President of clerical regime Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Paris was met with a wave of protests by Iranians, French political figures, human rights organizations and activists, and French citizens. Thursday at noon, in a large demonstration in Paris (Place Denfert-Rochereau) protestors called on the French officials to chastise Rouhani for the dire situation of human rights in Iran, the policy of export of terrorism and fundamentalism, and the destructive conflicts in the region, especially for buttressing the criminal President of Syria Bashar al-Assad.
A number of French and European political figures, as well as delegations representing the peoples of Syria and Yemen, took part in the demonstration. They offered speeches and marched with the demonstrators to show their solidarity with the goals of this protest.
Demonstrators who had gathered at Place Denfert-Rochereau expressed their loath regarding the presence of this demagogic and criminal mullah in the land of human rights and asylum chanting slogans such as “Rouhani is a criminal and enemy of Iranians”, “Down with the principle of velayat-e faqih; long live the National Liberation Army”, “Criminal Rouhani, your downfall will come”, “With thousands of executions, down with Rouhani”, “The cry of every prisoner is: down with Rouhani” and “Shame on these deal, contracts, and appeasement”.
In this massive demonstration Sid Ahmad Ghozali, former Algerian Prime Minister; Gilbert Mitterrand, President of France Libertés Foundation and son of the late French President Francois Mitterrand; Senator Jean-Pierre Michel; Giulio Maria Terzi, former Italian Foreign Minister; Alejo Vidal-Quadras, President of the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) and former Vice-President of the European Parliament; José Bové, Member of the European Parliament from France; Rama Yade, former French Secretary of State for Human Rights; Henri Leclerc, prominent French lawyer and jurist; Dominique Lefevbre, member of French National Assembly; Jean- François Legaret and Jacques Boutault, Mayors of 1st and 2nd districts of Paris; Struan Stevenson, President of European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA); Michel Kilo, member of Syrian opposition; and Marzieh Babakhani, member of PMOI/MEK Central Council, were among the speakers. Gérard Lauton read out parts of a letter from leading French unions to the French President and Foreign Minister in protest to Rouhani’s trip.
Speakers emphasized that Rouhani has always been among the highest officials and staunchest defenders of the velayat-e faqih system all along and in the past 37 years has been involved in the suppression of the Iranian people, massacre of Iranian dissidents in camps Ashraf and Liberty, and the slaughter of people in the region, particularly in Syria and Iraq, and a supporter of fundamentalists. They stressed that turning a blind eye on the violation of liberties in Iran for the sake of expansion of economic relations and rapprochement with this regime at the expense of the Iranian people and Resistance is not only immoral and worthy of condemnation, but a factor that exacerbates insecurity and conflict in the region and the world.
Speakers expressed their support for residents of Camp Liberty and stressed the need to secure their wellbeing and security. They also emphasized that the Iranian regime with a behavior that has no respect for international norms can never be a reliable party in the battle to uproot the ghastly phenomenon of fundamentalism under the banner of Islam in the Near East and the Middle East. They added that a free and democratic Iran is a fundamental necessity to the stability in the region.
In the final statement of the demonstration, protestors voiced their support for the Iranian Resistance and in particular the 10-point platform of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, for the establishment of a republic based on respect for human rights, separation of religion and state, gender equality, and peaceful co-existence. They emphasized that the fundamentalists ruling Iran dubbed by Iranian people as the Godfather of ISIS are the supporters and sponsors of Islamic fundamentalism in our world.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 28, 2016