Source: Iran-Liberation, issue 267
April 24 for the Iranian Resistance is a highly symbolic day. Prof. Kazem Rajavi, a distinguished figure representing the Resistance at the United Nations, was assassinated on this day in Geneva, in 1990, by terrorist agents directly sent by Tehran. A number of other members and sympathizers of the Iranian Resistance faced similar tragic fate.
Parliamentarians and personalities from different countries gathered in a seminar to voice support for Maryam Rajavi’s “Third Option” for democratic change in Iran
Source: Iran-Liberation, issue 267
The main member organization of the Resistance, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI[MEK]), a victim of the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown at home and unbridled terrorism outside the country, has unjustly been labeled as “terrorist.” It has been fighting the theocratic regime for more than a quarter of a century at a heavy price.
This injustice, motivated by lucrative trade or the illusion to see reform in a system tied to Khomeini’s legacy, would never have been acceptable by those who sought the fundamental principles of the European Union prevail against short term interests.
“We are here to assert our values, to create the conditions of a real peace based on rights,” said Adrien Zeller, president of the Alsace Regional Council in eastern France, while opening a debate on April 24 at the European Parliamentary Association (APE) in Strasbourg.
He has defended these values during his long career at the European, national and regional level. It was this modern humanist, committed Christian Democrat, honored by those on the Right and respected by the Left, who initiated this seminar, the point of convergence of the tireless efforts of two parliamentary committees working beyond political diversities, to implement the rule of law within the EU.
The first, “Friends of a Free Iran,” an inter-group within the European Parliament, led by energetic MEPs, has been fighting in Brussels to get decisions of the European and British courts demanding the removal of PMOI from the EU and UK terrorist lists respected.
The second, the “French Committee for a Democratic Iran” (CFID) brings together MPs, senators, former ministers and jurists who are demanding justice in France for the Iranian Resistance.
“The Iranian people deserve a democratic and fair election,” declared the European Union presidency while denouncing the mullahs’ parliamentary election sham last March.
Reflecting on the Council of Ministers’ approach to the expectation of the Iranian people, the NCRI President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, a guest of honor at the seminar, said, “Democratic and fair election is what the People’s Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance have been fighting for from the outset.”
She recalled the injustice striking her movement in Europe which constitutes obstacle to a democratic change in her homeland.
The European Parliament Vice-president, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, spoke about his direct knowledge and experience of the Resistance movement before dozens of MEPs and French MPs in the seminar, and added, “The Iranian Resistance and the people of Iran are lucky to have such a leader,”
in reference to the role of Mrs. Rajavi in leading the opposition to the regime.
The elected members of the European nations as well as judges in the EU and London courts speak with the same voice in their own ways. To hinder the opposition to the religious fascism is a service to the ruling dictatorship. The legislative and the judicial branches of the European Union, which is celebrated for its institutions, demand an immediate end to the policy of appeasement vis-à-vis the mullahs’ regime.
Can the EU Council of Ministers delay court rulings by ignoring public opinion?
Concerning the mullahs’ regime, France, which is going to take over the EU presidency next July, has already chosen a language which defies fruitless politics of the past.
In these circumstances, where the security of Europe, peace in the Middle East and democracy in Iran are at stake, it is important for the EU to side with the Iranian people and their desire for freedom. In doing so, France should implement the court rulings and remove the PMOI[MEK] from the EU’s terror list.