MEETING TO CELEBRATE THE 60^th ANNIVERSARY OF THE PMOI/MEK

210 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware, Middlesex, London, HA8 0AP.

16.00-19.00 hrs, Sunday 1^st September, 2024

We are gathering today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Iran’s main democratic opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). I am privileged to have worked closely with them for 25 of those years.

Sixty years ago, three young students in Iran came together and formed a group to oppose the Shah’s dictatorship and help the Iranian people achieve freedom and democracy. Since that day, the PMOI has grown to become the main and most organised Iranian opposition group, resisting two successive dictatorships—those of the Shah and the mullahs.

For the last four decades, the PMOI has been the backbone of the broader coalition of Iranian groups and personalities—the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)—which is leading the fight to overthrow the religious dictatorship of the mullahs and establish a free, democratic, and secular republic in Iran.

This would not be possible without deep-rooted support among the Iranian people and within Iranian society. It would also be impossible without a clear understanding of the real challenges facing Iranian society and a true commitment to the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people.

The 1979 revolution in Iran demonstrated that the PMOI was on the side of the people by opposing the Shah’s dictatorship. Its belief in a progressive Islam and democracy led it to reject the absolute rule of the clergy from the outset, identifying the mullahs’ Islamic fundamentalism as the most serious threat to the democratic aspirations of the Iranian people and the world.

While the international community has failed and continues to fail to understand this reality, the mullahs knew that the PMOI posed the most serious threat to their absolute rule. The regime’s founder, Khomeini, made this clear when he declared, “The greatest threat to the Islamic Republic is neither the West nor the East, but exists within Iran.”

Since it hi-jacked the revolution in Iran in 1979, the mullahs’ regime has done everything in its power to eliminate the PMOI and, by extension, the culture of resistance and the Iranian people’s dream and struggle for a free, democratic, secular republic.

This included the killing of over 120,000 supporters and members of the PMOI, as well as the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988; the terror assassinations of NCRI members in several European countries; rocket and missile attacks against PMOI members in Camps Ashraf and Liberty; and terror bombings targeting NCRI and PMOI gatherings in Albania and Paris.

Parallel to these murderous attacks on the PMOI abroad, the regime has maintained a systematic persecution of family members, supporters, and members of the PMOI inside Iran for the last four decades. The ongoing sham trials in absentia of 104 PMOI and NCRI members by the regime’s judiciary in Tehran are the culmination of this persecution.

The mullahs’ efforts to eliminate the PMOI also relied on a massive campaign of demonisation and propaganda, both at home and abroad, to tarnish the organised Iranian opposition. The regime has spent millions, if not billions, of dollars on this propaganda campaign, publishing hundreds of books, magazines, and articles, as well as producing documentaries, movies, and TV shows to demonise and traduce the PMOI. The regime has also used Ministry of Intelligence agents disguised as former PMOI members and Iranian activists to attack and demonise the PMOI.

I know this first-hand because my colleagues and I were subjected to this propaganda every day during our time in the European Parliament. I have also been working with colleagues to refute these attacks against the PMOI, which are based on manufactured lies and groundless accusations from the regime, intended to discourage people and parliamentarians from recognising, supporting and engaging with the Iranian opposition.

I know this first-hand because I was part of the successful campaign to de-list the PMOI after Western governments had blacklisted the group at the behest of the mullahs in a shameful act of appeasement and a goodwill gesture towards the so-called ‘moderates’ within the regime, as well as for lucrative trade deals.

I know this first-hand because my decades-long support for the PMOI, the NCRI, its president-elect Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, and the Iranian people’s fight for freedom and self-determination, has earned me a place on the regime’s sanctions blacklist, which I consider a badge of honour for the rest of my life.

Yet, the PMOI has not only prevailed but has grown stronger with each passing day.

This is manifested today by the creation and expansion of resistance units affiliated with the Iranian Resistance inside Iran, as well as the sustained popular uprisings across the country with slogans such as “Down with the dictators, down with Khamenei” and “Down with the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Supreme Leader.”

This is evident today in the support of thousands of parliamentarians and dignitaries around the world for these brave resistance units and their popular protests against the regime, their endorsement of Mrs. Rajavi’s ten-point plan for Iran’s future, and their recognition of the NCRI as the democratic alternative to the regime.

Three factors explain this success. First, the PMOI’s embrace of the leadership of women stands in direct contrast to the misogynist regime that has relegated women to second-class citizens both in law and in practice. This means that the PMOI effectively provides a platform for Iranian women to lead the resistance and to shape the future of Iran.  The fact that the PMOI is led by women makes it unique not only in Iran but also throughout the Middle East. This is particularly significant given that women and girls constitute over half of Iran’s population and by the fact that they are at the forefront of the popular protests and uprisings.

The second factor is the selflessness and personal sacrifices of the PMOI in continuing the fight against the regime and in keeping alive the hope for a better future.

The third factor is the PMOI’s steadfast and uncompromising commitment to democratic regime change and, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, to form a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

As the PMOI and NCRI gain international recognition and expand resistance units in Iran, the regime becomes more isolated and increasingly embroiled in intense internal fighting. As Mrs. Rajavi secures one victory after another in the justice-seeking campaign to hold the regime and its leaders accountable for their crimes against the Iranian people and their crimes against humanity, the regime desperately tries to escalate regional conflicts to distract international attention from the alarming number of executions, mass arrests of protesters, and violent crackdowns intended to prevent future uprisings.

The death of the regime’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, the ‘Butcher of Tehran’ and mass murderer of the Iranian people, dealt a strategic blow to the regime and its Supreme Leader, Khamenei.

Today, a free and democratic Iran is very much within reach. The question is not if, but when the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance will overthrow the regime and establish a free, democratic, secular republic in Iran. That is why the regime’s lobbyists and proponents of the failed appeasement policy parrot the regime’s line that there is no viable alternative and no real opposition to the current regime. Nothing could be further from the truth, and the West must reject this falsehood.

Today, we rejoice in celebrating our successes. We honour the martyrs of the PMOI and the Iranian people who made these victories possible. We also redouble our commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder with the PMOI and the Iranian people in their fight for a free, democratic, and secular Iran.