‘Your efforts to confront this regime are legitimate’

Peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.

I am honored and thankful once more for inviting me to participate in your annual meeting. It is the forum where the sons of Iran, who have left Iran due to the injustice of the Velayat al-Faqih rule, meet with representatives from many countries of the world who have suffered the terrorism of this government, the largest sponsor of terrorism. This meeting is to remind the world of the crimes of this regime against its citizens, its neighbors and of its threat to regional and global security and stability.

When Khomeini came to power, and after carrying out the executions of opposition activists in prisons, the very people who played a role in the revolution, the same colleague reminded him of the mosquito story and Khomeini’s fear of killing insects while he is now killing human beings after the revolution. Khomeini’s response was that these people are the enemies of Islam. This means that whoever opposed or stood up to Khomeini was an enemy of Islam, a traitor, and death would be their fate.

He wore the robe of “Imam,” but even Imam was not immune from his wrath, as he also conferred other titles on himself like the “Leader” and the “Guide.” As soon as Khomeini arrived in Tehran, he turned against all his Iranian allies who accomplished the revolution. They were suppressed, imprisoned, assassinated or killed. You were the first to be stabbed in the back by Khomeini.

Khomeini promised the Iranians democracy, and the regime today brags about holding elections. What is the meaning of these elections whose candidates cannot enter the race unless they go through the filter of the Vali-e Faqih? These elections are not considered a certificate of good conduct…. The behavior of the regime in Tehran does not make it a democratic system, but a murderous dictatorship. The executions carried out by the butcher regime and the deaths of thousands of Iranian prisoners in 1988 still resonates and will bring an eternal curse on this regime and its leaders. These executions prove that war criminals must be brought to justice by the International Criminal Court….

The first victims of Khomeini and his followers are the Iranian people, who have suffered horrors and are still forced to endure the sick ideas of the system of Velayat-e Faqih, which is in need of continuous crises in order to survive. Consequently, Khomeini’s successor has been keen to establish paramilitary forces and militias in order to use them as armies in capitals dominated by the Revolutionary Guard forces. These include the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and militias in Syria and Iraq. They want to make these militias as subservient as the Revolutionary Guards in order to create tools in the hands of the Vali-e Faqih, to whom the Iranian constitution has granted absolute powers as the successor to Khomeini.

Dear brothers and sisters!

Your efforts to confront this regime are legitimate, and your struggle to rescue all sectors of the Iranian society, including Arabs, Kurds, Belukha, Azeris, and Persians from the oppression of the Velayat-e Faqih rule, as was said by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, is legitimate and an imperative.

Therefore, advance with God’s blessings. May God bless you.

• Turki bin Faisal Al Saud is a statesman and diplomat. A member of the House of Saud, he currently serves as the chairman of King Faisal Foundation’s Center for Research and Islamic Studies. From 1977 to 2001, Prince Faisal was the director general of the Kingdom’s intelligence agency. This excerpt is from remarks to the Free Iran Rally on July 1, 2017. It is translated into English from the original Arabic text.