(Video) Former World Leaders Unite in Support of Iranian People’s Uprising and Democratic Change
On Thursday, June 22, a conference in Paris, France, witnessed the presence of several former heads of state who came together to announce the support of 117 Former World Leaders united in Support of the Iranian People’s Uprising and Democratic Change.
They also recognized that for the past four decades, the democratic coalition(NCRI) Iran has consistently and tirelessly pursued democratic change. In this regard, they expressed their support for the Ten-Point Plan presented by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi.
Struan Stevenson former MEP."Last week, President Macron spent an hour and a half on the telephone with Raisi, the Butcher of Tehran. How on earth can someone spend an hour and a half speaking with the Butcher of Tehran?
First of all, I want to thank especially Mrs. Rajavi . I think it’s a very good moment to organize this conference at this moment when we have published an open letter on the 23rd of May, signed by no less than 109 former prime ministers, and political leaders.
Yulia Tymoshenko from Ukraine."I’m here today, I know firmly that the victory of the Iranian people is as important as the victory of the Ukrainian people for the world and everyone. In Ukraine every day, and every day our children are dying."
The regime’s behavior is the product of the West’s policy of appeasement over the past 40 years. Now is the time for a fundamental change in that policy.
Guy Verhofstadt, "We thought It would bring us to a solution that the regime was made from bad guys to less bad guys, and that we would talk to these so-called moderates of the regime."”
PARIS, FRANCE, June 23, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- On Thursday, June 22, a conference in Paris, France, witnessed the presence of several former heads of state who came together to announce the support of 117 Former World Leaders united in Support of the Iranian People’s Uprising and2 Democratic Change. — NCRI
The keynote speaker at this event was Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)1.
It is important to highlight that in their letter to President Joe Biden of the United States, and the leaders of the 27 Member States of the European Union, the former world leaders emphasized their belief that the future of Iran should be determined by the Iranian people themselves.
They also recognized that for the past four decades, the democratic coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran has consistently and tirelessly pursued democratic change. In this regard, they expressed their support for the Ten-Point Plan presented by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi3.
They underlined that the plan’s dedication to principles such as free elections, freedom of assembly and expression, abolition of the death penalty, gender equality, separation of religion and state, autonomy for Iran’s ethnicities, and a non-nuclear Iran “is in line with our own democratic values.
Remarks by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s President-elect:
Dear guests, Ms. Tymoshenko, Mr. Kiska, Mr. Quiroga, Mr. Verhofstadt, Mr. Renzi, Mr. Bartumeu,
Mr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras and Mr. Stevenson,
I am delighted to welcome you to the office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the Resistance’s Parliament in exile.
Your initiative in calling upon world leaders to take decisive actions against the religious fascism ruling Iran and standing by the Iranian people marks a turning point in the international approach towards the issue of Iran.
Two days ago was the anniversary of the brutal suppression of a peaceful demonstration by half-a-million PMOI sympathizers in Tehran on June 20, 1981. Khomeini’s IRGC forces turned the demonstration into a bloodbath and started the wave of executions on that night.
The clerical regime in Iran has also engaged in exporting terrorism, warmongering, and religious fundamentalism beyond Iran’s borders. It is no coincidence that such a large number of world dignitaries have joined your initiative against the regime.
Today, the clerical regime finds itself in its final phase. The uprising that began in September 2022 showed that the Iranian people want to overthrow the ruling regime and are prepared to make sacrifices to achieve this goal.
Women have a leading role in the uprisings, following 40 years of struggle by freedom-loving PMOI women and other combatant women against this brutal regime.
The recent uprising also revealed that despite the Iranian people’s terrible conditions and increasing discontent, religious tyranny has no solution. The regime’s only way out is to escalate repression, export of terrorism, and warmongering.
At the same time, it has increased its efforts to discredit the democratic opposition through a disinformation campaign both inside Iran and abroad.
The clerical regime, which is beset by popular uprisings and social discontent, has started a new phase of destructive and aggressive activities, ranging from moving closer to acquiring nuclear weapons to involvement in the massacre and destruction of Ukraine; they know no limits.
Recently, following the increase in these attacks, the Ukrainian government presented a bill to the parliament for imposing a 50-year sanction on the religious fascism ruling in Iran.
The regime’s behavior is the product of the West’s policy of appeasement over the past 40 years. Now is the time for a fundamental change in that policy.
The policy of appeasement has had disastrous outcomes these days: The violent attack by 1200 police forces on PMOI refugees in Albania, which led to the death of one and injury of more than 100, and the banning of the July 1 rally by Iranians in Paris.
Both incidents, which took place at the behest of the Iranian regime, violated some of the fundamental principles of Europe, like the freedom of speech and assembly, and the right to asylum.
They also violated international conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of Refugees, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights.
The continuation of the appeasement policy has emboldened the regime in pursuing its destructive policies.
Dear friends,
During the uprising, the role of the organized resistance network, and its Resistance Units, in various cities has become more evident than ever before. They play a key role in advancing the uprising and driving it toward the regime’s overthrow.
These networks continue to carry on the widespread resistance of the Iranian people against religious dictatorship over the past four decades.
The Resistance’s adherence to its principles of struggle including independence, liberty, popular sovereignty, and the rejection of the Shah and the mullahs’ dictatorships have turned the Iranian Resistance into the focal point of the Iranian people’s trust.
The National Council of Resistance is a coalition made of various political tendencies and beliefs, established years ago. The NCRI has provided the national capacity to struggle and to mobilize all freedom-loving forces seeking the regime’s overthrow.
According to the NCRI plan, a provisional government takes control following the regime’s overthrow, to hold elections within six months for the Constitutional Assembly.
