Trans-Atlantic Summit
Maryam Rajavi: The 1988 massacre and the November 2019 killings must be referred to the U.N. Security Council. The time has come to remove impunity for Khamenei and the regime’s officials. They must face justice
On the brink of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, an online international summit, entitled “Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy, Time to Hold the Iranian Regime Accountable,” brought together Iranians in various countries around the world from 10,000 locations.
Among the personalities who addressed the summit were 30 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers from the House and the Senate, including Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Roy Blunt, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Bob Menendez, and dignitaries like Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor, General James Jones, National Security Advisor to President Obama (2009-2010), Newt Gingrich, 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Joseph Lieberman, former U.S. Senator, as well as a delegation of U.K. lawmakers, and Amb. Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the keynote speaker of the summit, paid tribute to Navid Afkari, a rebellious national hero recently executed by the regime and said: “Faced with executions and massacres, the people of Iran urge the United Nations, and the U.N. Security Council, in particular, to restore snapback sanctions stipulated in the six U.N. resolutions against the clerical regime in Iran. Otherwise, Khamenei will continue to ravage the nation as his regime’s survival depends on murder and suppression. If Khamenei were to stop executions, he would lose control of the situation, and uprisings simmering in the depths of Iranian society would erupt and overthrow the mullahs’ religious fascism.”
Mrs. Rajavi emphasized Khamenei’s role in the heartbreaking deaths of over 105,000 people who had lost their lives to the Coronavirus, ranking Iran as the country with the highest number of fatalities per capita in the world, and added: “No one initially believed that the clerical regime had deliberately shot down the Ukrainian airliner when it first happened. Likewise, it is hard to believe that Khamenei and Rouhani are deliberately sending people to their deaths by exposing them to the Coronavirus. But they have, infact, adopted the strategy of causing mass human casualties to protect their regime from the Iranian people’s protests and from the danger of being overthrown.”
Mrs. Rajavi added: “The value of assets amassed by institutions and foundations controlled by Khamenei amounts to more than one trillion dollars. All these properties, assets, and resources belong to the people of Iran but so far, not a cent of it has been allocated to their health and medical care… The Coronavirus is the mullahs’ strongest ally; imprisonment and executions are their most essential instruments of power, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most reliable killing machine to prop up their rule… If you do not intend to crack down on the public, stoke wars and export terrorism, one army should be sufficient for you. Do not impose the astronomical expenses of the IRGC on the people of Iran. Dissolve the IRGC and spend the money used for its expenses on health and medical care instead, and pay the salaries of nurses, workers, teachers, and public sector employees.”
Mrs. Rajavi recalled the uprisings of 2017 and 2019, pointing to the escalation in suppression and murder of MEK supporters and protesters, including the massacre of 1,500 young people and teenagers during the November 2019 uprisings. She also mentioned the mass arrests, torture, and recent death sentences for detainees on charges of moharebeh (waging war on God) and said: “The clerical regime is at war with the people of Iran and with the world community. … The wrong international policies that aid the murderers of the people of Iran, allowing the religious fascism to violate the rights of the people of Iran and spread war and terrorism in the Middle East,” must be stopped.
The NCRI President-elect outlined a three-pronged policy approach vis-a-vis the mullahs’ regime, comprised of: human rights for all the people of Iran, comprehensive sanctions against the religious dictatorship, and recognition of the Iranian people’s Resistance and struggle for freedom in Iran.
Mrs. Rajavi added: ‘It is a mistake to think that a reduction of international sanctions will result in the regime abandoning its belligerence. Ironically, it was under the auspices of the JCPOA that the Iranian regime’s terrorism ravaged Europe.”
The Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy featured hundreds of distinguished political personalities from the U.S. and Europe. Some of the dignitaries who either directly addressed the summit or sent messages of support included: Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.S. National Security Advisor General James Jones, General Jack Keane, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator Robert Torricelli, Senator Kelly Ayotte, former Albanian prime minister Pandeli Majko, Chairman of Albania’s Republican Party Fatmir Mediu, Chair of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Socialist Movement for Integration and former Minister of European Integration of Albania Klajda Gjosha Ambassador Robert Joseph, former Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, British parliamentarian and former Brexit Minister David Jones, senior Member of British Parliament Bob Blackman, US Senate Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt, ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Menendez, Chairman of Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on The Judiciary and member of Foreign Relations Committee Ted Cruz, member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jeanne Shaheen, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Chairman of subcommittees such as human rights and women’s issues Marco Rubio, Chairman of Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and member of Foreign Relations Committee Rob Portman, member of Senate Armed Services Committee and Chairwomen of Subcommittee on Water and Power Martha McSally, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel, Rep. Ted Yoho, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Rep. Tom McClintock, Rep. Raul Ruiz, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Paul Gosar, Rep. Lance Gooden, Rep. Janice Schakowsky, Rep. Kathleen Rice, Rep. Tom Emmer, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Rep. David Joyce, Robert Aderholt, Rep. French Hill, Rep. Brad Schneider, Rep. Don Bacon, Rep. Glenn Grothman, Rep. Jody Hice, as well as representatives Mikie Sherrill Rob Woodall who sent written declarations of support for the gathering.
The global virtual gathering started on Friday at 17:00 European Central Time and continued until 22:00.
Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy
Time to Hold the Iranian Regime Accountable
Friday, September 18, 2020#FreeIran2020 #NoImpunity4Mullahs#DisbandIRGChttps://t.co/M0peTDC0YH— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 18, 2020
Speakers in the summit demanded justice for over 30,000 MEK and other activists, political prisoners massacred in 1988. They urged an end to the policy of appeasement and demanded those who ordered and carried out this great crime, who currently occupy high positions in the regime, to be brought to justice.
Speakers also pointed to the criminal execution of champion wrestler Navid Afkari and urged international intervention to stop the wave of executions and death penalties for anti-regime protesters and especially those detained during the November 2019 uprising.
The summit was broadcast live by satellite into Iran and was also available on social media, including Twitter and Facebook, airing live on the internet in five different languages.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 18, 2020
