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Iran Meeting at the European Parliament |
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Friday, 24 June 2005 |
 The inter-parliamentary group "Friends of a Free Iran" at the European
Parliament held a meeting today in Strasbourg. Dozens of MEPs attended
the session, in which a video tape of the execution of three victims in
the city of Khoramabad, west of Iran, was aired.
The MEP's discussed the recent developments in Iran, including the
deteriorating human rights situation and the upcoming presidential
elections.
They also criticized a report published last month by Human Rights
Watch on the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin of Iran,
describing it as biased and politically motivated.
Mr. Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee of the
National Council of Resistance of Iran, was the keynote speaker. He
said: "Elections in Iran are not an exercise in the democratic process;
they are a means to legitimize an otherwise illegitimate theocracy.
Based on a nationwide poll taken by the People’s Mojahedin, of the
1,730 persons asked about the election, 92 percent said they would not
cast their ballots.
"That said, regardless of the outcome, the regime will emerge much
weaker and the crisis will only deepen because whoever wins cannot
resolve the very serious problems facing the regime," Mohaddessin added.
The MEP's noted the following:
The upcoming election in Iran is illegitimate as there are no
independent candidates. All candidates must prove their allegiance to
the doctrine of the velayat-e fagih (absolute supremacy of clerical
rule) before being allowed to participate in the election.
The eight candidates approved by the Guardian Council share
responsibility for many of the atrocities in Iran in the past
twenty-five years. Four were commanders of the Revolutionary Guards
Corps with direct involvement in the suppression and execution of
political opponents. A leading candidate is Hashemi Rafsanjani,
infamous not only for his role in atrocities in Iran but also for
masterminding terrorist attacks abroad. During his eight-year tenure,
dozens of Iranian dissidents were assassinated in Europe. A Berlin
Court in 1997 implicated him as one of the masterminds of terrorist
attack against four Iranian dissidents at the Mykonos Restaurant.
Another candidate is Mostafa Moien who served under Khatami. Under his
watch, the 1999 student uprising in Tehran and elsewhere was crushed.
Investing on Iranian regime’s internal factions is tantamount to
betting on a dead horse and would only embolden Iran’s rulers to step
up domestic repression and gain more time to pursue their nuclear
weapons' program. Europe should identify with the millions in Iran
whose cry is freedom and not their oppressors.
In our view, the report by Human Rights Watch was in line with the
policy of appeasing the regime in Tehran. While condemning this biased
report, we are dismayed at the refusal of the HRW to retract this
procedurally flawed and substantively inaccurate report that was based
on testimonies by agents of the Iran's Intelligence Ministry.
The Iranian regime will no doubt use this report to justify its atrocities, in particular its crackdown on dissidents.
Struan Stevenson (PPE-ED) & Paulo Casaca (PSE)
Co-Chairs, Friends of a Free Iran (Inter parliamentary Group) |
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