Regime ‘tried and failed to kill the messenger’

OPINION:

It is a pleasure joining you on a virtual basis. Congratulations to Maryam Rajavi on her excellent speeches, and to all those who have attended this wonderful virtual conference. My appreciation to all the organizers and everything that’s taken place. I also think we should express thanks to the leadership of all the political parties in Albania who have given home to the people at Ashraf 3 and provided facilities for PMOI and the NCRI to meet, ensuring that the true voice of the Iranian people is heard loud and clear across the world.

Last year, we had the privilege to join the PMOI members in Ashraf 3 in Albania for the Free Iran rally. In June 2018, I was part of the prominent UK delegation attending the NCRI’s grand gathering in Paris, along with 100,000 people. We know the regime tried to bomb that gathering using an Iranian diplomat who was arrested for providing the would-be terrorists with explosives, but is now awaiting prosecution in Belgium. So, while the regime is unable to stop the NCRI’s message of hope and democratic change from spreading in the Iranian society, it tried and failed to kill the messenger: the NCRI and Madame Rajavi. I’m one of the plaintiffs in the trial against the arrested regime diplomat in Belgium, so I’m encouraged to hear that finally, after a two-year investigation, the first closed door court hearing will start soon.

This is a significant step to bringing the regime to justice for its terrorism in an independent court. There’s no doubt that the Iranian regime will want to escape justice, but we will not allow this to happen. We have evidence to show this regime’s heavy involvement in terrorist activities on European soil and will ensure that this so-called diplomat will be held accountable for the malicious crime he was planning to commit at the order of his boss, Javad Zarif, as well as Khamenei himself.

I hope that the trial in Belgium is just the start for a series of accountability processes against this regime, something the international community has failed to do in the last 40 years. It is also of great importance because it should and will be a turning point in the foreign policy adopted by European governments, vis—vis the Iranian regime so far. So, I also hope my government, the UK government, will soon join our American ally in proscribing the IRGC in its entirety as a terrorist organization, which is the real description of the paramilitary organization that only answers to the supreme leader. In addition, I hope to see Iranian Embassies shut down in all European capitals and the diplomats returned to Iran.

So, I send my regards to everyone participating in this excellent international conference which, I believe, is a world record. I It demonstrates the world backing for the NCRI, the PMOI, and the free Iranian people to return Iran to democracy under President-elect Maryam Rajavi.