NCRI – Clerical regime’s campaign to tarnish the image of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran through its Intelligence Ministry and agents abroad was exposed in a seminar on Iran in Stockholm on Saturday.
Hundreds of Iranians from across Sweden listened to a panel of parliamentarians, human rights activists and jurists who had a good knowledge of the PMOI, its background and democratic views and practices.
The seminar was chaired by Lennart Friden, former member of the Swedish parliament from the Moderat party and speakers included, Paulo Casaca, MEP, joint chair of the Friends of a Free Iran in the European Parliament; Lars Rise, former member of the Norwegian parliament; Hans Kristian Neerskov, president of the International Sakharov Committee; Kenneth Lewis, chair of the Lawyers Without Borders in Sweden; Rigmor Gillberg, chair of the Red Cross research center for victims of torture in Stockholm; Vidar Roglund, Norwegian jurist; Justad Groenross, Prof. of Philosophy in Stockholm University; Mohammad Mohaddessin, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran; Parviz Khazai, Representative of the NCRI in Nordic countries; Christian Aziz, writer and journalist and Azadeh Zabeti, jurist, both from the UK.
Casaca who headed a fact finding delegation to Camp Ashraf, where thousands of PMOI members in Iraq reside, told the audience of his experience in the camp and refuted the claim by Joe Stork, the author of the Human Rights Watch report against the PMOI, that the U.S. military did not allow a visit to the camp by his group. He briefed the gathering on his meetings with members of the PMOI and stressed that the HRW wanted to skip the facts but it would not succeed. He vowed to continue with his campaign to seek an explanation from the HRW for its false allegations against the PMOI.
In reference to a large volume of disinformation material sent by various agents of the Iranian regime to parliamentarians in Norway and elsewhere, Lars Rise wondered why the regime spent so much money, time and manpower just to discredit the PMOI. This is happening while more terrorist threats are coming out of the Iran regime everyday.
Lewis said that in his visit to Camp Ashraf together with his Danish colleague, they each met with 100 members of the PMOI and not a single one complained of his or her stay in Camp Ashraf. He praised the movement for the role of women in its key positions as a proof of great achievement in women’s rights as well as human rights within the PMOI.
Other distinguished speakers gave their account of the PMOI and expressed abhorrence against Ahmadinejad’s threatening remarks. They emphasized that there was no longer any justification to maintain the PMOI in the terror list as a concession to the ruling fundamentalist regime in Iran. They all agreed that the regime needed to tarnish the image of its main opposition as it is a major obstacle to its expansionist ambitions, specially in Iraq. They also underlined the increasing isolation of the regime within the country and in the international arena due to recent remarks by its president which makes it even more crucial for the mullahs to neutralize their opposition to delay change in Iran. Therefore, they concluded that removal of the terror tag against the PMOI is even more pressing now than any other time.