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 By Gérald Papy
La Libre Belgique, 25 octobre - • Opponent of Tehran regime welcomed at the Senate
• An unofficial visit which nonetheless aroused Iran's anger and led to the summoning of Belgium's ambassador
• Mrs. Rajavi seeks the removal of her organization's name from the EU blacklist The wind is blowing in Maryam Rajavi's favor. The President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition of group's opposed to Tehran's rulers, becomes more and more popular as the regime's President Ahmadinejad becomes disreputable. A sign of this is the welcoming she was given on Tuesday at the Belgian Parliament. The very principle of her visit was sensitive. Maryam Rajavi is also the leader of the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MKO), an armed group which appears on the lists of terrorist organizations of the European Union and the United States. This is paradoxical, particularly for the Bush administration which is determined to weaken the Iranian regime. Welcoming the woman who is the symbol of the resistance for some Iranians posed therefore a diplomatic problem. Hervé Goyens, Belgium Ambassador in Tehran, realized this on Sunday when he was summoned by the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The Iranian government expressed all its hostility at the idea that the Belgian Senate rolls out the red carpet for its worst enemy. The idea of the meeting with Maryam Rajavi came from a group of senators led by Patrik Vankrunkelsven , a member of the VLD party which is the party of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. In any case, certain precautionary measures were taken regarding this visit. On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Rudy Huygelen stressed that this meeting was held on the initiative of several lawmakers and was not formal. He stressed that executive branch and the legislative branch were separate and that Senators were free to carry out their initiatives. Besides, Mrs Rajavi had already been welcomed in recent weeks at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. A non-official visit indeed, yet enhanced by the personal welcoming of the Senate’s President, Anne-Marie Lizin. Moreover, Mrs. Lizin had already met the head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran unexpectedly the day before on her way from Paris to Brussels “at the Franco-Belgian border” in a curious coincidence. Besides, it was the first time in several years that Maryam Rajavi had officially left France, after several years of restrictions on her political activities by French judicial authorities. An obsolete argument Following the meeting with several senators and parliamentary deputies from all political factions, the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, satisfied with this triumph over the Iranian government, spoke to the press. She particularly denounced “the appeasement policy of the Europeans” towards the Tehran regime. This policy failed, stressed the Iranian opponent, referring to the acknowledgement by Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, of a failure on the nuclear issue. After months of negotiations with American backing, the European troika (Germany, France, and Great Britain) did not obtain any concessions from the Iranian regime regarding the suspension of uranium enrichment, which can be used potentially for the development of atomic weapons. Maryam Rajavi naturally spoke in favor of the removal of the People’s Mojahedin Organization from the EU terrorist list, while reminding the point that, in particular in the United States, this tag was a political weapon in the face of the Iranian regime at a time when the former reformist President Mohammad Khatami [was in power] and Iran gave positive signals of openness. Considering the fact that this movement has been swept out all power structures in Iran, Maryam Rajavi's remarks did not lack sound reasoning. The opponent also appealed for “weapons, technolical and oil embargos” against the “mullahs’ regime”, hoping that the case of North Korea would encourage the international community to respond in the same way towards Iran.
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