Interview with Struan Stevenson about the “Free Iran” rally

Struan Stevenson

NCRI - Former European lawmaker Struan Stevenson has been a staunch supporter of freedom for the Iranian people for many years. Until his retirement in 2014, he chaired the Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (Caucus) in the European Parliament for over 10 years. During that time and in subsequent years, he has participated in the annual “Free Iran” rallies organized by the Iranian Resistance each year in Paris.

We asked him why he thinks the rallies are important to Iranians inside the country.

Stevenson: I have attended many of the great NCRI rallies in Paris and have been staggered at the massive crowds who attend every year. Last year there were in excess of 100,000 people, most of them from the worldwide Iranian diaspora. Almost every single one of these people will have extended families inside Iran, meaning that potential support for the Iranian opposition is colossal, numbering millions. This gives the lie to those who contend that the Opposition has little or no support inside the country. Of course people cannot openly declare their support for the PMOI/MEK inside Iran, as to do so will lead to immediate arrest, torture and execution. Nevertheless an active network of courageous PMOI members and supporters inside Iran and even inside government institutions continue to keep the West informed of the clandestine nuclear and military activities of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and the Qods Force, at huge personal risk to their own safety and security. We have much to thank them for in the West, not least that they were the first to alert us to the mullahs’ nuclear programme back in August 2002. We should be throwing our total support behind the Iranian opposition instead of doing dirty deals with the mullahs and their murderous regime.

Question from ncr-iran.org: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said in one of these grand gatherings that the combined number of participants at the U.S. Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention is less than the number of people who participate in the annual gatherings of the Iranian Resistance. How can an opposition movement have the strength to organize such a meeting?

Rudy Giuliani is quite correct. He is one of many prominent and internationally renowned figures who address the annual NCRI gathering in Paris. Having attended many of these events, I never cease to be overwhelmed by the size of the crowd, who come from every corner of the globe to show their outrights support for the only viable opposition movement that promises to restore, peace, justice, democracy, human rights, women’s rights, an end to the death penalty and the abolition of nuclear weapons, to this oppressed and beleaguered nation. The strength of this opposition movement is a clear indication that they are an alternative to the ruling mullahs and should be recognized as such by our governments.

Question: How do you assess the Iranian situation one year after the nuclear deal? Do you think Tehran is weaker or stronger?

Regarding the nuclear deal, while we condemn the concessions given to the regime and the lifting of most of the sanctions, we also recognize that this deal created a substantial internal crisis and fighting within the ruling clique, which has significantly weakened the regime. Of course we also welcome the fact that the regime's ability to make a nuclear bomb has really decreased. But it is important to remind the West that the lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets, despite the wishful thinking of the West, did not result in any benefits for the Iranian population. On the contrary, instead of the money being used for the welfare of the people, it has in fact been used to finance terrorism, supporting Bashar al-Assad’s on-going bloody civil war and other terrorist and sectarian military projects in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.

Question: What practical measures can Western governments take to support the establishment of democracy in Iran?

It is time we woke up to the fact that as long as the mullahs remain in power there will be no possibility of peace in the Middle East. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s High representative for Foreign Affairs & Security should stop her business-as-usual approach to Tehran. She should be shouting in anger and condemnation at the human rights abuse that takes place in that country on a daily basis. The West should be entering into dialogue with the political coalition that is the NCRI, rather than pussyfooting around with the mullahs in Tehran.  The NCRI under the inspiring leadership of Mrs Maryam Rajavi, offers the best possible hope for peace and stability in the region.

A major force in the NCRI is the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), which believes in a democratic, tolerant Islam and has bravely stood up against fundamentalism and violence. The PMOI’s vision of democracy, human rights, women’s rights, abolition of the death penalty, abolition of nuclear weapons and non-interference in other countries is surely the only way forward for Iran and its beleaguered and oppressed population. The West should impose international sanctions for human rights violations. These actions could lead to breaking the atmosphere of fear and terror and ultimately to another uprising which could topple the mullahs’ fascist regime and restore democracy to Iran. 

Struan Stevenson was a Conservative MEP representing Scotland in the European Parliament from 1999 until his retirement in 2014. He chaired the Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (Caucus) in the European Parliament for over 10 years. He was President of the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq from 2009 to 2014. He is now President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA).

