Maryam Rajavis Speech at Auvers-sur-Oise

["Notiziario delle Donne " <donneiran at yahoo.it>]

Maryam Rajavi's Speech at Auvers-sur-Oise
July 3, 2003

Greetings to you, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and my dear children
who have abandoned your homes and your jobs and come here from throughout
Europe, United States, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world to
defend freedom and the resistance of Iranian people.

Greetings also to our fellow Iranians who have been staging sit-ins and
gone on hunger strike in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Britain, Germany,
Holland, Cyprus, Greece, Australia and various cities in the United States
and Canada.

I salute, in particular, the uprising of Iranian students, people and
families and young people who are campaigning for freedom tirelessly and
unabatedly and are with you.

You truly embody the honor and dignity of the resistance of a fettered
nation against religious fascism, a resistance that can be seen throughout
Iran and across the world and one that has been widely praised and admired.

You tolerated two weeks of fast and thirst and much suffering. During this
period the noble residents of Auvers-sur-Oise were with you, supported you
and comforted you. I know very well that all these were not for me but for
the freedom of Iranian people.

Allow me to address the residents of Auvers-sur-Oise and tell them that you
and your freedom-loving mayor and the multiparty city council represented
France with all its humanitarian, moral and democratic values.

We caused you a lot of trouble in this period and we are sorry for it, but
now, you are not only our neighbors, but part of our history and
resistance. You are in our heart and we shall never forget what you did for
us. You did everything possible for us over the past two weeks.

I am extremely grateful to women, men and children in Auvers-sur-Oise who
came to our aid in our most bitter time and most difficult period. You gave
us all your compassion and opened up your homes and facilities to us.

During this period, I was making every effort to stop the self-immolations.
Amid all this happiness, I am deeply in pain for their loss. My heart is
bleeding for them. We will not rest until the Iranian people are liberated
from the claws of mullahs' tyranny.

I only wish I had been informed of it much sooner and could stop these
great and astonishing sacrifices in the history of our nation's quest for
freedom.

I am grateful to members of parliaments and senators, political and
religious dignitaries from various countries and honorable church leaders
and priests who joined us here. First and foremost, I would like to thank
Mrs. Danielle Mitterrand, who displayed the nobility and greatness of
French values and French resistance - this time against the religious
fascism ruling Iran.

It was as if Mrs. Mitterrand had brought General de Gaulle, the leader of
the anti-fascist movement of France, and the late President Mitterrand
together with her to this place. I wish I could visit her before coming
here to express my feelings to her, but it was not possible and I left it
to a later date. But I would like to take this opportunity to hail France
and its values and symbols like Mrs. Mitterrand, the Human Rights League of
France, the New Human Rights and all French personalities, officials,
lawyers and judges through the residents of Auvers-sur-Oise and its city
council whose members come from across the French political spectrum. As
Henri Leclerc put it, the French judiciary showed that it would not bow to
political considerations, because France is a state of law and democracy.

We do not shy away from any legal investigation and fair trial. On the
contrary, we greatly welcome it, because in a fair and democratic
environment, we would definitely have the public opinion on our side. We
have nothing to hide.

Let me add that the European Union list of terrorist organization
stipulates that the coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran is not
a terrorist organization. The terrorist tag on the People's Mojahedin
Organization was copied from the U.S. State Department, which was only and
only designed to appease the mullahs. Its history goes back to Irangate
fiasco. Now that all illusions about reform and moderation within mullahs'
regime have evaporated, this unjust tag must be removed.

I also stress that this place has been the office of the National Council
of Resistance of Iran, and not the Mojahedin, for more than two decades. In
September 1994, the Mojahedin disbanded their offices in France and other
European countries and officially announced it. They only had press
spokesmen in such countries as Britain and the United States.

Indeed, I believe and repeat for the attention of the government of France
and President Chirac that some French intelligence services have been led
astray by false information that came from the mullahs' Intelligence
Ministry and from agents pretending to be former Mojahedin members.
Otherwise, there would have been no need to mobilize an armada of
helicopters and boats and blow up doors and windows to come and investigate
or search the premises. Perhaps they thought everyone here was armed and
were expecting a major armed confrontation. The city council correctly
testified that for two decades, there has been no illegal activity at the
Resistance's headquarters. In any case, I ask the French government and
President Chirac to form a special commission to investigate this issue
from start to finish.

The funds of this Resistance movement belong in their entirety to the
Iranian people and the supporters of this Resistance. Not one euro and not
one dollar has come from a government or from another country. Even though
I am not personally aware of the details, I am sure that the resistance can
account for every cent of this money before competent courts. You will then
see that the Iranian Resistance has nothing to hide in this respect and
these funds are the expenses for the families of martyrs, their children
and wholly political and publicity expenditures of this Resistance within
the framework of the law. The Iranian people who have offered 120,000
martyrs and half a million prisoners to the cause of Iran's freedom would
offer hundreds of times the amount of these funds in support of the
Resistance. To claim that these sums come from an Arab or non-Arab
government is a pure lie, and that will be proven in court. Those making
these allegations must prove them in court.

What is being said today about terrorism and fundamentalism under the
banner of Islam and export of terrorism and fundamentalism are identical to
what we said for the first time twenty years ago and warned about it. Now,
the world is witnessing what we said with its own eyes.
We said from day one and repeat now that as soon as the mullahs accept a
free election in Iran on the basis of popular sovereignty and not mullahs'
sovereignty, and under United Nations' monitoring, we will immediately
accept it and resistance would no longer be an issue.

Who are the terrorists? Those who assassinated Prof. Kazem Rajavi in
Geneva, Mohammad Hossein Naghdi in Rome, Zahra Rajabi and Ali Moradi in
Istanbul, Shapour Bakhtiar in Paris and Abdorrahman Qassemlou in Vienna, or
we?

Those who planted bombs in the streets and shops of Paris in the 1980s, or we?
Those who took the French hostage in Beirut, or we? Those who have carried
out 450 terrorist operations in the name of Islam in the past two decades
across the world and assassinated hundreds of Iranians and non-Iranians, or
we?

We have always been on the side of peace, democracy, stability and
security. We have never engaged and will not engage in unlawful actions in
Europe, in the United States and in any other country. The supporters and
sympathizers of the Iranian Resistance and Iranian refugees have only
engaged in legal and peaceful activities outside Iran. It would be the same
in future, too. I emphasize that we welcome any investigation by police and
all relevant agencies. We also welcome it if this case would go to court.
The Iranian Resistance has not, does not and will not endanger France's
security and national interests. If you believe us, the danger is, as we
have said for the past 20 years, in fundamentalism and export of terrorism
by the mullahs ruling Iran.

As a last point, I want to laud the national solidarity of Iranians during
this ordeal. This was demonstrated in and out of Iran by all parties,
groups and personalities, even groups, parties and dignitaries outside the
National Council of Resistance of Iran. This solidarity reflects the
awareness, resolve and insight of all Iranian political refugees and at the
same time heralds our victory. Indeed, freedom and humanity will definitely
triumph in Iran. Our national solidarity bears all the markings of the
coming victory.

I heard about your night of vigil and prayers here. I wish I could have
joined you and honored the memory of our martyrs and commended the
overflowing affection of our neighbors and every one here at
Auvers-sur-Oise. I wish to cite the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ to say
that the best moments of humanity and the most fortunate moments of a human
being is the moment of forgiveness.

I again extend my gratitude to each one of you, the people of
Auvers-sur-Oise, the women and men across France, parties, and
personalities who supported our cause. I wish you all good health and
success in your lives.


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