Press Release by Liberal Group in Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe welcoming Maryam Rajavi, Strasburg

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Liberal Group in Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe welcomes Maryam Rajavi, affirms democratic change in Iran is within reach

This afternoon, Monday, April 10, 2006, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) told Parliamentarians from all European nations at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, that the Resistance under her leadership was determined to bring about democratic change in Iran.

Mrs. Rajavi called for the adoption of a decisive policy by Europe so as to rid the Iranian people and the world from the menace of the religious dictatorship in Iran.

Before addressing the formal session of the ALDE Group, Mrs. Rajavi was received by a dozen Parliamentarians from different parliamentary groups as she arrived at the headquarters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Lord Russell-Johnston, the honorary President of the Liberal Group and former President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; said in his opening remarks, "Mrs. Rajavi and her movement present a genuine democratic alternative to the extremists who rule Iran."

Lord Russel-Johnston added, "The Iranian people have suffered as a result of Western policy to make rapprochement with the Iranian regime. In response to the demand of the Iranian regime, Iran's main opposition movement, the People's Mojahedin was labeled as a terrorist organization. While there is no basis for the allegation against the PMOI, the blacklisting of the organization has also affected the activities of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. We should say it loud and clear, the NCRI is a democratic coalition."

Mrs. Rajavi warned that the mullahs sought to acquire nuclear weapons in order to preserve their regime, had called for the destruction of the United States and wiping Israel off the map, and wanted to install a client state in Iraq.

Mrs. Rajavi added, "The world does not have to choose between the nuclear-armed mullahs and war. There is a third option: democratic change by the Iranian people and their Resistance. This Resistance, by virtue of relying on a vast popular base and an extensive social network, has the capability to bring about change in Iran. But the unjust terror label against the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the pivotal force of the Iranian Resistance, has acted as the biggest obstacle to change."

Mrs. Rajavi offered a ten-point outline of the views of the movement under her leadership for future Iran. NCRI President-elect said that she was committed to a pluralist and secular state based on popular vote, which adheres to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

supports the abolition of death penalty, recognizes the free market, aspires for a nuclear free Iran devoid of weapons of mass destruction and seeks equal relations with the rest of the world.