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Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and leader of MEK Iran, gave a speech on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, a religious holiday that commemorates the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Rajavi sent her best wishes to her compatriots, members of MEK Iran, supporters of the Iranian resistance, political prisoners in Iran, and to all people across the country who have paid and continue to pay a bloody tribute for freedom.

“The coronavirus epidemic, whichcaused the death of more than 300,000 innocent Iranians, and brought poverty and unemployment to millions more, is source of great bitterness and sadness. This year’s Eid al-Fitr announces the promise of the Iranian people’s liberation. It is true that this holiday is tinted with the blood and tears of our people, with their sufferings, but it announces the final defeat of the religious dictatorship, and that day is not far away,” said MEK Iran’s leader, Maryam Rajavi.

Broadcasted on YouTbe, Rajavi said thatthe successful passage of this willpowertest sends the message that the victory of mankind over the dark fate is certain.

In this sense, Eid al-Fitr celebrateshuman’s capacity of being able to resist in hard times. This means that one can and must overcome internal, political and social obstacles, and ultimately overcome oppression, tyranny and exploitation.

“During Eid-al-Fitr, we pray to God to infuse us with all the virtue and excellence with which He endowed the Prophet Mohammad and his people.We ask Him to save us and protect us from all the vice and evil from which he has protected Prophet Mohammad and his people,” said Rajavi.

This prayer reflects the desire of the people in Iran.During this month of Ramadan and the Nights of Fate, the MEK Iran and the resistance units mapped out their roadmaps and took their paths on a very different level. They paved a way which is a great gift for the Iranian people.

The MEK Iran and the resistance units, determined the fate of the Iranian people by vowing to free them from the clutches of the bloodthirsty and tyrannical regime of the mullahs.

Thus, we see protests growing throughout Iranian, despite the spread of the coronavirus in the cities of Iran.

This year, workers' protests on International Labor Day have been much larger and more heated.

Rajavi pointed out that the Iranian people are determined to free themselfs fromthe religious tyranny and the MEK Iran is committed to help them achieve their freedom.

The execution on 1 June of Mr Gholmareza Khosravi, a member of the main Iranian democratic opposition, PMOI-MEK, was a further step into the abyss of depravity that marks the tyrannical mullah regime in Tehran.

Mr Khosravi had spent a total of 12 years in different prisons in Iran, including 40 months in solitary confinement. He was accused of donating money to the Iranian resistance satellite TV.

As Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian opposition leader has said: “It was after the savage raid on the political prisoners in Ward 350 of Evin Prison that Ali Khamenei’s henchmen decided to carry out this criminal sentence.

They considered Gholamreza as the main leader of protest and revolt by prisoners in Ward 350 last April.”

Amnesty International described the execution of Gholamreza Khosravi as a violation of "international law" and even the violation of the regime's own laws.

I strongly condemn this cowardly act and call on the EU and Member States to do the same and to call for all political prisoners to be released immediately.

The so-called “moderate” president Rouhani must be held accountable for this barbarity.

Struan Stevenson MEP
Chair, Friends of a Free Iran
European Parliament

News Source: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/16644-iranian-regime-stoops-to-new-depths-of-depravity-with-execution-of-gholamreza-khosravi

Maryam Rajavi: Economic relations with the Iranian regime should be conditional upon stopping torture and execution

UN Security Council must investigate Ward 350 Evin prison attack and group executions

Call for the release of seven hostages, protection of Liberty and the transfer of residents to the U.S. and Europe

The Iranian regime must be forced to implement NPT's Additional Protocol, accept unannounced inspections, and stop its uranium enrichment and missile programs

In a meeting in the French National Assembly Victor Hugo’s salon, in Paris, with participants from all political groups, Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, emphasized that the expansion and continuation of the international community’s economic relations with the Iranian regime must be conditional upon an end to violation of human rights, and stopping execution and torture. In this meeting that was held at the invitation of the Parliamentary Committee for Democratic Iran, a number of French lawmakers spoke.

Mrs. Rajavi said while violation of human rights in Iran gets a new and deeper dimension every day, the Iranian regime abuses the business and parliamentary trips to Iran to tell the Iranian people and political prisoners that despite torture and execution, the West sides with the mullahs’ regime. “Therefore I ask Parliamentarians and business owners, like many in Europe who cancelled their trips to Iran and did not want to give a Carte blanche to the regime for further crimes, to refuse these invitations.”

President -elect of the Iranian Resistance denounced ignoring the brutal April 17 attack on political prisoners in Evin by Western governments and called for an independent international investigation in this regard.

