Response to European Parliament delegation to visit Iran on October 27, 2012
(Please scroll down for the letter in English)
An Open Letter to European Parliament - 2012 - Urgent, need your signature asap, please read
به امضای شما نیاز فوری است، لطفا بخوانید
قابل توجه ایرانیان مبارز و آزادیخواه:
اخیرا پارلمان اروپا تصمیم به اعزام یک تیم نمایندگان متشکل از ۱۵ نفر از اعضای پارلمان خود به ایران را دارد. این تیم قرار است که در ۲۷ اکتبر ۲۰۱۲ وارد ایران شود و تا ۲ نوامبر در ایران با نمایندگان مجلس و رهبران رژیم گفتگو داشته باشند. در رأس کسانی که با آنها در ایران گفگو خواند داشت، علی اکبر رفسنجانی،علی لاریجانی، صادق لاریجانی، کاظم جلالی، و علادین بروجردی است. رییس کمیته اعزامی این بازدید را یک پل نو برای تجدید روابط ایران و اروپا قلمداد کرده است. این کار پارلمان اروپا جزء فراهم کردن مشروعیت برای رژیم جهت حفظ منافع شان و پایمال کردن خون های ریخته شده جوانان مبارز ایرانی پیام دیگری را در بر ندارد. این اولین بار نیست که پارلمان اروپا چنین تصمیمی را اتخاذ میکند، پارسال نیز چنین قصدی را داشتند، ولی ما به کمک ایران دوستان و بسیار دیگر از مبارزان با ارسال نامه و جمع آوری امضا و ابراز اعتراضات خود توانستیم که در آخرین دقیقه جلوی اینکار را بگیریم. امیدواریم که امسال هم بتوانیم در متوقف کردن این پروسه ضد انسانی پیروز بیرون آییم. برای همین منظور من نامه ای را خطاب به پارلمان اروپا تنظیم کردم که پیوست است، این نامه از پارلمان اروپا میخواهد که سفر نمایندگان اروپا به ایران را لغو نماید و بجای آنکه با رژیم جنایتکار پیوند دوستی بنا کنند به ایرانیان مبارز امید داشته باشند و به مبارزات آزادی خواهی شان کمک کنند. آنهایی که دل در گروی وطن دارند، نام کامل (حقیقی و یا مستعار)، شغل (حرفه و یا فعالیت سیاسی و یا اجتمایی)، و کشور خود را برای این جانب ایمیل نمایند تا به لیست امضا کنندگان این نامه اضافه شوند. این نامه به زبان انگلیسی نوشته شده است.
mansrastani@yahoo.com
or
mansurrastani@gmail.com
مثال:
کامبیز پارسی، فعال حقوق بشر، سوئد
ایرج ایرانی، مهندس برق، کانادا
پری آزاده، ام.دی.، پزشک اطفال ، فرانسه
فکر میکنم مثال ها باندازه کافی روشن هستند. اگر میتوانید مشخصات خود را بزبان انگلیسی بنویسید، در غیر اینصورت من آنها را به انگلیسی برگردان خواهم کرد. این نامه در روز یکشنبه اکتبر ۲۱ ساعت ۶ بعد از ظهر بوقت غرب امریکا به نمایندگان اعزامی پارلمان اروپا و پرزیدنت پارلمان اروپا و بعضی از اعضای آن بصورت الکترونیک ارسال خواهد شد. این زمان از این نظرکه چون تیم اعزامی پارلمان در تاریخ ۲۳ اکتبر جلسه دارد انتخاب شده است، تا زمان کافی برای مطالعه و تصمیم گیری روی درخواست ما را داشته باشند. مجددا برای ارسال نام و مشخصات خود به تاریخ ذکر شده توجه داشته باشد که موجب سپاس است. سعی خواهد شد که ترجمه فارسی این نامه را درهفته آینده بنظر ایران دوستان برسانم.
منصور راستانی
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Dear fellow Iranians:
Once again a delegation from European Parliament is planning to go to Iran to talk to the members of Iranian regime.
They plan to enter Iran on October 27, 2012 and stay there until November 2nd . The delegation consists of 15 members, some of the IRI leaders they will talk to are, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali Larijani, Sadegh Larijani, Kazem Jalali, and alaeddin Boroujerdi.
