NCRI – The Iranian regime’s Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani has admitted that the visit of the mullahs’ President Hassan Rouhani to Austria, which was scheduled for March 30, was cancelled due to the rally in Vienna by the main Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK).
Larijani said Rouhani cancelled his trip because Austria paid no attention to Tehran’s request to revoke permission for the rally by the PMOI, the state-run news agencies ISNA and Tasnim reported on Saturday, April 2. Tasnim is the news agency of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force.
Supporters of the PMOI scheduled the rally in Vienna for March 30 to coincide with Rouhani’s visit.
Earlier some Austrian newspapers reported that the Iranian regime asked the Austrian government to cancel all the protests, a request that Vienna reportedly denied.
Rouhani had been expected to visit Vienna on Wednesday and Thursday but cancelled his trip at the last minute.
The Iranian protesters last Wednesday urged Austria, other European governments and the European Union to condition their relationship with the Iranian regime on a halt to executions and human rights abuses in Iran.
They pointed out that over 2,300 people have been executed since Rouhani took office in 2013.
There were chants of “Rouhani is a terrorist,” (the Iranian regime’s supreme leader Ali) “Khamenei is a terrorist,” “Democracy, freedom with Maryam Rajavi,” “All Iranians demand freedom,” “Down with the principle of clerical rule in Iran,” “Mullahs’ regime is fascist,” Mullahs’ regime is terrorist,” and “Rouhani is a criminal; he is the enemy of Iranians.”
The rally was organized by the Human Rights Center for Victims of Fundamentalism which supports the PMOI, the principal Iranian opposition group and the pivotal force of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
The event organizers sought to bring attention to the wave of executions in Iran and the clerical regime’s export of Islamic extremism and terrorism throughout the region.
“This is a very telling case. It vividly indicates the mullahs’ concern and anxiety over the Iranian Resistance’s growing impact at home and abroad. It has reached a point that the regime can no longer even hide its concern about a demonstration by the Resistance several thousand kilometers away from Iran and calls off its most important and most prominent diplomatic acts,” said Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
On January 28, Rouhani’s visit to Paris was met with a major protest by Iranians, French political figures, human rights organizations and activists, and French citizens. Thousands of protestors called on France’s government to chastise Rouhani for the dire situation of human rights in Iran, the regime’s export of terrorism and fundamentalism, and its support for the criminal Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Iran earlier in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the executions as examples of “God’s commandments” and “laws of the parliament that belong to the people.”
The demonstrators in Austria also condemned Tehran’s all-out support for al-Assad and massacre of Syrian people as well its continued proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destructions including ballistic missiles tests. They pointed out that the policy of exporting the “Islamic revolution” and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction – pillars of the clerical regime – have been vigorously pursued by the Rouhani administration as well.
Demonstrators also expressed their support for the members of the PMOI in Camp Liberty, Iraq. Camp Liberty was targeted by the Iranian regime on October 29, 2015 when a barrage of rockets killed 24 residents and destroyed a large portion of the camp. The demonstrators urged the UN and the US to provide protection to Camp Liberty residents.