NCRI -Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, was welcomed once again on November 8 to the Norwegian parliament to listen to her speech. Hundreds of Iranians from Norway, who had gathered outside the Stortinget (parliament) for hours, warmly greeted her upon her arrival, chanting “Freedom and democracy with Maryam Rajavi”.
The President-elect of the Resistance was greeted by a group of Norwegian parliamentary deputies and by Lord Russell-Johnston, a British Peer and former chairman of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, who was also due to deliver a speech during the meeting.
NCRI -Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, was welcomed once again on November 8 to the Norwegian parliament to listen to her speech. Hundreds of Iranians from Norway, who had gathered outside the Stortinget (parliament) for hours, warmly greeted her upon her arrival, chanting “Freedom and democracy with Maryam Rajavi”.
The President-elect of the Resistance was greeted by a group of Norwegian parliamentary deputies and by Lord Russell-Johnston, a British Peer and former chairman of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, who was also due to deliver a speech during the meeting.
Dozens of parliamentarians, assistants and personalities took part in the event, organized on the initiative of several deputies from various political parties.
Morten Hogland, member of the foreign affairs committee and international affairs spokesman of the Progress Party, who chaired the conference, gave a brief opening speech. “Today the Iranian regime’s atomic threat is a powerful threat to the Middle East region and the international community. Yet the fact is that the terrorist threat is already a threat for us. Consequently, the policy which has to be adopted against these threats is an important matter which attracted our attention at the parliament of Norway. Thus, giving support to the Iranian Resistance and its struggle for liberty and democracy in Iran are extremely important. The frantic reaction of the mullahs’ regime to Mrs Rajavi’s travel clearly exposes the strength and scope of the Resistance inside Iran.”
Lord Russell-Johnston was the next speaker. He paid tribute to Norway for welcoming Mrs. Rajavi, saying that this initiative reflected the conviction and the commitment of this country to democracy and the constitutional state. He added that this trip was important because Scandinavian countries have always been renowned for their defence of democracy. In reference to Mrs. Rajavi’s visit to the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the Belgian Senate, Lord Russell-Johnston praised the courage and the determination of the President-elect of the Resistance in her struggle for liberty in Iran.
He then said that he had met Mrs. Rajavi in various meetings, such as the one in Le Bourget in France in which 40,000 people gathered, as well as in political meetings, adding that she was deeply attached to democracy. “She is an exceptional woman”, he said, whose activities and message reach far beyond Iran and “affect the entire humanity”.
Regarding the correct attitude to be adopted towards the Iranian regime, he stated that an embargo alone was not a solution. He evoked the example of the Apartheid in South Africa where the embargo and support for the resistance movement had been successful.
In her speech, Mrs. Rajavi saluted the Norwegian resistance to Nazism during the Second World War; the heroes of Telemark who, by bombing the heavy-water site of Rjukan in February 1943, prevented Hitler from acquiring the nuclear bomb.
She also thanked the Norwegian parliament for having ignored the regime’s blackmail and pressure to cancel her trip. The mullahs, she stressed, see this resistance as a threat to their own existence. Their pressures reveal the vulnerability of this regime and the impact of the resistance on the course of events in Iran.
In her address, Maryam Rajavi underlined the immediate danger coming from Islamic fundamentalism. “Eleven years ago, in a speech in Oslo’s city hall, I warned against the danger of fundamentalism as the new global threat, but at the time, this had not been taken seriously. Today, if a firm policy is not adopted against the mullahs’ nuclear arms race, this will have extremely serious consequences.”
Next, Lars Rise, former Norwegian deputy from the Christian-Democratic party, took the floor. Mrs Rajavi, he said, you have eloquently described the biggest challenge of the international community. You hinted at Martin Luther King in your speech by conveying your aspirations for the Iran of tomorrow. I also share your aspirations for a free and democratic Iran. I am also convinced that we will overcome difficulties.
I have to say, he continued, that the principles that you underline are principles you live with and that you are ready to sacrifice yourself for their defence and protection. Your insistence on the need to give precedence to human values encourages the Norwegian government to call on the Iranian regime to respect human rights and to carry out radical political change. Now, the Norwegian oil companies have to cut off their ties with Iran. We have to put pressure on our government to support Mrs Rajavi and her movement.
When I visited Ashraf City, I saw the image of the Iran of tomorrow there. It is not a coincidence that the regime and its secret services spend a colossal budget in their war with the People’s Mojahedin”, he concluded.
In his address, Vidar Bjørnstad, member of the foreign affairs committee from the ruling Labour Party, stated: For the Iranian people, the disastrous situation of human rights is a most tragic situation, all the more so since we see its continuous degradation. We share Maryam Rajavi’s position that the solution to the Iranian crisis does not lie in a foreign military intervention and we have to support the efforts of the National Council of Resistance for democratic change.
He then expressed his opposition to the terrorist label against the People’s Mojahedin of Iran, stressing, “we do not consider this movement as terrorist. There is no document in the United States or in Europe to prove that it is a terrorist organization”. He then said he was concerned about the Iranian regime’s meddling in the countries of the region, particularly in Lebanon.
Bjørn Jacobsen, member of the defence committee from the Left-Socialist Party of the ruling coalition, stated in his speech: Although Norwegian parties disagree on a number of issues, they unite on two matters. Firstly, the need to respect human rights, and then the constitutional state. It is regrettable that many countries, for economic and political reasons, put this opposition movement onto terrorism lists. We are opposed to that because it means boycotting opponents, whereas one of democracy’s principles is the ability for a minority to become a majority through political struggle.
Mr Jacobsen repeated that never “shall we consider the Iranian resistance as terrorist”. “The continuation of economic relations with a country requires the respect of human rights by this country. This principle also applies to Iran.”
The meeting ended with a debate, and Mrs Rajavi answered questions posed by deputies and the personalities that took part.
