Thousands of Iranians, supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) gathered at Paris’ Place Denfert Rochereau on Sunday, February 12, 2023, on the anniversary of the 1979 anti-monarchical revolution in Iran. The Paris rally showed their support for the ongoing protests in Iran and paid homage to the legacy of the 1979 anti-monarchical revolution.
Influential European politicians, particularly from France, spoke at the event, expressing their support for the Iranian people’s democratic aspirations and their rejection of any form of oppression. The Paris rally was topped off by a powerful keynote address from Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s President-elect.
French mayors Jean Francois Legaret and Jacques Boutault spoke in support of the Iranian people and their desire for freedom and democracy at the Paris rally. They expressed support for the Ten-Point Plan of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. They also expressed support for the brave women of Iran and their freedom of choice.
Mr. Jacques Boutault said in his speech to the Paris rally: We support the revolution to get rid of the regime. The 1979 revolution was stolen by the mullahs 44 years ago. We, democrats, stand in solidarity with you. I pay tribute to Ms. Amini, who was martyred in September. Freedom is about having the right to choose.
Women show bravery in their rebellion against the regime. The mullahs’ regime is crumbling. Governments across the globe must put pressure on the mullahs to stop the cruelty against their own people. A few years ago, I visited an exhibition here in Paris about the 1988 massacre of political prisoners who were supporters of the MEK. At the time, I spoke to Maryam Rajavi. I admire her fight and struggle as a woman, a democrat, and a political leader.
The next speaker was Ms. Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian presidential candidate and a staunch supporter of the Iranian Resistance. In part of her remarks to the Paris rally, she said:
It is great to be on the right side of history, here with the Iranian diaspora, in solidarity with protesters in Iran. We commemorate the anniversary of the downfall of the Shah dictatorship, a bloody and corrupt dictatorship. This was a democratic revolution that was stolen by Khomeini, who replaced the Shah. He took advantage of Shah’s repression of the opposition to seize power. Today, the opposition is back in the streets. Protesters are demonstrating and chanting, “Death to the dictator, whether it be the Shah or the mullahs!”
Today, Iran has a unique opportunity because it is in a unique situation. Khomeini could not eliminate the only opposition movement that remained organized all this time. The opposition is present not only in the streets of Tehran and across Iran but also across the world and here in Paris. Just like in the streets of Tehran and large cities of Iran, where women lead the revolution, an extraordinary woman is at the head of the Iranian Resistance. This is a struggle led by women for the freedom of all people. Mrs. Rajavi has a Ten-point Plan advocating free elections, separation of religion and state, gender equality, and an end to the nuclear ambitions of the Iranian regime.
We want a free Iran for all Iranians, all French people, and Europeans. We fight for all the hostages. Our governments must acknowledge the transition to a democratic government led by Maryam Rajavi. The return to tyranny, whether another version of the mullahs’ regime or the Shah dictatorship, will betray the people of Iran, and we should not allow our governments to be accomplices in this treason.
We are here to convey the Iranian people’s voice to the world. We will fight until democracy is established in Iran. Was it not for Maryam Rajavi at the helm of this movement, these protests and this movement would have been impossible, and I am honored to be her friend?
In the next part of the Paris rally, the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi addressed the rally in an online connection. In part of her speech, she said:
We find ourselves in the midst of a new democratic revolution, where our people strive for a democratic republic free from torture, violence, oppression, and dependency. Remember that dictatorship, whether draped in a turban or a crown, remains a dictatorship.
And let us not forget that plunder, whether committed by Khamenei’s Setad or the Barekat Foundation, or by Reza Shah who forcibly seized the lands and villages of our country, or by his son who took billions of dollars of Iran’s wealth abroad without accountability, is plunder, nonetheless.
Coercion, too, remains coercion, whether it takes the form of forced removal of the hijab or forced imposition of the hijab.
And now, the son of the Shah dares to question the PMOI over the headscarves of their women and to separate them from men, mirroring the repressive culture of Reza Khan and Khomeini’s patronizing attitude.
Where has respect for others’ beliefs, customs, rights, and freedom of choice gone? We must remember the heroic women who were tortured or executed in their fight against Khomeini and the women who held leadership positions in the vanguard organization advancing the cause of freedom.
Does the image of Commander Sara, with a dagger piercing her heart and hanging by her feet from a tree on a rock in Hassan Abad Pass, not bear witness to the atrocities the regime committed?
I must ask, did your SAVAK interrogators not brutally murder my sister?
This is the common thread of misogyny that unites the Shah and the Sheikh, and their fate will be the same – certain overthrow.
Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgian Prime Minister, and John Bercow, former UK House of Commons Speaker, also addressed the Paris rally.
Excerpts from the remarks by Mr. Guy Verhofstadt: Since the mullahs took power, there hasn’t been a single day without violence. It is difficult to believe these brave men and women could take to the streets despite the violent repression in the past four decades. They want to achieve a democratic Iran. They are an example of courage.
It is our responsibility and duty to end the violence and killing in Iran and end the use of capital punishment. As Europeans, we need to do a lot more. We must hold the regime accountable for its crimes. We must impose massive sanctions on those responsible for human rights abuses in Iran. We must break the backbone of the Iranian regime, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. We must condemn the ideology and criminal activity of the regime. We must cut off funding to this organization and make sure it is listed as a terrorist entity.
