NCRI – Deeply saddened by the death of Abbé Pierre, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described his death as a great loss for humanity. She offered her condolences to his family, to the Emmaüs community, and to the People of France. She said: Today, Iranians, their resistance, and the families of the martyrs and of political prisoners in Iran were sharing the grief of the French people for the demise of Abbé Pierre.
NCRI – Deeply saddened by the death of Abbé Pierre, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described his death as a great loss for humanity. She offered her condolences to his family, to the Emmaüs community, and to the People of France. She said: Today, Iranians, their resistance, and the families of the martyrs and of political prisoners in Iran were sharing the grief of the French people for the demise of Abbé Pierre.
Mrs. Rajavi added that Abbé Pierre was not only a leading Resistance fighter and a defender of the rights of the homeless, but also the messenger of important humanist values and a staunch defender of just struggles in the world.
In Iran’s history, she noted, Abbé Pierre will forever be a faithful friend of the Iranian people and its resistance. These last fifteen years, he rebelled against the injustice the Iranian Resistance suffered. She recalled that “Abbé Pierre had often said: “Dying is a long-delayed meeting with a Friend”. “Even if he has fulfilled his lifelong dream, for his friends and for me, the separation is painful,” Mrs. Rajavi said.
In his last statement on December 23, 2006, following his meeting with Mrs. Rajavi, Abbé Pierre stated: “I hope that we will soon see the end of the sufferings of the Iranians under the religious dictatorship as well as the establishment of democracy in Iran”. He was delighted about the verdict of the European Court of Justice annulling the terrorist label on the People’s Mojahedin and described it as “the victory of justice over slander.”
During this meeting, Abbé Pierre called on “France to put an end to the injustice inflicted on the Iranian Resistance” and hoped for “the closing of the June 17, 2003 file against the members of the Resistance”.
For all his invaluable efforts in the defense of human rights, Abbé Pierre was extremely popular among Iranians in and out of Iran.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 22, 2007
