On the brink of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual session, an online international summit, entitled “Trans-Atlantic Summit on Iran Policy, Time to Hold the Iranian Regime Accountable,” was held September 18. The Summit brought together Iranians in various countries around the world from 10,000 locations. Mr. Ted Yoho, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, joined the Summit.
Among the personalities who addressed the summit were 30 bipartisan U.S. lawmakers from the House and the Senate. Personalities including:
Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Roy Blunt, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Bob Menendez, and dignitaries like Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor, General James Jones, National Security Advisor to President Obama (2009-2010), Newt Gingrich, 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Joseph Lieberman, former U.S. Senator, as well as a delegation of U.K. lawmakers, and Ambassador Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the keynote speaker of the summit
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI was the keynote speaker of the summit. She paid tribute to Navid Afkari, a rebellious national hero recently executed by the regime. Mrs. Rajavi said: “Faced with executions and massacres, the people of Iran urge the U.N. and the U.N. Security Council, in particular, to restore snapback sanctions stipulated in the six U.N. resolutions against the clerical regime in Iran.”
She continued,”Otherwise, Khamenei will continue to ravage the nation as his regime’s survival depends on murder and suppression. If Khamenei were to stop executions, he would lose control of the situation, and uprisings simmering in the depths of Iranian society would erupt and overthrow the mullahs’ religious fascism.”
At the summit, speakers demanded justice for over 30,000 MEK and other activists, political prisoners massacred in 1988. As a result they urged an end to the appeasement policy and requested those who ordered and carried out this great crime, who currently occupy high positions in the regime, to be brought to justice.
Brad Schneider, member of the U.S. House of Representatives joined to the summit. In his remarks, Mr. Schneider said, “In recent protests against the government over the past 18 months, as many as 1500 protesters have reportedly been killed for their activism.”
Brad Schneider, member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Human rights is close to my heart and an essential issue in our global community. Your activism and engagement on the issue is critical as our democracies hold the Iranian government accountable for its egregious human rights record.
For as long as I’ve been in Congress, I’ve advocated for the U.S. government to hold Iran accountable for its abysmal human rights record and its treatment of political opposition. In recent protests against the government over the past 18 months, as many as 1500 protesters have reportedly been killed for their activism.
These most recent actions are part of a decades-long history of the Iranian regime’s abuse of its own people, as your organization knows all too well. It is incredibly important that we memorialize the thousands of Iranians who lost their lives in the 1988 massacre of political dissidents, and I commend you for the work bringing a voice to those who have lost their lives. The only crime committed by those lost Iranians, men and women, was their bravery in opposing the government and believing in a system beyond the repressive regime. The Iranian people deserve our support in recognizing the 1988 massacre and other tragedies of the past and their voices deserve to be heard today, as the Iranian people continue to voice their opposition to the Iranian regime.
The United States must always stand with people around the world exercising their political rights, and we must always play a leadership role in holding the Iranian regime accountable for its misdeeds abroad and against their own people.
Thank you for the awareness you bring to the 1988 massacre and for lending a voice to the voiceless. I stand with you.