The Chair of the delegation has called the visit a bridge building exercise for a new relation. This trip will provide legitimacy and publicity for the regime and will come as a huge disappointment to the tens of thousands of courageous Iranian citizens who have repeatedly risked their lives to protest against the oppression of the mullahs.
This is not the first time that European Parliament has planned for delegation’s trip to Iran, last year we had similar situation, in which with the help of our fellow Iranians and expressing our objections, the EP decided to call off the trip in the last minute. It is hoped that we could do the same this year and be able to stop their tip on time.
For this purpose, I have put together a letter, which is addressed to the members of EP delegation. This letter asks EP to stop delegation’s trip and rather to put their hope on Iranian people. Those who still are in love with Iran, and want to sign the letter, should email me (manrastani@yahoo.com, or mansurrastani@gmail.com) their name (real or alias), their profession, and the country they live in, refer to example below.
Example:
David Johnson, Human Rights Activist, France
Nader Parsi, Ph.D., University Faculty, USA
Nasrin Irani, Electronic Engineer, Britain
The letter will be send electronically to EP delegation and EP president on October 21, 2012, at 6 pm pacific time, so that the members of EP could discuss it during their meeting on October 23, 2012.
Thank you
Mansur Rastani
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10, 21, 2012
European Parliament - The Iran Delegation,
Tarja Cronberg (Chair), Potito Salatto (Vice Chair 1), Comelia Ernst (Vice Chair 2),
Members:
Alexander Alvaro, Sergio Caetano Cofferati , Isabelle Durant, Peter Jahr, Dan Jorgensen, Marit Paulsen, Oreste Rossi, Oreste Rossi, Marco Scurria, Boguslaw Sonik, Ewald Stadler, Kathleen Van Brempt, Geoffrey Van Orden, Josef Weidenholzer, Zalewski Pawel, and
Substitute Members:
George Cutas, Dimitrios Droutsas, Martin Ehrenhauser, Christofer Jellner, Philippe Juvin, Lena Kolarska, Barbara Lochbihler, Antonyia Parvanova, Pavel Poc, Marieje Schaake, Alda Sousa, Salvatore Tatarella, Emilie, Turunen, Niki Tzavel, Marita Ulvskog, Sabine Verhyen
Dear Madam Chair,
Once again the oppressed Iranian people were shocked to hear an absurd report from European Parliament in regard to embarking on an official visit of their lawmakers to Iran. The question on every Iranian mind is: “How can they even think of going to Tehran at this stage of time?” It seems that there is a sever discord between European Parliament and European Union proceedings when it comes to Iran policy. On 15 October 2012, EU member States have imposed new sanctions on Iran for its reckless behavior that endangers global security, a dramatic reminder that relations with Iran cannot be business as usual. These punitive steps are meant to persuade Iran to engage constructively by addressing the concerns of the International community. However the trip of EP delegation while basically undermines such EU’s efforts and consequently results in the detraction from their achievement of broader objectives, it would also send incongruous messages to Tehran, making the regime to callously exploit the visit for propaganda purposes. It would be paradoxical and the European Parliament should not play into the hands of Iranian regime.
Madam Chair, The report states that the visit will provide the opportunity for dialogue between the two delegations and should be regarded as a bridge building exercise. Building bridge with a regime that has no legitimacy among its own people! After more than 3 decades, hasn’t EP learned enough yet about the conduct of the Iranian regime? The international community, including U.S., EU, UN Security Council, which has long been monitoring the situation in Iran after holding numerous meetings for diplomatic negotiations with the regime, trying carrot-and-stick policies in their conciliations, and issuing countless punitive resolutions, have reached a consensus on the following concerns regarding the behavior of the Iran’s clerical government, that the regime:
1. Is pursuing a military nuclear program,
2. Supports terrorists across the globe,
3. Intervenes in the internal affairs of its neighbors,
4. Undermines any activities for the peace movement in the region,
5. Infringes upon the freedom and human rights of its own people,
6. Disregard the right of the Iranian people to chart their own future through democratic means.
The European Parliament should know that the theocratic regime of Tehran will not change its strategy. It will neither change its support of terrorism, nor its domestic policy of violation of human rights. The Clerical Government will continue its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and handle them irresponsibly. It will continue to provide political, financial and logistical support to its proxy terror groups across the globe like Lebanon through Hezbollah in the Middle East, and in the Palestinian territories. Iranian regime is also helping Syrian government in its crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The visit of EP delegates to Iran would only provide and publicize legitimacy for the regime’s crimes and its NPT violation, and its terrorist act, and its violation of human rights.
