PARIS — Over 100,000 Iranians have rallied in a grand gathering in Paris to voice their demand for regime change in Iran, enjoying a significant boost in support from an array of senior current and former American, European and Middle East officials and politicians.
These leaders have placed their collective weight in support of rally organizer, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) an umbrella organization representing a wide variety of Iranian opposition entities seeking to establish freedom and democracy in Iran, reported, www.mojahedin.org website.
As always, the annual NCRI gathering led by Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi enjoys the blessing of an assortment of senior politicians and former generals gathering from all over the globe, mostly voicing their specific support for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MeK), the largest of all NCRI members.
In the biggest gathering of its kind, thousands of Iranian dissidents, in presence of former high-level foreign officials, converged Saturday for a massive rally calling for the downfall of Iran’s government.
Former White House Director of Public Liaison Linda Chavez opening the Grand Iranian Gathering here said, “Let’s honor and commend the bravery and dedication of Camp Liberty residents. We all know that Camp Liberty came under heavy missile attacks on July 4th, which left vast destruction and dozens of injuries.
“The Mullahs perpetrating this attack showed that what threatens them the most and what are they afraid of the most. Therefore let’s make it clear to the mullahs that nothing can and would prevent the Iranian Resistance from forging ahead for democracy and freedom in Iran.”
The only method to establish democracy in Iran and establishing relations with the Iranian Resistance led by Maryam Rajavi, said Chavez in prelude to this grand gathering.
One cannot justify the execution of more than 2,500 people in Iran under the tenure of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Chaves explained, adding the next US government must assist in establishing democracy in Iran.
US Sen. John Boozman, addressing his 'friends' at the mass Free Iran rally here, said he was 'disturbed' by the growing number of human rights violations in Iran and by the plight of the Iranian Resistance members in Camp Liberty.
The camp was subjected to a missile bombardment on July 4, which injured more than 50 of the unarmed residents of the PMOI or MeK.
Sen. Boozman, a member of the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus which aims to shed light on the efforts of Iranian people to bring democracy to Iran, said in a letter to the gathering that he is 'committed to preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapons program,' and to the 'noble cause' of the Resistance.
This year high-profile American figures — such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former ambassadors to the United Nations John Bolton, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, to name a few — have confirmed their attendance for the Free Iran rally. The number of officials endorsing and attending the NCRI’s rally appears to increase every year.
The United States Congressman, Brad Sherman, veteran of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, emphasized the significance of the Free Iran rally and he congratulated the PMOI for "the critical role it played in exposing the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons program."
Patrizia Toia, a Member of the European Parliament from Italy, declared that she desires to "encourage everyone to join the event in Paris."
In the morning thousands of Iranians have been pouring in to France's famous Bourget hall. Coaches are lining up the venue’s main entrance bringing in crowds from across the continent. At this early hour, many of the international dignitaries have already begun to arrive. Huge crowds await at the gates of Le Bourget to enter the annual 'Free Iran' rally.
Many of the Iranians who have flocked to Paris to attend the Iranian Resistance's gathering for regime change are holding banners denouncing the executions and other human rights abuses carried out by the mullahs' regime. Others are waving Iran's tri-color flag and holding signs in support of Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance.
Large numbers of Syrian exiles, who oppose the regime of Bashar al-Assad, are queuing up to enter the Iranian Resistance's rally. These Syrian opposition supporters denounced the support of Iran's fundamentalist regime to Assad in the massacre of their countrymen and are there to show their solidarity with the Iranian Resistance. They reiterated that we have a common enemy — the regimes of the mullahs and Bashar Assad.
Meanwhile, former Iranian ambassador to Sweden and Norway, and representative of NCRI in Nordic countries, Perviz Khazaii, stated that, “Throughout the three years of Ruhani’s presidency, some in the West have maintained hope that it would herald an era of moderation and reform in Iran.”
But in fact, the human rights situation is deteriorating at a fast pace. There have been over 2,400 executions in Iran in just under three years. Victims include political dissidents, most notably the activists of the PMOI.
In a shocking act of violence, the Iranian regime carried out at least 21 hangings in a 48-hour period in the second week of May. Amnesty International underscored in its annual report that Iran has the highest number of executions per capita. Those who are not put to death may be subject to other cruel punishments.
“Despite the persistent danger, I remain active in the NCRI to this day.”
said Khazaii. “I am no stranger to diplomatic relations. I was one of three senior Iranian diplomats who resigned from our ambassadorships in protest against an unbridled wave of executions in Iran in the early 1980s and joined the National Council of Resistance of Iran, led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi . Doing so came at great personal cost. Two of us were gunned down in broad daylight in Geneva and in Rome by terrorists dispatched from Tehran, the first in 1990 and the second in 1993. I am the sole survivor.”
