NCRI

Former UNHCR Special Representative Zorica Maric-Djordjević: The Fight for a Free Iran is Our Fight

Mahmoud Hakamian

On July 1, at the Free Iran 2024 World Summit in Paris, Ambassador Zorica Maric-Djordjević, former Special Representative of Montenegro at the UNHCR, delivered an impassioned speech expressing solidarity with the Iranian Resistance and underscoring the urgency of international support for a free Iran.

Ambassador Maric-Djordjević drew parallels between her own family’s experiences under the former Communist regime in Yugoslavia and the plight of Iranian political prisoners and their families. She emphasized the shared feelings of invisibility, oppression, and the struggle for survival while affirming that the Iranian people’s calls for democracy and freedom are being heard loud and clear in Paris. She highlighted the deepened rifts within Iran’s regime following Ebrahim Raïsi’s death and the significant boycott by the Iranian electorate, signaling their readiness for freedom and a rejection of oppressive governance.

In her speech, she endorsed the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) as a legitimate alternative to the current regime, praising its commitment to a secular, democratic, and pluralistic Iran.

Maric-Djordjević lauded Mrs. Maryam Rajavi‘s leadership, describing her vision as a transformative blueprint for Iran’s future. She called on the international community to cease appeasing Iran’s religious fascist leaders and to support the NCRI and the Iranian people’s resistance efforts. Concluding her speech, she urged Iranians to unify their resistance and take control of their future, proclaiming that a free and prosperous Iran is not only possible but imminent.

A translated version of Ambassador Maric-Djordjević’s speech follows:

 

Madame Rajavi, dear friends and colleagues, my dear Iranian sisters, dear relatives and survivors of political prisoners, and those who tragically vanished in the massacre in 1988, families and friends of those tortured and killed in the last forty-five years by the hands of the brutal criminal regime in Teheran.

I want to extend the warmest greeting to all of you, especially those following the conference back home in Iran, and those brave women and men at Ashraf 3 in Albania. Mirdit, my dear friends.

Distinguished participants and colleagues, I am honored and humbled to be here with you again for the World Summit Free Iran 2024. As a daughter of a political prisoner, I bonded with all of you last year through the shared experience of our families, my, during the former Communist regime in Yugoslavia, and your families, and our stories.

How it feels when the system managed to make our political prisoners and their families invisible because almost no one knows what each of us goes through. How do we feel when we think that our hands and feet are tied, when we cannot speak about what we are experiencing, about the siege in our homes, about people following us when we go out on the street, the threats at the school and the office, stigmatization and the mistreatment of our dears, our prisoners, of the torture and isolation of sudden execution and unbearable loss of the quiet struggle for survival and the prayers for the better days to come.

But dear sisters and brothers, dear friends in Iran, political prisoners, you are not alone, and we hear you loudly and clearly here in Paris. We take seriously your resistance and message that Iran is at a crossroads. We stand with you.

The passing of Ebrahim Raïsi and the subsequent sham elections deepened and opened wide existing structures within Iran’s regime. The lowest turnout in the history of Iran’s elections demonstrates not only the apparent boycott of the electorate but sends a powerful message to the whole world, Iranian people have gone beyond the terrorist oppressive regime. They are ready and prepared for freedom, not just the change of dictators.

Dear friends, Iranians have no memory of any form of government other than a monarchy of the House of Pahlavi or the Islamic Republic established by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979. I strongly believe that the National Council of Resistance of Iran can bridge this gap, democratically empowering the people and guaranteeing that ethnic and religious groups and protected and celebrated for their diversity, dynamics, and humanity is on our reach. This coalition represents the genuine aspiration of the Iranian people for secular, democratic, and pluralistic Iran.

Madame Maryam Rajavi’s standpoints offer a transformative vision for Iran, addressing the oppressive, violent history of the mullah regime over the last 45 years, and represent an important declaration of human rights in the 21st century, one that we can all sign today.

And make no mistake, Iranian people are chanting for democracy and equality, but not for the return of oppressive monarchy. Dear friends, the heart of the resistance in Iran is women, and we have among us the best of them, the leader of NCRI, Madame Rajavi. Madame Rajavi, thank you for your leadership, perseverance, and audacity. Thank you for the hope you bring to the Iranian people every single day.

Dear friends, Honorable Madame Rajavi, ladies and gentlemen, what is my takeaway from this year’s summit? First, supporting the National Council of Resistance of Iran, NCRI, as the legitimate alternative to Iran’s current regime. I strongly believe, I’m convinced that is paramount for several strategic and ethical reasons. I think that political leaders in the last two days laid out those reasons very, very well and eloquently.

Second, it is time for the international community to stop giving opportunities to leaders of the religious fascists of Iran in Teheran. It is time to stop the policy of appeasement, and we need global support for free Iran now and the renewed campaign against the impunity of religious terms in Teheran. We need those new, renewed decision-making in Washington, DC, and in Brussels, in every office on Capitol Hill, the European Parliament, and the UN. Fight for Iran is our fight.

In conclusion, I want to amplify Madame Rajavi’s message in her opening remarks to all Iranians who are listening to us and are part of this impressive summit. You are the only one who can and should change the clerical fascist tyranny in your country. It is critical times to step in and unify your resistance. You are the only ones who can and should tear down the wall of isolation and oppression in Iran. Take the future of Iran into your own hands and show the whole world that the glory of a free and prosperous Iran is within your reach. It’s not only possible, but it’s coming and it’s coming soon.

God bless you and thank you.

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