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.
Following are key remarks by former Minister of Commerce of Finland Kimmo Sasi at the Ashraf 3 conference.
Kimmo Sasi :
Dear friends, We in the Nordic countries, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, feel very strongly for human rights. And that is why there's strong support in our countries to throw away the governments that do not respect human rights, including Iran. And it's very important when you want to have changed there must be an alternative, and Mrs. [Maryam] Rajavi’s 10-point peace plan is the alternative part to new democratic, prosperous Iran.
Dear friends, 40 million Iranians live in poverty today. And the reasons are lack of human rights, lack of the rule of law, but corruption. Iran is one of the most corrupted countries in the world. And financing of terrorism and money laundering. And many people in the Iranian government put money that belongs to the people in their own pocket. And we need sanctions against these people, and we need that that money will be seized and returned to free Iran when that time comes. And these people also mismanaged the Iranian economy, and that's why people are suffering. We see demonstrations in Iran, and that shows that frustration. But we know the history shows, united people will also win dictators. And this Ashraf 3 that is tremendous, shows that you have a strong commitment to have a change in Iran. It's time for the people to take power. We Nordics support your cause, free Iran, success.
