On Saturday 13 july 2019, a large crowd gathered in Ashraf 3, Albania, home to Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), to hold the annual Free Iran rally of the Iranian resistance. The event was the fourth installment in a series of events held at Ashraf 3. MP Bob Blackman of British Parliamen gave a speech in this gathering.
MP Bob Blackman :Madame Rajavi, honorable colleagues, dear Ashrafis, ladies and gentlemen, salaam to you all. Dear friends, we are now approaching the time when freedom will be restored to Iran. We’ve seen since last year the people of Iran defying the regime’s crackdown to rise up against the theocracy across Iran as a first step towards freedom. Your Iranian opposition, you the PMOI, are clearly behind these ongoing protests that continue to grow.
A spokesman for the regime’s judiciary recently admitted this by saying, “Nowadays, some people chant against the judiciary and the authorities. Be careful. God forbid a PMOI member might come to the people’s safety and people will follow him. We must be careful not to be abused by the PMOI.” That is why the regime is trying to create an international crisis because the ongoing protests against the regime are undermining its very survival.
At the center of this stands the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. I welcome the United States’ decision to designate the entire IRGC as a terrorist organization and to impose sanctions on the Supreme Leader and his office. I sincerely hope that the new United Kingdom government coming in a few days short time will join our American allies in these efforts. In April, I tabled the motion in Parliament to proscribe the IRGC and the Supreme Leader and all parts of the regime. I’m pleased to say this motion was supported by members of Parliament on all sides of the chamber and from all political parties.
Friends, I am also one of the plaintiffs in the case against the so-called Iranian diplomats who is awaiting prosecution in Belgium for attempting to bomb last year’s gathering in Paris. We were there as a large British delegation meeting with you all, and the UK and our European allies must now move to proscribe the whole of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry as a foreign terrorist organization.
Friends, the mullahs only understand the language of firmness. The international community, especially in the West, must make it clear to the regime officials that we in the Free World stand with the people of Iran and the resistance movement, the NCRI, in their efforts to bring freedom, democracy, human rights, to their country, Iran.
I don’t believe that the theocracy has a future in Iran. Iran is destined to a better future, stability, and prosperity because it has a democratic alternative in the NCRI, a strong, inspiriting leader in Maryam Rajavi, and a viable plan in her democratic platform for the future of Iran. We will support you and we will be with you on the day when we can celebrate a new beginning for Iran. Friends, last year we met in Paris. This year we meet in Ashraf. Let us resolve that next year we will meet in Tehran in a free Iran.
