By; PMOI/MEK
June 17, 2018 – Free Iran, the Iranian resistance’s annual convention, plays an important role in achieving the goals of the Iranian opposition.
First and foremost, the rally symbolizes the legitimacy and capacity of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the largest and most-organized Iranian opposition coalition. The gathering defies severe political and logistical constraints and the schemes and machinations of the Iranian regime. Any impartial observer can confirm that an independent opposition movement that can hold such a large gathering of Iranian diaspora will be able to gather a very large base of support once it returns to its own country.
Every year, the Free Iran Gathering explores a wide range of issues that the Iranian opposition faces.
After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the establishment of an Iran-backed government in Baghdad, Tehran’s main goal was to annihilate members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) who were in Camps Ashraf and Liberty, Iraq. The Iranian regime staged several raids and rocket attacks against MEK members in Iraq through its agents and proxies in Iraq.
During these years, the main focus of the Iran Freedom Gathering was the protection and security of MEK members in Ashraf and Liberty.
The presence and participation of prominent political figures in the rally and their subsequent activities prevented the Iranian regime and its agents in Iraq from secretly plotting against the residents of Ashraf and Liberty.
These efforts culminated in the resettlement of MEK members from Iraq to Albania.
Other important feats that the Free Iran Gathering and the international support for the MEK helped accomplish was the delisting of the MEK from the list of foreign terrorist organizations in EU and US, a designation that had been part of the policy of rapprochement toward the Iranian regime.
The Iran Gathering also discusses the Iranian regime’s suppressive measures against the people, imprisonment and execution of political dissidents, plundering of the country’s wealth and its violent intervention in countries of the Middle East region.
An important part of the rally has always been support for the protests of the Iranian people. In 2009, the Free Iran Gathering coincided with nationwide protests in Iran, and it became the biggest opposition rally in support of the uprising of the Iranian people.
After the December 2017/January 2018 protests in Iran, the world witnessed that that the Iranian people want nothing short of regime change.
Therefore, this year’s gathering will be held with a focus on supporting the heroic uprising of the Iranian people and their just demand for freedom.
Following the series of setbacks the Iranian regime has faced in Iran and across the globe, this year’s Free Iran Gathering will be a reminder of the true alternative to the autocratic rule of the mullahs.
Under these circumstances, democratic change in Iran has become inevitable, and this year’s rally will be representative of the Iranian people’s will for the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime and their desire to live in a free and democratic nation based on the separation of church and state.
Everyone can add their voice to this gathering and support the cause of freedom and democracy in Iran.
Go to this website for more information on this year’s convention.