The future of Iran will be decided by the people, especially the younger generation which wants to replace the theocratic regime with a secular democratic one at any price. The European Parliament should know that in the very near future it is going to deal with the people and not a minority of self-serving clerics and for that reason EP should exercise building bridge with the oppressed people of Iran and not the elements of the regime.
Madam Chair, The report further states that the EP delegates plan to discuss with Iranian leaders several issues, including human rights, nuclear negotiations, and drug trafficking. It has been consistently proven that the Islamic government of Iran is responsible for the worst human rights record in the world per capita; there are no other ‘countries’ that can rival the Iranian regime on this basis. The Islamic government in Iran is run and carried on by imposing terror, violence, and fear among its public. The regime has fortified its hold on power by resorting to arbitrary arrest, detention, rape, torture, and extrajudicial executions. The “alarming” rise in Iran’s extrajudicial execution rate has underscored the warning sign of mass atrocities in the country, a clear indication of regime’s ongoing silent genocides of political, social, ethnic, and religious groups. Other restrictions in the Islamic regime of Iran which violate international human rights norms include execution of offenders under 18 years of age, restrictions on freedom of speech, and the press, and restrictions on freedom of religion and gender quality. For more than 3 decades the state of human rights in the Islamic regime of Iran has been criticized both by Iranians and international human right activists, writers, and NGOs. The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Commission have condemned prior and ongoing abuses in Iran in published critiques and several resolutions. However the government has disregarded all the critics and recommendations. On 13 October 2005, the European Parliament voted to adopt a resolution condemning the Islamic government's disregard of the human rights of its citizens. Later that year, Iran's government announced it would suspend dialogue with the European Union concerning human rights in Iran. Iran has never allowed independent bodies to look into its human rights record. In March 2011, former foreign minister of Republic of Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed was assigned by the UN Human Rights Council as its Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran. Despite repeated requests, he never received a visa to Iran. The Iranian regime has made it clear on numerous occasions that they do not care for dialogue with the West. No self-respecting Western officials should offer any legitimacy to the Iranian regime which defiantly ignores the will of the international community.
Madam Chair, Years, if not decades, of diplomacy on deterring Iran’s nuclear program has led nowhere, consequently Iran blusters, threatens, and continues to work furiously on obtaining nuclear weapons, each passing day this potentially antagonistic regime is getting closer to test its first atomic bomb. The hardliners and fanatic leaders of this regime can easily promote the proliferation of dirty nuclear bombs and make them available in the hands of their terrorist proxies across the world. Just few days ago, the Institute for Science & International Security (ISIS) reported that the latest imagery from the Parchin military complex in Iran, suspected to have housed nuclear weapons development related tests, shows a further phase of activity. The IAEA is legally justified to ask Iran for access to this site in order to fulfill its mandate. The question for the IAEA’s Director General and the Board of Governors is: what should now be done about Iran’s continued refusal of a legitimate request for access? A nuclear-armed Iran will seek regional dominance and be a threat to peace and stability in the Middle East and to the world. Only adopting a policy, which leads to a collapse of the power structure of this terrorist regime, would put an end to its escalating nuclear threat.
Madam Chair, Reports indicate that for several years, Iran, particularly through Revolutionary Guard, has been taking advantage of the developed financial and commercial infrastructure in the Arab Gulf states for money laundering operations and drug trafficking to overcome the economic and financial difficulties on the home front as a result of the international sanctions which have been imposed on Tehran. Other reports state that Revolutionary Guard is running Iran drug trade. Based on remark by former regime officials, members of Iran’s RGC have seized control of drug trafficking throughout the Islamic regime, using multi-billion-dollar to establish links with a global crime network and further its goal of undermining the West. The US Government has stated that Revolutionary Guards commander, helps Afghan smugglers to traffic narcotics into Iran for export abroad. Through the process of drug trafficking, Iran helps provide for its proxies and concurrently builds up a powerful network of unlikely associates to gain influence and violent effect across Europe and the Americas. Iran’s drug policy is just a matter of hypocrisy, outside the IRGC monopoly, those caught dealing drugs have been dealt with ruthlessly by the regime, it is reported that in several cities there have been mass, secret executions to wipe out chronic drug problems. Those killed mostly have come from poor rural backgrounds. Furthermore, trumped-up drugs charges have also been used to execute political prisoners and opposition supporters. Labeling political prisoners, or executed individuals as drug traffickers or rapper is tactic of Islamic Regime and the world is well aware of it. Last year, they hanged a Dutch woman on trumped up charges of involvement in drug smuggling, when in fact she had been originally arrested for participating in a political protest. The Dutch government closed its embassy and withdrew its ambassador in protest. Iran’s publicly-declared commitment to fighting the war against drugs is both a smokescreen and a charade. Getting help from such hypocrite regime in combating trafficking and heroin production would only perceive as carrying water in a sieve.
