On July 13, 2019, dignitaries from dozens of countries across the world attended the main event of the Free Iran 2019 international conference. The conference was part of the five-day Free Iran 2019 series of conferences at the main headquarters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Ashraf 3, Albania. Several dignitaries, political and human rights activists delivered speeches, issuing remarks about the struggles of the Iranian people and their resistance movement for freedom in their country.
The following are key remarks by former Foreign Minister of Canada John Baird at the Ashraf 3 conference.
John Baird:
Madame [Maryam] Rajavi, friends, and I consider you all friends, it is a great honor for me to visit Ashraf 3, to meet you personally, to hear firsthand of your struggles, and most importantly to see and to learn and to feel your persistence and your commitment to freedom. You are honestly a tremendous inspiration. Madame [Maryam] Rajavi, I salute your leadership, your courage, and your determination.
In Canada, the government with which I served under Prime Minister Steven Harper, we know this regime in Tehran only too well. We know about their nuclear program. We know about their abysmal and deteriorating human rights record. We know about their moral and material support for terrorism in every corner of the world. We know that you have to combat the regime’s propaganda and the regime’s lies. We know that you have to be strong, and you have not to make endless concessions to tyrants. And most importantly, in Canada, we believe, and we know that the appeasement of the mullahs is an absolute disgrace. We know in Canada, we know that there is no such thing as a moderate fascist.
Friends, it is time to end the tyranny. It is time to end the oppression. It is time to put an end to religious fascism. It is time for justice and accountability. It’s time for freedom. It’s time for the struggle to end. It is time for victory. Friends, it is time for the mullahs to go. Thank you.
