Mr. Gilles Paruelle, former president of the Bar society of the Val-d’Oise province in France and Secretary of "Committee in Defense of a Democratic Practice in Iran," called the recent allegations baseless and emphasized that all Resistance members must enjoy freedom of action.
William Bourdon, a distinguished French lawyer stated that after the European court’s ruling, France should have issued a non-prosecution order. Instead, it brought up new allegations, specifically money laundering which proves that investigations have not lead to anything and it wants to leave the case open.
Mr. Bourdon added that this charge against the Iranian Resistance has been dropped in other countries, but it is unclear why France is pursuing it. Mishandling of this case is not acceptable any longer. For how long can one put a Resistance movement against barbarism under judicial pressure? As it seems, the French Judiciary does not want to attest to its failure. This is a legitimate and accredited Resistance on the international level and Mrs. Maryam Rajavi is known to the European and international bodies.
Mr. Bourdon concluded his speech by saying that this was a comic expression of the so called anti-terrorism fight with hidden political and business intentions. We continue our struggle. The French judiciary must not ignore the legitimate right for Resistance against dictatorship.
Mr. Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, stated that allegations of money laundering and fraud against members of the Iranian Resistance is the outcome of a shameful deal with the mullahs ruling Iran and is the pursuit of the appeasement policy. He said, the opening of an investigation against the Iranian Resistance goes back to six years ago under the pretext of war against terrorism and financing of terrorism. There is not even a page nor a paragraph in this case to prove these two charges and therefore it constitutes a huge scandal by the French authorities involved.
In his speech, Mr. Mohaddessin revealed that there have been covert negotiations between Tehran and Paris on the political level and in particular between Iran’s Ministry of Information and the French Secret service. These steps were taken after the Court of Appeals in Paris on June, 16, 2006 decided to lift most of the restrictions imposed on the Iranian Resistance. Following the judgment of the European Court of Justice which annulled the terrorist label of the PMOI, the Iranian regime accelerated its pressures.
Mr. Mohaddessin added, the case against the Iranian Resistance in France and the verdict of the European court were discussed in numerous meetings of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Council of National Security by Ahmadinejad personally. In these meetings, it was decided that Larijani, Mottaki and Ejei, the Minister of Information and the International Section of the legal system would be in charge of following this case.
It was decided that volume of trade with France particularly in the oil industry would be increased and instead France would be asked to oppose the decision by the European Court of Justice and maintain PMOI in the terror list.
Several other lawyers discussed other aspects of this case and the connection between this case and trade deals between France and Iran.