![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/02\/senatordirkclaes.jpg\" "\\"senatordirkclaes\\"")
NCRI – A European-American Conference was convened on invitation of the Friends of Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament on February 7, in relation to the current political situation in Iran and the region, and the necessity of protecting Ashraf residents, members of the Iranian opposition.<\/p>\n
Dirk CLaes, leader of the Flemish Christian Democrat Group in the Belgian Senate:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 Ladies and gentlemen, dear Mrs. Rajavi, I am speaking as president of the Belgian Committee of Parliamentarians for a Democratic Iran.\u00a0 Yesterday, President Obama ordered new sanctions into force on Iran, including its central bank, seeking to tighten a chokehold on Iran\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n This is good news, and of course a step forward.\u00a0 But we cannot go on leaving the biggest mistake of the West uncorrected and pinning hopes on sanctions to bring about a change in Iran.\u00a0 The biggest mistake is that the only hope of the Iranian people for democracy, which is Ashraf and the PMOI are still in the U.S. blacklisted.\u00a0 Unless we correct this big mistake, no sanctions will ever bring about a change, because we are sending the wrong signals to the fascist rulers of Iran.\u00a0 We correct this mistake in Europe and this needs to be done in Washington too.\u00a0 We must send the right signal to the mullahs now.\u00a0 Let them know that the PMOI and the NCRI are recognized by the international community.\u00a0 Then we will see that this is the hardest blow on them, much harder than sanctions.<\/p>\n Now going back to the case of the Ashraf residents and plans to transfer them to Camp Liberty.\u00a0 The Iranian regime will not lose any opportunity to bring this solution to failure and to bring harm to the lives and dignity of Ashraf residents during their transfer to Liberty and during their stay in Liberty.\u00a0 It will use any means to impose pressure on the residents to force them to surrender.\u00a0 It will use all types of lies and deceptive measures to damage their dignity.\u00a0 We are certain that the regime will not spare anything to reach these goals.\u00a0 With this explanation I ask the U.N. ambassador, Martin Kobler, why he\u2019s going so easy on the Iraqi government that is the puppet of the mullahs and implements their orders word by word?\u00a0 How does he trust Maliki on preserving the lives and dignity of Ashraf residents?\u00a0 I give Ashraf residents the right to be seriously worried.\u00a0 There is no trust in the Iraqi government.\u00a0<\/p>\n You, Mr. Kobler, can do one thing.\u00a0 Make Maliki understand very well that following two massacres in Ashraf and after three years of psychological torture and besieging the residents, the least that he must do to gain trust is to lift all the restrictions he has current imposed on Ashraf residents in Liberty.\u00a0 Allow them freedom of movement.\u00a0 Allow them access to their lawyers and families, and station your armed police outside the camp.\u00a0 None of these of course will be welcomed by the mullahs, and implementing such measures will naturally be hard for Iraq.\u00a0 But the time has come for the international community to clearly observe the choice the Iraqi government will make.\u00a0 And you, Mr. Kobler, are the one you should make Maliki face the decision and make the choice.<\/p>\n I believe, Mrs. Rajavi and the leadership of Ashraf have been extremely cooperative and have made many concessions.\u00a0 The UN and USA must be thankful to the people of Ashraf.\u00a0 They are not only refugees, they are the best children of Iran.\u00a0 They are the best hopes of the Iranian people.\u00a0 We all as elected politicians have to act as the conscience of our people in Europe.\u00a0 We must call on our governments, including my own government here in Belgium, to accept these refugees, especially the critically ill and wounded.\u00a0 This is the least we can do.\u00a0 I would like to tell our brothers and sisters in Ashraf that we will keep fighting for your rights and we will fight for a free Iran.\u00a0 And we hope and believe we will have Mrs. Rajavi and a free and democratic Tehran in near future.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NCRI – A European-American Conference was convened on invitation of the Friends of Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament on February 7, in relation to the current political situation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-11687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ashraf-liberty","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/02\/Brussels-Conf-7-Feb.jpg\" "\\"Brussels-Conf-7-Feb\\"")
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