Speeches in solidarity with Maryam Rajavi, Iran uprising, #FreeIran2023
The NCRI President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, visited the European Parliament on May 24, 2023. She met with many members of the European Parliament and addressed a meeting bringing dozens of MEPs abreast of Iranian developments. Several MEPs also spoke in that meeting. One of them was Anna Fotyga, a Member of the European Parliament from Poland; Foreign Minister of Poland (2006 to 2007); Member of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee, and Secretary-General of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR).
Following are excerpts of her remarks in solidarity with Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian people’s Resistance and uprising.
Dear Madame Maryam Rajavi,
It is good to see you after such a long time here in the European Parliament.
It is good to see you, and it is extremely instructive and inspiring to listen to you. Of course, I echo all statements of my colleagues praising your resolve, consistency, and your firm staying with the Iranian people. But allow me to comment on what I just heard.
I think that the vision of the free, democratic, secular Iranian state that you presented just a few moments ago to the European Parliament is a long-standing dream of the Iranian people, of young people in particular, of families, of those who perished in 1988, but of all who used to protest throughout all these years.
We speak about the current revolution, current I mean what we have observed since 2022, but certainly, it is already decades of atrocities that we monitor.
That is why we voted here in the European Parliament with vast majority votes, the amendment to sanction the Revolutionary Guard, knowing the legal intricacies of this measure and its difficulty. But we are aware quite well of wrongdoings and crimes perpetrated in Iran, inside Iran, and outside. I mean broader than in the broad region, although meddling in the region is well known.
Quite recently, all atrocities multiplied by delivering of Iranian drones to the Russian Federation to kill civilians in this dreadful war of aggression, civilians including kids and elderly people, because they are predominantly used to target civilian installations. And although they are not particularly technically advanced because of the sanctions imposed on Iran.
And remember that on exactly October 18 of this year, these sanctions expire, and we have to exert pressure on our respective governments, on the institution, to argue for prolonged sanctions because it is extremely important to know that such atrocities have been perpetrated in recent times.
Moreover, that numerous Iranian scientists disperse all over the world, the democratic world as well, trying to catch up with the newest technologies and to find the new technological edge to the very vicious policies of the regime.
So, I urge the international community to prolong these sanctions. When we wish to engage in economic terms and trade terms with Iran, we have to know that roughly 80% of Iranian business is under the control of the Revolutionary Guard. And that means aligning with an organization that is responsible for killing numerous people in Iran and outside.
Long live free Iran.