In this parliamentary meeting, held on the eve of the new round of nuclear negotiations with the mullahs, Mrs. Rajavi stressed that the Iranian regime signed the Geneva agreement simply to reduce international sanctions, but this agreement has only postponed the regime’s program to acquire nuclear bomb. The regime was able to maintain its sites and even to enhance its enrichment capacity. Parallel to that, it continues its ballistic missile program without any worry. To ensure that it can not acquire nuclear bomb, the regime must accept the Additional Protocol and unannounced inspections, and to completely stop its enrichment program and nuclear bomb launcher missile program.

Parliamentarians pointed to the growing repression and executions in Iran and called the notion that Rouhani was a moderate as an illusion. The Members of Parliament stressed that the West's silence about the brutality of the Iranian regime against defenseless prisoners would give them a free hand to repeat these crimes.

French lawmakers asserted that parliamentary or business delegations’ trips to Iran in such circumstances that the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance need the support of freedom-loving countries send a wrong message to the religious fascism ruling Iran.

According to the evaluation of the members of the French Parliament, Rouhani is part of the totality of the religious dictatorship and his record in all areas including human rights, terrorism and interference in the countries in the region and trying to loosen the sanctions while continuing the regime's nuclear program, is dark. He is an advocate and has been enforcing the policies of Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the clerical regime.

Speakers emphasized that change in Iran is a necessity and support for the organized resistance, and Maryam Rajavi’s ten point plan is the only way to freedom and democracy in Iran.

President-elect of the Iranian resistance congratulated the French President and government for the release of four reporters hostages in Syria and praised the solidarity and unity of the French society and political parties, and called on the French government to play a leading role in protecting the Iranian refugees residing at camp Liberty in Iraq and saving the lives of seven of them, including six women, who were taken hostage in the massacre of September 1, 2013.

She pointed out the dangers threatening the lives of residents of Liberty and called for an independent investigation into the massacre in Ashraf and Liberty by the United Nations, the U.S and Europe, and reiterated the Iraqi government should be forced to meet the security requirements of Liberty.

She said: We demand the immediate transfer of especially patients and injured residents of Liberty to Europe and America.

Some lawmakers in the National Assembly who spoke in this session include: Bruno Leroux, head of the socialist group, André Chassaigne, Chairman of the Left Democrats and Republicans, Gérard Charasse, Dominique Lefebvre, Michel Terrot, Pascal Deguilhem, Catherine Queré, Martine Pinville, Brigitte Allain, Philippe Houillon, Céleste Lett, et Stéphane Saint-André.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

News Source: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/president-elect/16488-cross-party-support-for-the-iranian-resistance-in-the-french-national-assembly

In the conference of Iran, Regime Change, Provision of Security for Camp Liberty Residents

In his 10-month dossier, Rouhani has shown that he is part and parcel of the mullahs’ regime with no mission other than to preserve the regime

Call for urgent action by international community to release seven Ashraf hostages, provide security of Camp Liberty, and transfer refugees to U.S. and Europe

On Saturday, April 12, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, called on the international community, especially the Western governments, to make contingent their relations with the mullahs’ regime to the human rights situation in Iran, especially the abolishment of executions, cessation of torture and suppression, and respect for freedom of expression by this regime.

Mrs. Rajavi was the keynote speaker to the conference, held in Paris in presence of delegations from Iranian youth associations from across the world. She asserted, “End the policy of appeasement and making concessions to the regime. On the pretext of nuclear talks, do not turn a blind eye on the crimes committed by this regime against the Iranian people and the regime’s role in the genocide in Syria, and its deadly occupation of Iraq.”

Speaking on regime’s reaction to European Parliament’s recent resolution on the violation of human rights in Iran Rajavi said: “Their deep fear of human rights is not without cause since the slightest gap in this respect will open the way to torrents of uprisings and the unraveling of the chain of oppression.”

Representatives from close to 50 Iranian youth associations from various countries attended this gathering.

Mrs. Rajavi called the extensive presence of the representatives of Iranian youth associations in this rally as a clear message to the Iranians and the international community and said: “The message is that the Iranian youth are resolute in bringing down the religious dictatorship and establishing freedom and democracy.” Addressing the youth she added, “You, the youth who have risen today in resistance and uprising, are Iran’s future.”

In their speeches and through issuing a resolution, the representatives of the Iranian democratic youth associations reminded: “As Mrs. Rajavi accentuated in the European Parliament last week, human rights is the Achilles heel of this regime.” They stipulated that ten months after the mullahs’ regime presidential elections masquerade, Rouhani has shown that he is part and parcel of the religious fascism rule with no mission but to preserve the regime. During this period, the number of executions has exceeded 700, and the execution of people who were minors at the time of arrest has spiked. The institutionalized discrimination against women and ethnic and religious minorities has deepened and broadened. Censorship and restrictions on cyberspace have augmented and more than ever, the youth are deprived from free exchange of information and exercising freedom of expression on the internet.

