MEP, former French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Justice, Home Affairs Michèle Alliot-Marie joined the Online Free Iran Global Summit. In her remarks, Ms. Alliot-Marie expressed her admiration for the courage and determination of the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Maryam Rajavi.

The Iranian opposition coalition NCRI managed to hold this year’s annual gathering virtually on July 17. Given the novel coronavirus pandemic and its restriction, many dignitaries commended the NCRI’s ability and determination for connecting 30,000 locations to Ashraf-3, home to members of the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

Here is the speech of Ms. Alliot-Marie: 

It is a great pleasure for me to see you again and I would like to thank Maryam Rajavi for her expression today, even though the circumstances are a bit peculiar and there is a great distance. I want to tell her publicly, both my admiration and my great confidence.

We have known each other dear Maryam Rajavi, for almost ten years. And for all this period, I see you continue with courage, with determination, whatever the threats, whatever the risks, your fight for freedom, your fight for democracy, your fight for secularism, your fight for women’s rights, and men as well of course. And all this deserves our admiration. You are an important voice in the world and that is important.

Michèle Alliot-Marie

May I also greet those around you. It’s true that there isn’t that great vibe of a number of your meetings, but they are there. It was a real challenge to get us all together today; you did it and I think it’s a great achievement.

And then I would also like to greet my many colleagues or former colleagues, whether they are members of parliament, governments, and personalities who have gathered in this international conference and this non-physical conference.

We all come from very different backgrounds, we are very different countries, and sometimes we have very different political views, and yet we are here together. We are there together because we have things in common: our will to defend human values, to defend the values ​​of democracy, to defend the values ​​of freedom, to defend the values ​​of the search for peace.

This is what we want for Iran. We want Iranians to be able, like us in our various countries, to benefit from this freedom of thought, this freedom to exercise one’s religion or not to have a religion, to use – when she is a woman – all positions that can allow her to show her abilities and serve her country.

Yes we are here to say that we love Iran, this great and beautiful nation which has a millennial history, which has a lot to contribute to the whole world, and which we regret today that it cannot benefit, that everyone of its inhabitants cannot benefit from what we have, that is to say freedom, that is to say democracy, that is to say the possibility of expressing ourselves freely.

And then we also want to say our concern; because we live in an extremely dangerous world and instead of being a factor that contributes to the search for peace, Iran through its nuclear research, through a number of acts in different countries – I think of Yemen, where the former foreign minister was there a while ago – Iran does not play that role.

And I must say when today we see that the Belgian justice implicates an Iranian diplomat for acts that may relate to terrorism, it is a real concern for all of us, and that is also why it is time indeed to say our condemnation of what is happening, and to call for the awakening of all Iranians to rediscover these values ​​which make the wealth of humanity and which make the greatness of a country.

So it’s not up to us from different countries to say we’re going to choose the government. No, it’s up to you, it’s up to the Iranians to do it. But we, we are simply saying this is what we live, this is what we regret because we would like Iran, by joining the values ​​that we all share through our diversities, well that Iran can fully play its part. role.

As a woman, I want to see Iranian women pursue their ambitions as citizens. That’s why we’re all here together. But I am also here for something else. My personal desire is a desire as a woman, to see Iranian women also be able to put at the service of their ambitions for their country, their ambitions for their fellow citizens, their great abilities, their intelligence, their will to act.

I am fortunate to live in a country, France, where women indeed have the possibility of acceding to all positions and all responsibilities. And it is true that it has been a very great opportunity for me to occupy the very high office that has been entrusted to me.

I think that it is indeed important that all positions are open to women, because they also perhaps sometimes have a look, a way of doing things, a method of acting that is a little different and that fits in this desire to respect others, which is part of this desire to want to support the most vulnerable in our society, whether they are children or the elderly; to want peace and security as well, because it is always the most fragile people in society who ultimately suffer from all of this.

Well yes, I think it is important that all young Iranian women can follow Maryam Rajavi’s example and can indeed fight for their freedom, fight for freedoms, for respect for women, for respect for human rights, for democracy.

Michèle Alliot-Marie

It’s something important. Maryam Rajavi you are an example for them and I think it is also important that we tell them that they are indeed right to follow the example of your struggle.

It is not for us to say who should be chosen, but yet it is for us to say how much we admire you. So what I would like, in closing, is to say that I wish all Iranians, but particularly perhaps Iranian women, to be able to achieve their ambitions, their ambitions in the service of their country, their ambitions in the service of their fellow citizens, their ambitions in the service of peace.