Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Washington, D.C., October 29, 2021—Iranian expats gathered in a conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to echo the desires of millions of people who want to live in freedom in Iran. The conference, titled, “2021 Free Iran Summit: Holding Ebrahim Raisi Accountable for Crimes Against Humanity Genocide, Regional Meddling & Nuclear Defiance,” featured speeches from Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President of the United States, and other distinguished American politicians.
2021 Free Iran Summit
Holding #Iran regime president Ebrahim Raisi accountable for crimes against humanity#ProsecuteRaisiNOW
The international community needs to focus on the mullahs' genocide, regional meddling and nuclear defiance.https://t.co/axod7HwQ6a
— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 28, 2021
In her keynote speech, Mrs. Rajavi stressed that more than any other time, the Iranian people are ready for regime change and they will eventually overthrow the tyranny of the mullahs with the help of their Resistance movement.
“It is time for the international community to side with the people of Iran and their desire for change. The Iranian people have clearly demonstrated their demands and their resolve for change. They reject the regime in its entirety,” she said. “The people of Iran expect governments, including the U.S. and the European governments, to revise their policy on Iran and side with the Iranian people.”
Madam Rajavi warned about the consequences of ignoring the regime’s continued nuclear standoff.
“The time has come to re-impose all of the UN Security Council resolutions suspended in 2015. The mullahs are using the nuclear talks to silence the international community about the worsening human rights situation in Iran and its terrorism and meddling in the region,” she said. “Doing business with the regime will only fill the pocket of the IRGC and reinforce the suppressive organs and agencies in charge of the export of terrorism.”
The Iranian opposition president also called for the prosecution of the Iranian regime’s criminal president Ebrahim Raisi.
“The people of Iran expect the international community to prosecute Ebrahim Raisi for genocide and crime against humanity in an international court. He is a mass murderer. He must be prosecuted now and not later,” she said.
Maryam Rajavi: Raisi must be prosecuted now and not later
Message to the #FreeIran Summit in Washington, D.C.#ProsecuteRaisiNowhttps://t.co/ZgsHXL24Ac pic.twitter.com/QHbtcKbyu9— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 28, 2021
Vice President Pence, who was attending the Free Iran Summit for the first time, emphasized that the cause freedom in Iran is widely supported in the United States.
“I can say with certainty that the American people support your goal of establishing a secular, democratic, non-nuclear Iranian republic that derives its just powers from the consent of the governed,” he said.
Mr. Pence also underlined the need to hold the regime and its criminal president to account.
“The recent selection of Ebrahim Raisi to serve as Iran’s president is a sign of the regime’s growing desperation. 30 years ago, Raisi was in charge of the Ayatollah’s death squads. He is a brutal mass murderer responsible for the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. His selection as president is intended to quash internal dissent and intimidate the people of Iran into remaining silent,” he said. “Today, we join you in pledging that his crimes must not go unpunished. Ebrahim Raisi must be removed from office by the people of Iran – and he must be prosecuted for crimes against humanity and genocide.”
Mr. Pence praised the role of the Iranian Resistance and the Iranian Resistance units for playing a leading role in protests across Iran.
“On both political parties, the American people stand unequivocally on the side of the Iranian people and their Resistance,” he said, adding that the Iranian Resistance is the true alternative to the mullahs’ dictatorship.
“One of the biggest lies the ruling regime has sold the world is that there is no alternative to the status quo. But there is an alternative – a well-organized, fully prepared, perfectly qualified and popularly supported alternative called the MEK,” Pence said. “The MEK is committed to democracy, human rights, and freedom for every citizen of Iran and is led by an extraordinary woman: Mrs. Rajavi is an inspiration to the world. Her Ten Point Plan for the future of Iran will ensure freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the freedom for every Iranian to choose their elected leaders.”
“All free nations of the world must continue to support the Iranian people in their calls for freedom and demand that Iran’s leaders cease their dangerous and destabilizing actions at home and abroad,” Pence said. “We stand with the proud people of Iran because it is right, and because the regime in Tehran threatens the peace and security of the world.”
.@Mike_Pence
"We confronted the regime’s malign activity across the region. And we didn’t hesitate to take decisive actions to stop the world’s most dangerous terrorist – the head of the Quds Force. Qassem Soleimani is gone."#Iran#ProsecuteRaisiNOWhttps://t.co/SI3nMwCIVE— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 28, 2021
“The greatest threat that the United States faces today is from the regime in Tehran. It has enabled aggression and subversion in the region, and is bringing untold suffering and death to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and of course in Iran,” Senator Joe Lieberman, US Vice President candidate (2000), said at the conference.
Senator Lieberman stressed the need to prosecute Raisi and said, “Instead of occupying the office of the president of a great country like Iran, Raisi should be arrested, taken to The Hague, and put on trial for crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide. How can anyone in the leadership of our closest allies and the Biden administration believe that an effective agreement on nuclear weapons or anything else can be achieved with this regime? It is a delusion.”
Senator Lieberman called for greater support for the Iranian people in their desire for regime change. “The world can bring about the end of the regime by supporting the people of Iran and here in Washington we can rebuild if the administration will take the lead that historically bipartisan American policy toward Iran,” he said.
Sen. Joe Lieberman
How can anyone think an effective agreement can be achieved with this regime with its brutal record and criminal/corrupt history? It is not possible. It is a dangerous delusion.#Iran#ProsecuteRaisiNOWhttps://t.co/QOn4gbyrJK— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) October 28, 2021
Michael Mukasey, 81st U.S. Attorney General, brought attention to the regime’s continued disregard for international peace and security, especially under Raisi.
“Since [Raisi] took office, we've witnessed the escalation of threats of missile launches, attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles and other instruments of destruction, and then approach the negotiations under the ill-fated JCPOA that can only be described as toying with the concept of a nuclear free Iran, and simply running the clock while work proceeds toward enriching uranium at ever higher levels, and using ever more advanced centrifuges to speed the process,” he said.
Judge Mukasey stressed the need to hold every regime official to account for their crimes. “The world, and in particular our own government, should not be paralyzed by the variety and enormity of the acts the mullahs have committed. The response should be unrelenting pressure and open willingness to deal with individual members of the regime, including Raisi himself, in whatever form becomes available,” he said. “The only way to end the regime’s conduct is to end the regime itself.”
Former US Attorney General Judge Michael Mukasey: The world, & the US, shouldn't be paralyzed by the variety & enormity of the acts the mullahs have committed. The only way to end the regime’s conduct is to end the regime itself.#ProsecuteRaisiNOW #Iranhttps://t.co/5eeKSxk3Ix
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 28, 2021
“The leadership in Tehran has gone from bad to selecting a war criminal, a leader of a genocide, as president. They've gone from talking about using nuclear power using for peaceful purposes to enrichment that can mean nothing but the development of an atomic bomb,” Robert Torricelli, U.S. Senator (1997-2003), said at the conference.
Senator Torricelli also praised the role of the Iranian Resistance and said, “There is one organization that has never compromised with terror, never sat at a table and divided up your freedoms, never participated in genocide, isn't responsible for your poverty. There's one and that one organization has the means, the leadership, the focus, the international support to rejoin the international community. That organization is the MEK, and Madam Rajavi is its leader.”
General James Conway, 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps, emphasized the need to recognize the regime for what it is. “Iran now has a criminal for a president. Raisi has the blood of 30,000 of your countrymen on his hands. He was one of four members of that infamous Death Commission that oversaw 30,000 executions in 1988,” he said. “If we or a European nation start to deal with this person, all we will do is strengthen that regime.”