According to the resolution, “Although the Iranian regime has been compelled to retreat one single step due to the sanctions and the crises it is engulfed in, it however is poised to realize its ominous project. The sole remedy is to force this regime to accept the Additional Protocol and to implement the Security Council resolutions.”

They emphasized, “We consider a change of the regime as the sole path for Iran to thwart its present crisis and we therefore declare our support for the 10-point platform of Mrs. Rajavi.”

Pointing to the destructive effects of the regime’s warmongering and export of terrorism in the Middle-East, the resolution declares, “This regime must be banished from the international community and the seat of Iran at the United Nations should be given to the Iranian Resistance which is the democratic alternative to this anti-human regime. It is the duty of the international community to stand with the Iranian people and their legitimate demand to topple this regime rather than to be silent and on the sidelines in face of this medieval regime.”

The meeting moderated by MC Jean-Pierre Spitzer. In addition to the representatives of the Iranian youth associations and French and Norwegian youth associations, a number of political dignitaries delivered speeches to the meeting, including Rudi Giuliani, Mayor of New York City (1994-2001); Howard Dean, former Chair of the Democratic National Committee; Michael Mukasey, U.S. Attorney General (2007-2009); Louis Freeh, Director of FBI (1993-2001); Alan Dershowitz, most prominent American lawyer in criminal cases; Robert Torricelli, U.S. Senator (1997-2003), from the United states and lawmakers Erick Skutle and Charlotte Spurkeland from Norway.

The meeting was held on the 3rd anniversary of the April 8 massacre of Camp Ashraf residents where 36 PMOI members lost their lives.

In her speech, Mrs. Rajavi pointed to the multiple massacres in Ashraf and the repeated attacks on Camp Liberty and stated: “We want the UN Secretary-General to explicitly and decisively terminate the cases of collusion and ignorance of crimes against humanity and to ordain an impartial investigation into the mass executions and hostage-taking in Ashraf based on a specific timetable.”

She also criticized the United Nations and the United States for their “terrible inaction” toward the repeated missile attacks against Camp Liberty residents and asked them to compel the Iraqi government to uphold its commitments to provide safety and security to the residents, including the installation of T-walls and the annulment of the anti-human medical siege. “We demand the release of the Ashraf hostages and the transfer of all PMOI members in Camp Liberty, especially the sick and the wounded, to Europe and the United States”, Rajavi added.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 12, 2014

News Source: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/president-elect/16332

Brussels- On Wednesday 9 April, a high level conference on Iran was held in the European Parliament. The meeting moderated by Struan Stevenson, chair of the Friends of a Free Iran intergroup, included speeches by Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance; Michèle Alliot-Marie, former French Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs; Tahar Boumedra, the former UNAMI Chief of Human Rights and the person in charge of the Camp Ashraf dossier (2009-2012), plus many senior members of the European Parliament from various political groups including Alejo Vidal-Quadras , Vice-President of the European Parliament, Stephen Hughes, First Vice-President of the Socialists-Democrats group, Vytautas Landsbergis former President of Lithuania, Eduard Kukan former Foreign Minister of Slovakia, EP Quaestor Jim Higgins from Ireland, Tunne Kelam from Estonia, Oreste Rossi from Italy, Derk Jan Eppink from the Netherlands as well as Chairman of Belgian Senate’s Equal Rights Committee Nele Lijnen and Belgian MP Els Demol.

Mrs. Rajavi, the keynote speaker to the conference, noted that mullahs’ hysteric attacks of the past week against the European parliament because of its resolution against the violations of human rights in Iran demonstrates that human rights is indeed the Achilles heel of this regime and that the chalice of poison of human rights is a hundred times more dangerous for this regime as the nuclear one. Thus, all factions of this regime are united and have common interest in execution, torture and slaughter. Ten months after Mullah Rouhani assumed office, the unprecedented number of executions and the barbaric massacre against Ashraf and Camp Liberty proved that this regime lacks even the least capacity for flexibility and moderation. The solution for Iran problem is a change of the regime.

The speakers raised the following points:

1. The Iranian regime has retreated one small step from its nuclear programme because of international sanctions but has not given up its ambitions to attain a nuclear bomb. Many speakers demanded that Iran must implement fully the Security Council resolutions, stop all enrichment and accept the additional protocol.

