Iran-Iraq: PMOI a robust barrier to spread of mullahs’ Islamic fundamentalism – British MP

NCRI – Addressing the SYMPOSIUM OF PARLIAMENTARIANS & JURISTS in London on November 29, David Amess, Conservative MP, concentrated on the clerical regime’s meddling in Iraq and its effort to establish another fundamentalist state in that country. Below is the text of his speech: 
Mr chairman, ladies and gentleman: As I look at the gathering of the top table, it really is a gathering of the great and good and I am the only self confessed sinner amongst them.
This is wonderful timing for the symposium and I do think ladies and gentleman that we are so fortunate to have Lord Corbett as our leader.
For many years, Iran has been at the centre of world attention for all of the wrong reasons. From the mullahs’ atrocious human rights abuses, to their exports of fundamentalism and terrorism, and of course their relentless pursuit of the nuclear bomb. The threat posed by the mullahs has multiplied since the hardliners took control through the new President. This weekend, in a speech to Iran’s paramilitary forces, Ahmadinejad condemned the West and its leaders, stating that those who are angry at his regime should die in their anger. Absolutely extraordinary.
However, ladies and gentlemen I wish to concentrate on the widespread meddling of the Iranian regime in Iraq and its conspiracies against the main Iranian opposition group.
We know that immediately after the war, the Iranian regime executed an elaborate plan to seize control of Southern Iraq by sending tens of thousands of Revolutionary Guards and mullahs, as well as thousands of its paid Iraqi agents across the border into Iraq. Using millions of dollars supplied by the mullahs, they set up a series of social, cultural and charitable associations, at the same time as infiltrating some of the most sensitive organs of the Iraqi state, including its government departments, local authorities, police and military.
The mullahs then used this control to enforce upon the Iraqi people their brand of Islamic fundamentalism. Today, the mullahs are the main source of unrest and terrorism in Iraq. There can be no doubt about that. They have been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Iraqis opposed to the interference in Iraq. As the Prime Minister said only last month, they have also been responsible for the deaths of British troops in Southern Iraq. Most recently, it has transpired that the Iranian regime and its agents have, with the Iraqi Interior Ministry officials, been running a torture centre in Baghdad, where over 170 prisoners were severely tortured and badly treated.
On the 19th of November, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official who stepped down from his position revealed that the Interior Ministry is running six other torture chambers. He stated that many opponents of the Iraqi government have been systematically arrested and taken to the detention centres where they are subjected to torture and often their dead bodies are later discovered being humiliated in the open ground. He also identified, Ahmad Salman, a Colonel in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence as being the chief interrogator in the Interior Ministry task force.
This news is shocking and highlights the urgent need for the international community to take immediate steps to prevent the Iranian regime’s continual meddling in Iraq, which is the most serious impediment to the establishment of democracy in Iraq. It also brings to the fore the case of two PMOI personnel in Iraq who were kidnapped by Iraqi Interior Ministry officials and the Badr Brigade in August of this year. Despite a statement by the Multi-National Forces in Iraq strongly condemning the abduction of the men, who were protected persons, and their efforts to find the missing men, they have not been seen since.
Apart from seizing control of Iraq, the Iranian regime’s other priority has been to run a misinformation campaign against the PMOI personnel in Iraq and to place pressure on them with the aim of having them illegally and forcibly sent to Iran. This began at the end of 2003 when an Iraqi official with close ties to the Iranian regime stated that the PMOI would be expelled from Iraq and sent to Iran. His statement was met with international condemnation and was followed in June 2004 with the granting of ‘protected persons’ status to the PMOI personnel. Incensed by the status granted to the PMOI, the Iranian regime then attempted to interfere in the drafting of the Iraqi constitution, as a means of placing pressure on the PMOI. This plan also met with failure.
Most recently, I have been deeply concerned to hear that on a trip to Iran, the Iraqi National Security Adviser attempted to whitewash the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq, instead thanking the mullahs for their assistance and support. He went on to suggest that the Iraqi government would be prepared, in breach of international law, to forcibly transfer PMOI personnel to Iran. I am sure that everyone in this room will join me in denouncing such statements, which reflect nothing other than the Iranian regime’s desperate attempts to boost its own morale, and give its news agencies something to write about.
The PMOI represent the most robust barrier against the spread of the mullahs’ Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. It is for this reason that they enjoy the support of millions of Iraqis. The solution to the restoration of democracy, peace and stability to Iraq, Iran and the wider Middle East is a change of regime in Iran. So I urge the West to remove the farcical, completely unfair and unrealistic terror tag from the PMOI and instead support the Iranian people and their Resistance to bring about real change in Iran.
I and my colleagues here this morning will never give up until we secure peace, freedom and justice for all Iranian citizens.