Annual Conference for Democratic Change in Iran – June 2013 (Villepinte, Paris)
Ingrid Betancourt: I have two minutes to talk to you and to tell you so many things that I wish I would have had more time. But I will reduce my list of points to two. First, I want all of you to know how much I love you.
I want you to know that I know that each one of you has a difficult story in their life. A wound, something that hurts that is related to Iran. I can see it in Maryam Rajavi. I feel her pain and I feel your pain too. And if I’m here it’s because I want to share that pain with you.
You’re not alone. I’m also thinking about what you probably have been thinking a lot about, and that is Kobler. He was sent to Congo, and so we should really, truly, pray for the people ofCongo. Martin Kobler was really a liar. Today when we see what happened, we see that he was a liar. He used the hope of having people welcomed to other countries, transferred to other countries, he built his lie on that hope and he took out the people from Ashraf, lying to them, and he brought them to Camp Prison.
Because it’s not Camp Liberty, it’s Camp Prison. I think we must ponder on what that lie means, because it’s a lie that is a crime. People have died because of that lie. And it’s not only a crime but it’s also an act of corruption. Because he was the puppet receiving orders and you know from whom.
I did my investigation, you have done it too, and we all know that this Camp Prison was built and the idea was formed and the plan was set by the mullahs in Iran. So, Kobler, not only he’s a liar, not only he’s a very corrupt man, but he’s also a criminal.
And I truly think that this is something that the world should know what’s happening in so many places, but especially I mean the case of Kobler when I see you here, when I see this organization, when I see what you have done, I think where is CNN, where is BBC? Why isn’t this shown to the world, for the world to see that there’s a free Iran asking for freedom, asking for peace? [applause] So I like to see you roaring like the lion in the desert, roaring in the desert of the infamy of the cruel regime of Iran. So let me hear you roaring as I leave the floor, thank you.
Ingrid Betancourt Pulecio is a Colombian politician, former senator and anti-corruption activist. Betancourt was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on 23 February 2002 and was rescued by Colombian security forces six and a half years later on 2 July 2008