2. The 10-month record of President Rouhani leaves no hope of moderation and reform within the ruling theocracy. After the undemocratic presidential elections many parliamentarians have realised that he is no moderate since the human rights situation has become worse and the regime’s meddling in the region, especially in Syria and Iraq has increased.

   According to the UN Secretary-General’s report, as well as some Western governments and human rights organisations, the promises for freedom of expression and respect for human rights have failed with over 700 executions since Rouhani’s election. Only a firm policy towards the regime can help the Iranian people who are suffering from oppression.

3. In parallel to the repression inside the country, the regime is trying to destroy its organised opposition in a virtual prison called Camp Liberty in neighbouring Iraq, with assistance from its puppet government there. The mass executions of 52 defenceless PMOI members in Ashraf on 1 September 2013 and the repeated missile attacks on Camp Liberty, intensifying the disgraceful medical siege there, and repeated threats of extraditing these refugees, together with the silence and lack of action by the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union, have all created a terrifying situation for these refugees who are acknowledged by the UNHCR to be under international protection. Twenty six months after the transfer of these people from Ashraf to the squalid and prison-like conditions of Camp Liberty on the pretext of their transfer to third countries, only 10% have been transferred out of Iraq, thanks to the endeavours of the Iranian Resistance.

4. The US, UN, and the EU have failed to protect these refugees piling pressure on Nouri al-Maliki to kill or hand over the 3000 Iranian dissidents in Camp Liberty. Since the Americans reneged on their pledge to guarantee the safety of these defenceless refugees, they have been harassed, psychologically tortured, deprived of food, medicines and basic necessities, bombed, shot, handcuffed and executed.

   The false and biased reports by the United Nations on the Camp Liberty residents are unacceptable. Our experience of the past years, especially during the period that Martin Kobler was head of the UNAMI, indicates that these reports are not the result of misinformed authors or mistakes; rather, they stem from a political intent with no objective other than to serve the objectives of the fascist regime in Iran and its subordinate government in Iraq.

   These falsifications are not based on statements made by the residents of the camp to UN officials or observers in the camp. The UNHCR, that every day privately meets a considerable number of the residents at its place outside the camp, or visits people inside the camp, has never reported such allegations. This is while thus far UNHCR has interviewed 98% of the residents and interviews with the remaining residents will also be conducted in the next few days. These interviews take a few hours and some of the residents have been interviewed several times.

5. The conference demanded the implementation of the legitimate, minimum and urgent demands of Camp Liberty's residents, including:
   • The swift release of the seven residents, six of whom are women, taken hostage on September 1 in Ashraf;
     
   • The expeditious transfer of all residents to Europe and the United States;
     
   • Providing the minimum protective provisions at Camp Liberty such as the return of 17,500 T-walls, the transfer of protective helmets and vests and medical equipment of residents from Ashraf, enlarging the area of the camp and allowing construction of buildings for the sick, disabled and injured;
   • The permanent stationing of UN observers, along with a Blue Helmet team, in Camp Liberty;
   • Immediately ending the siege on the camp, especially the disgraceful medical blockade;
   • The conducting of an independent inquiry into the massacre of September 1 by the United Nations and the referral of the file to the International Criminal Court.

6. The only viable and realistic solution for the future of Iran is a change of regime and the establishment of real democracy. Maryam Rajavi and her movement have the competence to establish such a democracy. Her 10-point plan is a democratic platform that can resolve the problems of Iranian society after almost one century of dictatorships of the Shah and the mullahs. The Iranian resistance has managed to make major progress in the past 35 years, despite facing a brutal dictatorship and an appeasement policy of the west.

7. On 3rd April the European Parliament adopted a moderately critical resolution on Iran causing a hysterical and unprecedented hostile reaction from the mullah's regime. Many Iranian government officials, including the so called “moderate” Foreign Minister, the Speaker of the Majlis (the Iranian Parliament), the chair of the Iranian Parliament’s Security and Intelligence committee, Tehran’s Friday Prayer Leader, numerous members of the Majlis and the overwhelming majority of the media, have mounted relentless attacks on the EU, questioning why the European Parliament has dared to include human rights violations and the anti-democratic behaviour of the regime of Iran in the on-going nuclear discussions.

   The hostile reaction is a clear indication that the survival of the Iranian regime is very much dependent on the continuing systematic and grave violation of human rights and that any relaxation of such oppressive activities would accelerate the regime’s overthrow. Indeed the universal condemnation of the EU resolution has demonstrated clearly that all factions within Iran, including the so called 'moderate', 'extremist', 'pragmatic', or 'centrist' political blocs, are all colluding in the repression and violation of the Iranian people’s human rights and are completely subservient to the Supreme Leader.

