Liberal Democratic Party of Great Britain
NCRI, November 18 – The following is an excerpt of Lord Russell-Johnston’s speech to a rally of 35,000 Iranians in Brussels on November 7. The rally was organized to call on the EU foreign ministers to refer Iranian nuclear file to the UN Security Council:
My friends! Your faces and your banners stretch before me as far as my eye can see. But in my mind’s eye I am still listening to Maryam Rajavi (referring to the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran addressing the rally earlier in the rally). She is a lady of courage, commitment whose vision we all share. Maryam Rajavi has sacrificed all to achieve for Iran the justice and freedom its people deserve. And her day will assuredly come when Iran shakes off its chains and walks tall and free. The day as Maryam Rajavi said of victory.
Throughout my political life I have worked for and supported the ideal of European cooperation, integration for European community. I have done so because I believed it could be a beacon of democracy to the world. Today, as Maryam Rajavi already said, the committee of ministers meet and they perhaps even now are discussing Iran and the latest outburst of its terrorist president.
Let them be humble and recognize that they have been wrong in seeking to appease those who cannot be appeased in Tehran. Let them be humble and recognize the Council for Iranian Resistance as the voice of democracy, Maryam Rajavi as the voice of hope for Iran.
Let them recognize the reality that the Mojahedin in Ashraf is not a terrorist organization or grouping but a force for peaceful change. The aims of the Council for Resistance in Iran, as well as the clear and necessary objective of providing prosperity for the people of Iran, embody also all the basic human rights concepts which have animated me as a liberal all my political life.
The separation of church and state, of course the right of every man and woman to worship as he or she wishes but not to impose and force other people to do what they don’t want to do.
Equality of citizens before the law, equality between men and women in rights, freedom to choose one’s attire. It beggars belief you know that European Union should not realize this. That they should seek to appeal to a religious tyranny that hangs girls and boys under 18, that they should do that is shameful.
If the argument is that this was real politic to make progress in nuclear talks, then this has so clearly failed. So let us return then to moral politic, that is return to basic values, human rights, human ideals, humanity.
Above us the clouds obscured the sun. But the clouds are not permanent. In time they will go away. The sun gives its light and its warmth constantly and so it is with freedom. There are periods when freedom is suppressed but the essence of humankind is the freedom of its individuals and so will it be in Iran.
Ashraf Salam (Salutations to Ashraf).