill said, "You were given the choice between dishonour and war. You chose dishonour. And you will have war."

Today, Europe again faces a choice.

A choice between firmness and compromise, which would give the mullahs the possibility to arm themselves with nuclear weapons;

A choice between war and support for the Iranian people's demand for democratic change.

With the correct choice, we can prevent a tragedy and war. 

I again call on you to make this choice in support of the Iranian people and Resistance.

Time has come for the international community to recognize the Iranian people's Resistance and grant it an observer seat in the United Nations.