8. Appointing a terrorist as the Iranian regime's newly named ambassador to the United Nations shows the real nature of Rouhani. Hamid Abutalebi was involved in the hostage-taking at the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and coordinated the assassination of Mohammad-Hossein Naghdi, the representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Italy, on 16 March 1993.

The conference called for a firm stance against the policies of the Iranian regime; its nuclear programme, its violation of human rights, its warmongering and export of terrorism in the region. It strongly urged the European Union to make conditional the expansion of its political and economic relations with Iran on the ending of executions and a dramatic improvement of human rights.

Struan Stevenson MEP
Chair, Friends of a Free Iran
European Parliament

News Source: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/16310-maryam-rajavi-attends-int-l-conference-on-iran-at-the-european-parliament

Press release by Struan Stevenson, MEP, Chair of Friends of a Free Iran:

The hysterical Reaction of the Iranian Regime to the European Parliament's Resolution, underlines the need for a continuing firm policy against the barbaric violation of human rights, nuclear projects and regional warmongering

On 3rd April the European Parliament adopted a moderately critical resolution on Iran causing a hysterical and unprecedented hostile reaction from the mullah's regime. Many Iranian government officials, including the so called “moderate” Foreign Minister, the Speaker of the Majlis (the Iranian Parliament), the chair of the Iranian Parliament’s Security and Intelligence committee, Tehran’s Friday Prayer Leader, numerous members of the Majlis and the overwhelming majority of the media, have mounted relentless attacks on the EU, questioning why the European Parliament has dared to include human rights violations and the anti-democratic behaviour of the regime of Iran in the on-going nuclear discussions.

The hostile reaction is a clear indication that the survival of the Iranian regime is very much dependent on the continuing systematic and grave violation of human rights and that any relaxation of such oppressive activities would accelerate the regime’s overthrow. Indeed the universal condemnation of the EU resolution has demonstrated clearly that all factions within Iran, including the so called “moderate”, “extremist”, “pragmatic”, or “centrist” political blocs, are all colluding in the repression and violation of the Iranian people’s human rights and are completely subservient to the Supreme Leader.

The hysterical reaction of the Iranian regime also underscores the need to keep up the pressure on human rights during all negotiations on the mullahs' attempts to construct nuclear weapons. It would be a grave error to relax this pressure in the hope of appeasing the allegedly 'moderate' forces in Iran.

It is reported that the Greek ambassador to Iran, representing the rotating presidency of the EU, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry office in Tehran and was given an official letter of protest in respect of the April 3rd resolution. Iran has called the resolution“unacceptable and false” and “against the common interests of Islamic Republic of Iran and the European Union”.

Mohammad Javad Zarif the Iranian Foreign Minister in a speech in the Iranian Parliament said: “The European Parliament plays a very minor and insignificant role in European politics. The European Parliament is not in a position nor has moral ground to impose its views on other countries….. the government shall not allow any European parliamentary delegation to visit Iran with the conditions set in this European parliament resolution.”

In a rash response to the EU resolution the Iranian Parliament adopted a declaration stating that the Iranian government “must rethink its economic and political policies toward the countries that have signed this resolution”. The Iranian declaration also mentions that: “Iran shall disallow establishment of any office by the European Parliament which has to do with human rights or any such related issues” and that the regime will “re-evaluate Iran’s collaboration with the UN Human Rights Council”.

The leader of Tehran’s Friday prayer, Movahedi Kermani, referring to the possibility of the EU opening an office in Tehran, and mentioning the occupation of the US embassy in 1979, said: “The Iranian people will not allow the opening of another spy den in Iran. One should remember and learn from what happened to the American spying den. As the American spies were blindfolded and handcuffed, they too should learn from it”. He further added: "… They say elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran are inconsistent with international standards… they brazenly command that Ahmed Shaheed, this anti-Iranian element who is the mouthpiece of the world arrogance, should be permitted to come to Iran and instigate sedition. The Europeans say the parliamentary delegations’ visits to Iran must be accompanied with the permission to visit seditionists and anti-revolutionaries; what hideous expectations!” (Tasnim, the terrorist Qods Force news agency - April 4)

Likewise, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the commander of the Basij force, called the EU MEPs worse than “four legged animals”. He said that: “in their resolution they tell us that we have no right to execute people and that they want to have an office in Iran; it is none of your damned business to open up a bureau in Iran.” (The state-run Tabnak website - April 3, 2014)

Struan Stevenson MEP
Chair, Friends of a Free Iran
European Parliament

News Source: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-world/16299-senior-mep-iran-s-hysteria-over-ep-resolution-underlines-a-countinuing-firm-policy