The assembly will then elect a new provisional government and oversee its activities. In addition, it is responsible for drafting the constitution of the new republic.
We never compromise our values to gain or preserve power. The most important thing for us is creating conditions where the people of Iran can freely determine their own destiny. More than 100,000 of the Resistance’s members and supporters have been executed for this cause.
Two years ago, during the annual gathering of the Iranian Resistance, Prime Minister Verhofstadt said, “We must never close our eyes to the terrorist attempts of the Iranian regime, even on European soil, and the human rights violations that occur in Iran every single day.”
During the same gathering, Prime Minister Renzi summarized the real solution by saying, “We have to come back to open the doors of Iran to the global community and the global community to Iran. But the only way is through regime change.”
Yes, it is the right of the people of Iran to overthrow a regime that brought them nothing but oppression and plunder. The United States Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, among others, have recognized this right.
Your ground-breaking initiative, emphasizing the necessity of recognizing the Iranian people’s demand for freedom, is a strategic response to the fundamental mistake in the policy towards Iran. It will open a new chapter that focuses on respecting the Iranian people’s desire to overthrow this regime.
I know that short-term economic interests and political considerations put obstacles in adopting a firm policy but a firm policy vis-à-vis the regime in Iran is not only the Iranian people’s demand but also the need for peace and security in today’s world.
To this end, the Iranian Resistance proposes the following actions:
1- Designating the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, and confronting the IRGC presence beyond Iranian borders, including in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.
2- Recognizing the right of the Iranian people to defend themselves against the IRGC and to overthrow the regime and establish a democratic republic based on the separation of religion and state.
3- Activating the snapback mechanism according to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, implementing the six UN Security Council Resolutions, shutting down all nuclear and missile programs in breach of UN resolutions, and conducting unconditional inspections of the regime’s nuclear and missile facilities.
4- Referring to the dossier of the brutal and systematic violations of human rights in Iran to the UN Security Council and bringing to justice the regime’s leaders for 40 years of genocide and crimes against humanity.
5- Cutting off regular economic deals and imposing comprehensive sanctions, particularly oil and banking sanctions, to cut the regime’s lifelines that only finance the oppression of the Iranian people, development of nuclear weapons, terrorism and regional interventions.
6- Identifying the regime as a threat to global peace and security, subject to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
Surely, we will have many allies among prominent political leaders like yourselves and among the people of democratic countries in achieving these objectives.
Thank you all for your support.
Struan Stevenson former MEP President of EP Delegation for Relations with Iraq 2009-2014
Last week, President Macron spent an hour and a half on the telephone with Raisi, the Butcher of Tehran. How on earth can someone spend an hour and a half speaking with the Butcher of Tehran? We understand the pressure on Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State. We see that he has been negotiating with the Iranian regime to resurrect the zombie JCPOA deal.
The Biden administration is appeasing the mullahs’ regime, and I believe he has put pressure on the Albanian government, and they attacked Ashraf 3. Many of the Ashraf 3 residents were hospitalized.
This was a raid organized by SPAC, the agency from Tirana, which is run by a puppet of the Americans. I’m afraid that Americans have their fingerprints all over this horrible raid, and you can trace it all the way back to Tehran.
We have the majority in the US Congress, in Italy and the Netherlands and Iceland and Norway, and many more countries, and 117 former world leaders signed the letter that I referred to at the beginning of this session.
And that included 52 former presidents, 54 former prime ministers, one former chancellor, two former presidents of the European Commission, and three Nobel Laureates.
And even Mike Pence added his signature towards the end of last week. So, the support has been magnificent, and we thank all of you, particularly those of you who have come here today.
The importance of that letter is highly significant because you have managed to break the wall of silence that engulfed Iran for many years.
So, it’s going to be my great privilege to moderate this meeting. And can I start by inviting the person who is the most charismatic leader that I know, fighting for decades for the resurrection of democracy and justice, and peace in her country. It’s a great privilege to be here and to welcome Mrs. Mariam Rajavi.
Guy Verhofstadt Prime Minister of Belgium (1999-2008)
First of all, I want to thank especially Mrs. Rajavi for the invitation. I think it’s a very good moment to organize this conference at this moment when we have published an open letter on the 23rd of May, signed by no less than 109 former prime ministers, heads of state, and political leaders.
The first conclusion of today is the very first time, as Mr. Stevenson said, so many politicians are united in calling for a new approach, a radically new approach towards Iran. And with this letter that we sent to the world leaders of today, we ask them, in fact, to change strategy and to take decisive steps against the current regime in Tehran.
The letter is, first and foremost, I think, a common commitment or commitment. Or promise that we will not be silent until the regime of the mullahs is gone in this world. And until there are free and democratic elections organized in Iran. Because, let’s be honest, that requests a change in strategy.
Until now, certainly, in the West, we have always thought that it was important that the only way forward was not to slam the doors, to be ready for diplomacy, and to keep talking to Iran.
We thought It would bring salvation and that the regime was made from bad guys to less bad guys, and that we would get results by continuing to talk to these so-called moderates of the regime.
We have to say today that this strategy, this approach was wrong. In fact, there are no moderates in the regime of Iran. There is no one.
Shahin Gobadi
NCRI
+33 6 61 65 32 31
email us here
WATCH NOW: In this regard, they expressed their support for the Ten-Point Plan presented by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBJfZZyJ__0
1 https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/about-ncri/ncri/alternative/
2 https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/former-world-leaders-unite-in-support-of-iranian-peoples-uprising-and-democratic-change/
3 https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/maryam-rajavis-ten-point-plan-for-future-iran/
