Senator Jean-Pierre Michel, member of the French Senate and FCDI Chairman, Alain Vivien, former French Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, and Francois Colcombet, former judge and former member of the French National Assembly, also took part at the session.
In her speech about the situation in Iran and the uprising of the people, Mrs. Rajavi emphasized that the grave and irreparable crisis gripping the desperate clerical dictatorship coupled with the people’s uprising in support of freedom, have ushered in a new era for the rise and growth of the Iranian people’s resistance movement. Despite the ruthless suppression of people, the regime can neither contain the protests nor can it cure its vulnerability and instability. The daily protests of people, youth, and students, with their nightly chants of “God is great – Death to dictator,” which has turned into a widespread form of social protest in Tehran and other cities in Iran, are still continuing.
Mrs. Rajavi pointed to the cruel and shocking crimes committed by the clerical regime arising from its sense of fear and desperation, and placed emphasis on adopting immediate international measures to support the Iranian people, including the dispatching of an international delegation to investigate the situation of those disappeared or detained, and the ceasing of political and economic ties with the regime.
The clerical regime attempts to bring the detained and members of the opposing faction to confess on television through cruel physical and psychological torture, Mrs. Rajavi noted. She added that the mullahs have tasked a three-member committee with the investigation of the cases of thousands of people arrested over the past three weeks. Two of the committee officials issued verdicts in 1988 to massacre 30,000 political prisoners.
The President-elect of the NCRI also said, “I call on all political parties and leaders, lawmakers, jurists and lawyers, intellectuals, artists, labor and student unions, and organizations and authorities advocating human rights and freedom of expression in various countries, to support the Iranian people’s uprising, and to utilize any means possible to free prisoners and declare solidarity with the families of victims and those arrested in the course of the protests.”
Senator Michel, who heads the FCDI, also spoke at the session, saying: Madame President, we have been moved with what is going on in Iran and have come to this session to gain more awareness about the events. The high number of victims has shocked and disturbed me. We stand with their families and all those who we see gathering in front of prisons to find out about the fate of their loved ones.
Describing the Iranian regime’s suppression of the protests as ferocious and brutal, Senator Michel added: You should have no doubt about our support for the Iranian people. We call on the international community to issue a firm warning to the Iranian regime. We hope that democratic countries would listen to the Iranian people’s calls so that those people could see that the world is supporting them. And, I hope that the Iranian people would ultimately obtain a form of government that they deserve.
Alain Vivien, a former advisor at the French Foreign Ministry and an FCDI member, said: We have come here to express our solidarity with the Iranian people. Their courage and resolve has inspired the whole world. Iranian men and women seek freedom and are waging their struggle with all that they have in their disposal. French citizens do not accept the rule of dictatorships anywhere in the world, who suppress their subjects and trample upon the rights of women, children and all human beings. Therefore, in response to your call, we will definitely use all our might to rise up in support of those being suppressed. Our hope is for the Iranian dictatorship to crumble and for democracy to flourish.
Francois Colcombet, former member of the French National Assembly and an FCDI member, said in his remarks: For us French people, what is happening is your country is reminiscent of our own history. We know that obtaining democracy demands a long struggle. We express solidarity with the Iranian people who have courageously risen up. Western countries must impose pressure on the regime and isolate it. The Iranian regime is an absolute dictatorship, which persistently violates human rights. The only appropriate option for the West is to demand the holding of a free election in Iran under the supervision of the international community. I hope that France would also join countries that step in this direction.
The NCRI’s representative in France, Dr. Saleh Rajavi, spoke at the session, saying: Today, there is no one that can ignore the events in Iran and the severe suppression against the people. Such suppression was instigated almost thirty years ago and has reached its climax today. We trust that the international community and democrats in Europe and France would support the Iranian people’s uprising against the religious fascism ruling Iran.
At the end of the meeting, Mrs. Rajavi lauded the positions and activities of the FCDI in support of the Iranian people’s uprising.
The French committee’s chairman and members stressed that they will do everything in their power in France and at the international level to lend support to the Iranian people’s uprising.