English translation of remarks made by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) at a press conference held on September 24, 2014 in Paris:
The decision of the French judiciary to dismiss all proceedings targeting the National Council of Resistance and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), is a triumph of justice and resistance over dishonorable and underhanded deals against this resistance.
It represents a failure of the demonization campaign directed at the Iranian resistance movement.
This shameful dossier that has now been closed eleven years after the infamous attack of June 17, 2003 against NCRI offices in France, produced no results other than hampering the resistance movement of an oppressed nation.
It was a disgraceful abuse of the French judiciary and a dangerous diversion in the fight against terrorism that afforded the linchpin of fundamentalism and terrorism, which is the Iranian regime, an opportunity to exploit.
I would like to highlight a few facts on behalf of the Iranian people and their resistance:
1. The French Judiciary has admitted that the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran is pursuing a just resistance that cannot be defined as terrorism in any form or manner. But on June 17, 2003, over 1300 French police violently raided the offices of the National Council of Resistance and private homes of families of Iranian martyrs precisely on the basis of disreputable charges of terrorism and financial support thereof.
2. This attack was planned two months earlier during an official visit by the then French foreign minister to Tehran and according to then French officials had the goal of dismantling the Iranian resistance movement. At the same time, a huge commercial agreement in May 2003 between Iran and France provided the incentive for the attack. Various Iranian regime agencies conspired hand in hand with French agencies to create false testimony against the Iranian resistance.
3. The French Judiciary’s anti-terrorism unit spent tens of millions of Euros in State funds to collect and translate heaps of documents, but alas could not find a shred of evidence of terrorism.
4. The Iranian Intelligence Ministry along with Monsieur Bruguiere and the French intelligence service were faced with a scandal right from the outset on June 17: there was no evidence. To cover-up this scandal, seven known agents of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry were enlisted as so-called witnesses. The use of enemy collaborators against the resistance is truly shameful. French media outlets who work for special interests also repeated these lies coming from the mullahs’ Gestapo as much as they could without giving the accused any chance of response.
5. This dossier seriously diverted the attention of French authorities from the fight against terrorism. Instead of standing up to a regime that has for three decades sown the seeds of ISIL and Hezbollah and terrorism, the French authorities participated in the suppression of the PMOI which represents a democratic and tolerant Islam. This disastrously wrong policy provided the Islamist fanatics an opening that has led today to an open recruitment of French youth by them.
Today as well, we can say that those who call on collaboration with the Iranian regime against ISIL are tragically mistaken. Confronting fanaticism can only succeed through firm opposition to the Iranian regime.
6. As Emile Zola said in defense of truth and justice:
I accuse those who have sacrificed my nation’s resistance for freedom for their collaboration with the mullahs’ dictatorship in Iran
I accuse those who have aided and abetted the mullahs in the continuation of their murders, tortures, and suppression of the Iranian people, through appeasement of their regime.
I accuse those who have sacrificed the French Republic’s democratic values and traditions for commercial gains and have allowed a suppressive regime to misuse the Republic’s judiciary for its own gains.
These accusations are not only those of the Iranian Resistance but also the voice of conscience of French citizens and people.
And now is the time for accountability. Those who has caused such tragic injustice must now stand in court.
7. This injustice has caused great harm and suffering to many members of the resistance in Ashraf and Liberty during the past eleven years directly and indirectly. Now that France has stepped forward to do its share to resolve the Iraq crisis, we expect a humanitarian initiative to protect the lives of the residents of Liberty who are refugees and protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention. We expect that France will guarantee their security and end the inhuman siege of their camp.
In conclusion, I would like to express my heartfelt respect for the symbols of humanity from France, Abbe Pierre, Daniel Mitterrand, Lucy and Raymond Aubrac, Adrien Zeller, and Mario Stasi. They brought France’s honor and conscience to the aid of the Iranian Resistance.
And I would like to thank the majority of the French National Assembly and Senate, and the over fourteen thousand mayors and elected officials who stood with us, and of course all of the residents of Auvers sur Oise and Val d’Oise who never tired of defending us.
Finally, my gratitude to all our lawyers who did a superb job. Thank you all.
