Text of statement by “Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament” (FOFI):
“Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament” (FOFI) salutes the nationwide uprising and resistance of the Iranian people against the brutal repression of the ruling theocracy in Iran.
Protestors, like the vast majority of Iranians, are opposed to the clerical regime in its entirety and their courageous demonstrations show the will of Iranian society to uproot the religious dictatorship and establish freedom and democracy. Their slogans denounced dictatorship and supported democracy and freedom. The chants in the street are: “Death to the dictator” and “Iranians do not accept disgrace”. The main forces are young people and women, but the protestors are from all walks of life. The most senior officials of the regime have admitted the protests have nothing to do with any of the candidates of the sham presidential election.
The main Iranian opposition movement, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), had announced days before the election that according to its sources within the regime, the mullahs’ supreme leader Ali Khamenei had ordered the regime to announce voter turnout of at least 35 million with the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning by a landslide. Finally the regime declared a 40 million turnout! Efforts by the regime to give an impression that the people enthusiastically supported the vote are part of Khamenei’s “electoral engineering”.
The PMOI had undercover observers at 25,000 of the 40,000 polling stations throughout the country. They reported that turnout was extremely low. Their final estimate put overall turnout at around 15%. In other words less than 8 million Iranians voted. Indeed such was the farcical nature of the mullahs' efforts to rig the election, that Ahmadinejad won a huge majority even in the villages and districts of his main opponents.
Today nothing can justify negotiating with and appeasing this medieval regime. If this failed appeasement policy is quickly abandoned, we will witness far greater crises within the regime. The West must align itself with the Iranian people and their demands. The West’s stance towards the Tehran regime needs to be overhauled. We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the oppressive clerical regime with its odious record of corruption and human rights abuse and its discredited brand of religious fascism
We urge the international community, in particular the Council of the European Union and the US government strongly to condemn the brutal suppression of the anti-government protests and to support the desire of Iranian people to reject the clerical regime and establish democracy in Iran. Pinning hope on negotiation and appeasement of the clerical regime is a mirage. This policy only emboldens and strengthens Khamenei and Ahmadinejad in continuing to suppress the Iranian people.
Struan Stevenson MEP
Co-Chair of Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (FOFI)
Brussels