Mr. John Bercow said in parts of his remarks: We detest dictatorship, and we demand democracy for the long-suffering people of Iran. Lest anybody tries to misrepresent us, we are clear, meeting here, marking the 44th anniversary of the overthrow of the diabolical and despicable Shah, that we do not want to go back to that dictatorship under any circumstances.
We know he was a corrupt killer, corrupt in massive theft and killer in the execution of Iranians who wanted to be free. The Shah did not believe in democracy, freedom, the rights of media, the rights of women, or the rights of minorities. And it was because of his appalling record and his persistence and thuggery over decades that he was removed. That was the basis of what should have been a revolution by and for the people of Iran. But the ayatollahs hijacked that revolution. They twisted and distorted, and perverted that revolution. They ruined that revolution.
The people of Iran have a decent democratic alternative to the regime in Iran, and you heard it in the passionate, powerful, and persuasive words of Mrs. Rajavi. We all know that Mrs. Rajavi is a person of guts, vision, character, and an unquenchable desire to commit herself to public service and the people of Iran. Her ten-point plan shows how the NCRI would go about securing a democratic, secular, and non-nuclear republic. That’s what you want and what we want.
I want to identify and empathize with the powerful remarks of all previous speakers. If we are to help the people of Iran to chart a course to genuine democracy, we must recognize that it is time to proscribe those who don’t believe in democracy or freedom and only believe in the fascistic application of force. The IRGC represents precisely that bestial, dangerous, and violence-oriented ethos. It should be proscribed as the terrorist organization that it is.
Ms. Mahnaz Salimian, the NCRI Senior Secretary, told the Paris rally:
We celebrate democracy and independence. In the past five months, heroes inside Iran have fascinated the world. Despite executions, they stress that they will never give up. They continue to say, “Khamenei you tyrant, we will overthrow you!” Today, you are the true voice of the uprising and its martyrs and political prisoners.
This fundamental principle rejects any form of dictatorship and recognizes the Iranian people’s sovereignty and independence. From our experience, we can see that the regime has truly weakened. But it will not fall by itself. It will only topple through revolution and resistance.
The regime is trying to block the democratic alternative. But this resistance, with more than 120,000 martyrs and the activities of Resistance Units and youths, will overthrow this regime and rid the region and the world of its evil.
Ms. Mahan Taraj, a jurist, spoke at the Paris rally on behalf of Iranian lawyers supporting the Iranian Resistance. In part of her remarks to the Paris rally, she said:
The resistance of the MEK is justified by the mass number of martyrs they have had. It is clear that the mullahs will be overthrown by the resistance and the people. This is why the mullahs and their allies use propaganda to demonize them. If the mullahs’ regime attacks them so much, it is because they know that the MEK and their Resistance Units will overthrow them.
As Mrs. Rajavi has said, we don’t want to obtain power. We want to overthrow the regime so the people can choose their leaders in democratic elections. We will continue our resistance until the regime is overthrown.
In her address to the Paris rally of Iranian on the anniversary of the 1979 anti-monarchical revolution, Zinat Mirhashemi, a member of the NCRI and the Central Committee of the People’s Fedayeen of Iran (OIPFG), said:
The goal of the 1979 revolution was to overthrow Shah’s dictatorship and install freedom and democracy. It was a victory for the people of Iran. But freedom was not able to triumph, and the struggle continued. We want to get rid of all types of discrimination. In this struggle, thousands of men and women sacrificed their lives. Unfortunately, the revolution was hijacked by the mullahs. They continued to cooperate with the SAVAK to suppress dissidents.
We will not forgive or forget. All the people tortured and killed by the mullahs and Shah’s regime must not be forgotten. The crimes of the mullahs’ regime must not make us forget the crimes of the Shah’s regime. We will be able to overcome the challenges of this dictatorship. The people of Iran want freedom, independence, popular sovereignty, and a secular republic.
Neda Amani, a human rights activist, in part of her remarks, told the Paris rally:
History shows that the time is up for the mullahs’ regime. The people don’t want the regime, and the regime can’t govern. In the streets, there is a movement that will not stop. History also teaches us that we will not return to the Shah era. A popular revolution overthrew the Shah, and he will not return. Monarchy was a despotic power inside Iran. A single party ruled it. Today we see resistance inside Iran. The people and their resistance will bring down the oppressor.
Mrs. Gisou Shakeri, one of the valuable artists of the Iranian Resistance, told the participants of the Paris rally:
During these 44 years, the regressive regime created such an atmosphere that the remnants of the oppressive monarchy dared to return instead of accounting for their crimes in the people’s courts. They do not understand that the anti-fundamentalist revolution is the continuation of the anti-monarchical revolution, which failed and was hijacked halfway.
But now, at the beginning of the 2023 revolution, our people have consciously rejected the modern dictatorship of the Shah and the reactionary dictatorship of the mullahs with more than six decades of relentless struggle and confrontation with both regimes and paying a heavy price that everyone knows, torture, prison, execution, exile and the death of our youths. We are now stepping into a new world with the slogan “death to the oppressor, be it the shah or Khamenei.”
