Excerpts of the speech of Tom Ridge, Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security, at the Free Iran 2022, is as follows:
Dear Madame Rajavi and freedom fighters at Ashraf-3 and distinguished and honorable guests, I wish I could be there in person today, but I join you in spirit. I have attended the annual summit of the Iranian resistance for a dozen years.
Every year I found that this gathering symbolizes your steadfast stand for democracy and freedom in your nation and your concerted opposition to the religious dictatorship. This dictatorship is a threat to your people, as well as to the region and the balance of the world. I have met with many of you individually and talked with you. I have learned of your journey and your dreams and your love of country and your fellow citizens.
You have all sacrificed so much. You’ve worked so hard and lost so much. But in all of this, what is so inspiring is your eternally positive outlook, your unflinching resolve. And I hope you inspire in others. I hope that represents your determination to bring fundamental change in a democratic republic to your country.
Your resistance grows in strength, day by day. There is the rising tide of protests and impact of opposition actions by MEK resistance units in Iran that encourage people to voice their opposition to the regime and shatters the regime’s air of invincibility and intimidation.
The regime today symbolizes a very weak theocracy. It has no solutions but to suppress its people, especially women. It is at the height of its internal political and social isolation. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei engineered Ebrahim Raisi‘s presidency in the false hope that his brutality could stem the tide of protest.
The exact opposite has happened. Raisi has the blood of thousands of political prisoners on his hands. He sat on the infamous Death Commission in Tehran when 30,000 political prisoners were executed in 1988 based on a fatwa by Khomeini. He is not a head of state. He is an outright criminal who should be prosecuted for committing crimes against humanity and genocide.
Externally, the regime cannot find the capacity to agree, even, to a watered down nuclear deal that is on the table. It has pushed the talks to a dead end and put itself into a corner, isolated on the world stage. It is a threat to world security as it is.
Imagine if it was armed with nuclear weapons as well. It has continued to pour billions of dollars into its ballistic missile and drone production program and in funding proxy conflicts in the region while denying Iranians necessary services and essential goods. The time has come for the world community to heed and endorse the Iranian people and resistance’s call for this regime’s overthrow.
The democratic alternative to this regime is the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), and the MEK, which shares our democratic values for a free society based on universal human rights and political legitimacy.
Values that are based on popular suffrage and rule of law, gender equality and the separation of religion and state. The popular chant on the streets is death to the oppressor, whether it be Khamenei or the shah. The Iranian people have set their sights to the future, not the present or the past. For them, the Mullahs’ 40 year religious tyranny is a continuation of half a century of military dictatorship of the shah and his father.
They may differ in form, but in practice they are exactly the same. There is organized opposition both inside Iran in the form of MEK’s Resistance Units and outside in the form of the NCRI which is the most enduring opposition coalition in the history of Iran.
We reject appeasement, the last instance of which was a shameful so-called treaty proposed by Belgium with the Iranian regime. This Belgian proposal will allow the regime’s terrorists who targeted this very gathering in 2018 to escape justice. Last week, a court in Sweden sentenced an Iranian prison official to life imprisonment for his role in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, 30,000 mostly affiliated with the MEK.
Ebrahim Raisi was a member of the death commission that ordered the execution. It is time that he and supreme leader Khamenei be prosecuted for their role in that crime against humanity.
I salute the Resistance Units in Iran that with great sacrifice and a risk to themselves and their families rise up to pave the way for voicing protests to this regime. And despite mass arrests, their actions have grown in depth and breadth. They inspire others to do the same.
In effect, they act as the engine for change. Their resistance will guarantee liberty with the downfall of this regime. Thank you, Madame Rajavi, for your visionary leadership and your steadfastness in this noble struggle.
And thank you MEK for your fight and for your resolve. I’m certain that you will win. And Massoud Rajavi has said so eloquently, rebels will win victory. I look forward to being with you on the day we’ll be celebrating together in Tehran. God bless you.
