Two years after the raid by 1,300 policemen and the arrest of Mrs. Rajavi, Mrs. Mitterrand strongly condemned the shameful pressures and restrictions that have been imposed on the Iranian Resistance and its president and called for an end to this injustice. She underlined that France, instead of lending its assistance to the Iranian authorities, should encourage this Resistance vis-ÃÂ -vis the religious dictatorship ruling Iran.
Mrs Mitterrand declared: "Since 1981, when France under President Francois Mitterrand granted political asylum to Mr. Massoud Rajavi, I have always expressed my support for your resistance for freedom and I have been deeply worried by the serious, systematic and persistent violation of human rights in Iran.”
The former French First Lady added, “The Iranian regime’s policy of exporting terrorism and fundamentalism while trying to obtain nuclear weapons presents a crucial danger to peace and stability in the area and the world. But we must avoid war and foreign military intervention by encouraging the Iranian people to bring about the democratic change for which they yearn. For this reason, we must support the solution proposed by Mrs Maryam Rajavi.”
Mrs. Mitterrand said, "I found in Maryam Rajavi a perfectly qualified person to lead and to achieve such a democratic change, especially as she has played an irreplaceable part in the promotion of the status of women and I believe that the majority of the French share this conviction with me.”
Referring to the psychological warfare orchestrated by the Iranian regime with the support of some of its French interlocutors against the National Council of Resistance and the People’s Mojahedin of Iran, Mrs. Mitterrand said, “I am very familiar with this negative propaganda and baseless smear campaigns. We were being accused of terrorism and sectarianism at the time of our resistance against Hitler’s fascism. But fortunately, public opinion does not believe these allegations. A case in point are the 2.8 million Iraqis who have testified that during their twenty-year presence in Iraq, the Iranian Mojahedin have acted with political integrity and honor and have waged a legitimate resistance for freedom and democracy in their country.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi thanked Mrs. Mitterrand for her support for the Iranian people and Resistance and referred to the similar position that her late husband, Francois Mitterrand, had. She said, "The Iranian people and Resistance will never forget the intervention by François Mitterrand to prevent the execution of Massoud Rajavi in 1972, when he had been condemned to death by the military tribunals of the Shah’s regime; his message of condolences when Ashraf Rajavi slain in Iran in 1982; his objection to deals being made with the mullahs against the Iranian opposition and his support for Iranian refugees when they were sent to exile in Gabon in 1987. Just as your presence at Auvers-sur-Oise a day after the events of June 17, 2003, and your expression of indignation at those raids will remain forever in our memory.”
She went on to say, “The Iranian people find in the person of Danielle Mitterrand the alert conscience of the freedom-loving people of France; a great lady who has never hesitated to speak out every time our Resistance finds itself the victim of an injustice.”
Mr. Jean-Pierre Becquet, the mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise, greeted Mrs. Mitterrand at the residence of Mrs. Rajavi and welcomed her to the town.
At the end of the meeting, several mothers and children of martyrs of the Iranian Resistance met Mrs. Mitterrand to describe to her the crimes committed against their families in Iran by the mullahs’ regime. Mrs. Mitterrand expressed hope that the suffering of the Iranian people would come to an end with the fall of dictatorship and the establishment of democracy in Iran. Members and sympathizers of the National Council of Resistance and inhabitants of Auvers-sur-Oise warmly greeted Mrs. Mitterrand with bunches of flowers when she entered the NCRI office and expressed their gratitude for her defense of the Iranian Resistance.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
May 18, 2005