NCRI – On the eve of the Human Rights Day, European lawmakers held a conference at the European Parliament on Wednesday December7. They strongly condemned the violations of human rights in Iran and urged the EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini and Member States to condition the expansion of relationships with Iran to the halt of executions.
This meeting was held by the initiative of the Friends of a Free Iran intergroup at the European Parliament, which has support of some 300 MEPs from different political groups. The keynote speaker was the Iranian opposition leader, Maryam Rajavi who heads the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
Mr Alejo Vidal-Quadras, President of International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ) and former vice president of European Parliament who was among speakers stated: “Iran regime is extending the crimes that have been committed in its own country in the past 30 years, to other territories, such as Iraq and Syria.”
The following is full text of the speech:
Thank you Mrs. Chair, dear Mrs. Rajavi, dear friends, we are here today to speak about human rights in Iran, and unfortunately, it is clear for all of us that the state of human rights in that country is deplorable. I would just want to make to short points in this regard.
The first point is on the European Union policy towards the Iranian regime. Since the current High Representative, Federica Mogherini, too office two years ago, the position of the European External Action Service in relation to dictatorships that violate human rights has weakened. And its voice has sounded on too few occasions and too low.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqKqRbPPyDg
Suffice to say, that in her several trips to Tehran, and in her meetings with Iranian officials, the issue of human rights has been practically absent. And I’m sorry to say that her unnecessary friendly and submissive attitude in her conversations with people directly involved in thousands of executions, systematic torture and all kinds of abuses against human rights and civil liberties, people that in fact should be taken to court for crimes against humanity, is a moral discredit for herself, and for the European Union in its role as promoter and defender of the values of the open society in the world.
Javad Larijani, one of the three brothers who hold key positions in the regime, is in charge of the so-called Iranian Human Rights Committee. According to his records, I propose they change the name. It should be called “The Anti-Human Rights Committee”. Mr. Larijani has recently returned a letter to Mrs. Mogherini asking her to prevent opposition activities in Europe and broke the democratic rights of the PMOI and the NCRI in exposing the crimes of the Iranian regime. For instance, this meeting, he has asked Mrs. Mogherini to forbid that we should be here. I think he’s not very familiar with the institutional structures of the European Union.
Larijani is being so cynical as to present the Iranian regime, one of the most bloodthirsty regime of our times, as a victim of human rights violations itself. He also complains about the gathering of Iranian opposition with one thousand of participants in Paris in July 2016. Many of us were there with Mrs. Rajavi enjoying this fantastic event, and he has complained about this gathering. The same man that strongly defends the massive use of death penalty against political opponents and human rights activists, is the one that criticizes a democratic and peaceful event in favor of regime change in Iran.
And the second point, is that their systemic violation of human rights cannot be considered an internal matter of any country. These practices of the Iranian regime have penetrated neighboring countries beyond Iran’s borders. This is a regime that is extending the crimes that have been committed in its own country in the past 30 years, to other territories, such as Iraq and Syria. The regime’s brutal behavior, mainly the massacre of the summer of 1988, and many more atrocities, have never been brought to justice. The export of terrorism and fundamentalism, meddling in internal affairs with other countries in the region, the implementation of the same policies of oppression and suppression that exist inside Iran to the hull of the Middle East. Once again we must insist that there is a solution despite all difficulties.
This solution is regime change to transform Iran into a sound democracy according to the 10-point plan proposed by the Iranian democratic opposition, led by Maryam Rajavi. This is what European governments and the European External Action Service and Mrs. Mogherini should aim to, instead of wasting their time trying to appease a regime that will never give up his hegemonic power of the Muslim world to impose on it its fanatical aggressive and regressive totalitarianism. Thank you very much.