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/20611-interview-with-struan-stevenson-about-the-free-iran-rally

Gérard Deprez MEP: Human rights deteriorate in Iran despite European optimism

Gérard Deprez

No amount of trade and economic growth can make up for the suffering and loss of life caused by Iran’s brutal regime. The West must demand change before deepening relations with Tehran, writes Gérard Deprez, a veteran member of the European Parliament.

Mr. Deprez is vice-president of the Belgian Liberal Mouvement Reformateur Party and chairs the Friends of a Free Iran group in the European Parliament.

Writing for Euractiv on Friday, July 1, he said:                                                  

Last week I, together with 270 of my colleagues in the European Parliament from all political groups, including six vice-presidents of the Parliament, signed a joint statement decrying the human rights situation in Iran. We called on European governments to require improvements to that situation before further expanding relations with Tehran and expressed our concern for the rising number of executions in Iran since the so-called “moderate” president Hassan Rouhani took office three years ago.

In his latest reports to the UN Human Rights Commission, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, pointed out that nearly 1,000 people were put to death in Iranian jails during the year 2015 alone. He has clarified that this represents the worst period of executions in 27 years, in a nation that consistently executes more people per capita than any other.

The trend continues to this day, even in the wake of the implementation of the Iranian Nuclear Deal. It continues even as some European politicians insist on regarding the Rouhani administration as moderate, and as a potential source of internal reforms in the months and years to come.

Iranian opposition sources have added to Shaheed’s statistics by noting that President Rouhani has overseen a total of approximately 2,500 executions during his three years in office. Various Iran-focused human rights organisations have continued to report executions in recent weeks and have pointed out, for instance, that at least 73 people were hanged in May, some even in front of public crowds that included young children.

Such brutal spectacles are only one of the ways in which the Iranian regime maintains its commitment to plainly medieval values, regardless of whether Western observers keep up scrutiny and pressure on Tehran’s behavior, or praise it for its “moderation”. Repressive measures against women and religious minorities have continued to increase. The joint statement by the European lawmakers highlights not only the overall scope of executions, but also the fact that Iran leads the world in executions of juvenile offenders. Victims of Iranian hangings include political prisoners convicted of “crimes” like “enmity against God”, which may consist of nothing more than donating money to media outlets linked to the opposition PMOI, or otherwise speaking out against the regime’s abuses.

Even those who avoid the noose may be punished with either excessively long prison sentences or forms of legally mandated violence that would be shocking to any civilized person. According to the last report from Amnesty International, the country’s fundamentalist leadership continues to cling to the literal doctrine of “an eye for an eye”, and has very recently carried out punishments that involve blinding prisoners or removing their limbs.

Sentences of flogging are not only eagerly meted out by Iran’s revolutionary courts; they appear to be increasingly popular as ways of attempting to “correct” the behavior of a restive population, particularly women, who are thoroughly fed up with forced Islamic dress codes, comprehensive media censorship, and the criminalisation of anything resembling Western society. Near the end of May, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned “the outrageous flogging of up to 35 young men and women in Iran” who had been rounded up at a graduation party and almost immediately subjected to 99 lashes each for removing headscarves and dancing with the opposite gender.

For those who have been waiting for signs of reforms from inside the Iranian regime, surely that wait has gone on long enough. Former claims of moderation have been thoroughly contradicted in both word and deed by the regime in general, and by the Rouhani administration in particular. The laws leading to the above-mentioned executions and physical violence have all been eagerly embraced by the Iranian president, who has described them as “the law of God” and “the laws of the parliament, which belongs to the people”.

In reality, the Iranian parliament belongs to no one other than the ruling theocracy. The recent political victories for Rouhani’s faction were nothing other than victories of one hardline wing over another. All genuine reformists were ousted from the race long before the Iranian people had any opportunity to weigh in on the future of the country. And more than that, many of the staunch opponents of repressive theocracy and fundamentalism were ousted from the country altogether, years ago.

On 9 July, many lawmakers from Europe, the United States, and throughout the world will join in theinternational rally of the Iranian opposition in Paris under the leadership of Maryam Rajavi to emphasise our commitment to supporting the Iranian people’s aspiration for democratic change.

Our message is that the Iranian people cannot afford European and American policies that continue to avoid putting pressure on the regime over the human rights situation. No amount of economic growth or trade with Iran can make up for the pain and loss of life that will persist if the regime is allowed to commit its newfound wealth to the same old human rights abuses.
http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/20605-gerard-deprez-mep-human-rights-deteriorate-in-iran-despite-european-optimism