NCRI – “I accept Mrs. Rajavi’s challenge and I call upon my government and the EU as a whole to embrace Mrs. Maryam Rajavi and the National Council for Resistance in Iran as fellow democrats. I call upon them to invite Mrs. Rajavi and the movement she leads into the Council of Democrats everywhere but particularly into the EU”, said Brian Binley, British MP, in an international Conference in Paris on February, 5.
Here is the text of his speech:
On the 12th December 2006, the European Union’s Court of first instance annulled council decision 2005|930|EC regarding the proscription of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran and to freezing its assets.
And we, the friends, supporters and members of the national Council for resistance in Iran thought we had won a great victory and we properly celebrated that decision and welcomed it with joy. Justice had a last been done we thought. And why shouldn’t we, for we knew the case was overwhelming.
We thought it so overwhelming, that it was why the EU and the UK government failed to provide any evidence to the contrary, even in support of their allegations of terrorism against the P.M.O.I. Indeed – why shouldn’t we consider our case overwhelming? We know that Jack Straw, the former British Foreign Secretary, couldn’t quote one instance of an act of terrorism committed by the P.M.O.I. against Western interests when asked. Not one – because we know there were none.
We know the P.M.O.I. was only put on the list in the first place to appease the mullahs and we know this because Jack Straw acknowledged it to be the case in 2001. We know the P.M.O.I. doesn’t have weapons arsenals since they publicly renounced violence some years ago. But we know that the N.C.R.I. is committed to democracy and we know that its leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi is committed to the third option to bring democratic regime change to Iran.
Yet in spite of all of that evidence both the UK government and the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council have so far apparently defied the European Court and refused to accept its decision. What a tragedy for the EU – but especially what a tragedy for the UK.
Britain has every right to be proud of its long held record of parliamentary, democracy, fair play, justice and support for the rule of law. And yet it seemingly refuses to accept the decision of a legally constituted court to which it dutifully signed up to and whose decisions it readily agreed to abide by.
As a proud Englishman and a Member of the House of Commons, I say not only is that unacceptable – it is totally shameful.
The British Government, in so acting, has documented and besmirched the good name of my country. And for what? To continue to appease a medieval theocracy whose President refuses to recognize the Holocaust, threatens to drive the Israelis into the sea, denies basic human rights to his own people, actively supports terrorism and lauds the evil practices of suicide bombers, and finally – and most frightening – will soon preside over a nation in possession of nuclear weapons.
What sort of message does that send to fundamentalists and terrorists, not only in Iran but the world over? So I call on my government to rethink its position. I call upon my government to positively welcome the judgement of December 6th and to act upon it immediately as we and all right thinking democrats would expect. But I go further.
I accept Mrs. Rajavi’s challenge and I call upon my government and the EU as a whole to embrace Mrs. Maryam Rajavi and the National Council for Resistance in Iran as fellow democrats. I call upon them to invite Mrs. Rajavi and the movement she leads into the Council of Democrats everywhere but particularly into the EU.
Above all I call upon my government to recognize that the third option provides a genuine alternative to the regime of terror in Iran today and to the misguided theories of democracies Western democracies which vacillate between cowering appeasement and on the one hand and risk lawless military incursion on the other.
Finally I call upon them to recognise that evil regimes do fall.
I well remember the Hungarian uprising, the Prague Spring and the dissidents’ campaign in Russia all of which led to the downfall of the Communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe and Asia. And I remember how the fall of the Berlin Wall so vividly illustrated that downfall. I well remember the day Nelson Mandela was released and the regime change that followed. I remember the displays of people in Albania, Poland and Portugal.
We know it can happen. We know it can happen in Iran. But only if the West sends the right messages now and is prepared to voice support when the moment comes. Above all it needs to support Mrs. Rajavi, the N.C.R.I. and the third option fro democratic regime change in Iran. The prize is massive but the cost if we fail will be great.
We therefore need to get real, get behind Mrs. Rajavi and the National Council, and play a part in the creation of democratic Iran and hopefully a more stable Middle East.
And that is why the British Parliamentary Committee for Iranian freedom on Wednesday of this week is holding a press conference in the House of Commons to announce both political and legal measures to force the British Government to change its position and we need to do it for all our sakes.
