British Parliamentarians: Time to support those struggling for change in Iran
NCRI – Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran enter 9th week of sit-in in Westminster.
Iranians held a rally on Wednesday in Parliament Square calling on the British government to abide by the ruling of the European Court of Justice annulling the decision of the EU to place the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) on its terror list.
Former Home Secretary Rt. Hon. Lord Waddington QC; Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen; and Wilfred Wong, the Parliamentary officer of the human rights organisation Jubilee Campaign, were among the speakers.
“The Iranian regime is barbaric and has perpetrated horrors on its people. This regime poses a danger for peace in the Middle East. There is no sense at all to appease the regime. It is wrong, wrong and wrong for the British government to prevent the PMOI in opposing the regime,” Lord Waddington said.
“The European Court of Justice not very long ago spelled out that it believed the PMOI should not have been proscribed. We in Parliament will struggle on to ensure that the PMOI is sooner or later removed from the proscribed list and to reinforce the upholding of the law. There are very many MPs and Lords that support your cause, and that shows the importance of your struggle,” he added.
Baroness Gibson said: “Not only is the cause of the PMOI an absolutely just one but it seems even more just in the light of the recent developments in Iran.”
“I want to speak briefly about Iranian women. They have always been the first to suffer under the brutal regime ruling Iran. To this day, nothing has changed for the better. However, there have been very worrying recent developments, which show that the Iranian regime is running a concerted campaign of violence and brutality against Iranian women. This is what the regime calls a campaign against ‘mal-veiling’. Women are being beaten by the regime’s Para-military forces in the street. They are being dragged by their hair to Iran’s notorious prisons. We have seen horrific pictures of women with blood pouring from head wounds after being attacked. They are gathering in the streets demonstrating alongside Iranian students, workers, and teachers, and Iranians throughout Iran demanding democracy,” she said.
“The Iranian people have suffered for over 25 years under this tyrannical regime – and now they are saying ‘Enough is enough, we want freedom’.
“We must support them, and the democratic forces in Iran, like the PMOI, which is an organisation whose only aim is to create a free and democratic Iran – an Iran that you all long for. The PMOI is not a terrorist organisation. The decision to proscribe it was always a solely politically motivated one, with no legal justification, as the judgment of the European Court of Justice last year showed. Sadly, the government here is not accepting that ruling and this sends all the wrong messages to the Iranian people – as well as being illegitimate. It says that we, the British people, are still attempting to appease the regime that kills, tortures and stones Iranians to death. That is not the message I and thousands of others want to send. Here in Britain, we have always prided ourselves on supporting democrats, not dictators. We must support the PMOI in their struggle to free the people of Iran. That is why I am here today, to add my voice to that support”, Baroness Gibson said.
Wilfred Wong, the Parliamentary officer of the Jubilee Campaign, called the appeasement policy of the British government towards the Iranian mullahs “catastrophic” and said, “The Iranian regime will collapse if the West changes its policy toward Iran and removes the PMOI from the terrorist list.”
“This regime is the headquarters of terrorism. Mr. Blair has himself acknowledged the Iranian regime’s terrorism. Yet the Foreign Office continues to appease the mullahs. We as a human rights group in the Jubilee Campaign will continue to support your campaign in support of the rights of the Iranian Resistance,” Mr. Wong added.
The Iranian protestors have stated they will continue their rally in London indefinitely until their demands are met by the British government.