Madam Chair, Among the most disturbing meetings on the draft schedule for the Europeans is a visiting session with some of the regime’s leaders including:
1. Sadegh Larijani, Iranian Chief Justice, who was sanctioned by the EU in March for his role in human rights violations.
2. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran. An Argentinian judge issued an arrest warrant for Rafsanjani, in 2006, for his role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. He is the one who said: “The use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything; however it would only harm the Islamic world.” He added: "It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality."
3. Kazem Jalali, Chairman of the Friendship Group between the Majlis and the European Parliament, is said to “boast “on his website of his membership of the Bassidj paramilitary force and IRGC, which is on the EU and US terrorist list. In a recent speech he praised the victory of Hezbollah over the "Zionist regime" in the 33-day war in Lebanon, claiming it to be one of Iran's "greatest achievements".
4. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the Chairman for the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran. In October 2011, he was arrested for embezzlement and bank fraud, and corruption charges, he was released after 24 hours by mediation from Ali Larijani. However, he has been pressured to resign because of the controversy, but has been reconfirmed in his post for the 9th Majlis. In November 2011 he asked the foreign ministry “to expel the British ambassador from the country” in retaliation for newly imposed sanctions.
Madam Chair, Based on Article 6 and 11, of the EU Treaty, EP delegations shall maintain and develop Parliament’s international contacts. Accordingly, delegation activities shall contribute to promoting in third countries the values on which the European Union is founded, namely the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. How would you justify contributing such promotions while scheduling to meet the Iranian parliamentary members many of whom are among commanders of the disreputable Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) that have been involved in horrifying human rights abuses, drug trafficking, and act of terrorism across the globe. Iran will only respond to a message of strength. EU governments delivered that message this week, by imposing new sanctions on Iran.
Madam Chair, Instability is growing at a rapid pace inside Iran and the political situation is changing. This trend is aggravated by a worsening economic condition which has brought Iran to the verge of major change. The people of Iran, in their struggle for freedom, have stood against the widespread repression of the regime. There is the need for EU policy towards Iran to express solidarity with all those resisting repression and fighting for basic freedoms and democracy. Rather than setting out a delegation team to Iran, which would give the regime a new blood to revitalize; it would serve Europe and the world community to a great extent to put their hope on Iranian people. The people of Iran are struggling to secure their civil and political rights and advocate for greater public participation in the political process, as well as the respect of human rights, freedoms and the rule of law, which will only be achieved through a regime change toward securing a secular and democratic government based on the principle of human rights.
CC: Martin Schulz (President, Conference of Presients), Joseph Daul, Hannes Swoboda, Guy Verhofstadt, Rebecca Harms, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Marin Callanan, Gabriele Zimmer, Francesco Speroni, Nigel Farage
Respectfully,
Undersigned:
- Mansur Rastani, PhD, University Professor, USA
- Amir Houshmand Momtaz, M.D., Physician, USA
- Shahpour Bahrami, Industrial Manager, USA
- Maryam Moazenazedh, MS in Chemistry, Malaysia
- Sheri Alvandian, Peace and Human Rights Activist, USA
- Fereidoon Farsi, Human Rights Activist & Civil engineer, Belgium
- Amir Ahmadi, Merchant, Iran
- Mohsen Razani, Auto Agent, USA
- Esmaeil Hoshyar, Author, and Comics Writer, & Political Activist, Swiss
- Hooshang Lahooti, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Medical School, Sydney Univ, Australia
- Ardalan Moghaddam Ghadimi, Construction Technician Canada
- Jahanshah Rashidian, Pscychologist, Germany
