On July 1, 2024, at the Free Iran 2024 World Summit – Day 3 hosted at the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) headquarters in Paris, French jurist Gilles Paruelle delivered a stirring speech.
1. French Jurist @GParuelle Urges Justice and Accountability for Iran's Human Rights Abuses and Terrorism #MaryamRajavi4FreeIran #FreeIran2024 https://t.co/o1qijnkbBu
— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) July 1, 2024
A translated version of Gilles Paruelle’s speech follows:
Madame President, distinguished dignitaries, my dear companions, and all around, I believe, our friends from Ashraf who are here. They are listening to us; we cannot see them, but I am sure they can see me. I am one of those who had the extreme fortune, to follow them, whether in Albania, of course, but also in Iraq, on several occasions. I send them a big hello and think of them often.
Ladies and gentlemen, here we are once again together to conclude these three days of a particularly successful summit. And I am quite proud to be here at this podium, in this position, following a number of people whose titles and sometimes even names have been reminded to you earlier. And for me, it is a great honor, Madame President, to be here. The quality of the speakers was perfect, and I am convinced that the messages they conveyed were much more important than anything I could tell you.
But today, I am not speaking as a politician, certainly not, but as a jurist, because I remain convinced that there will be no democracy in Iran without the restoration of justice. You have mentioned earlier, Madame President, the daily violations of human rights in Iran. It is a policy that has existed for a long time. I heard an earlier speaker say that he has been following you for 25 years. It has been 40 years since I have known you and followed your movement, thanks to our dear Mr. Bekes, who is also here to support you.
Sometimes, my dear friends, with very few people, we have gone through periods where we would have liked to have audiences like we had yesterday, the day before yesterday, and today. We were very few at that time, but I am infinitely pleased that so many of you are now around. Be assured, Madame President, that the speakers who have succeeded one another justify the reality of your movement and the recognition of your resistance’s action worldwide. But as I said, it is as a jurist that I will intervene today.
As I mentioned, justice is democracy, or more precisely, there is no democracy without justice. And there can be no real justice in Iran until Iran frees itself from the shameful trades, which we have already talked about a few moments ago, currently taking place, where honest foreign nationals are taken hostage, arrested, and charged with false accusations, then exchanged for regime criminals responsible for acts of terrorism.
This was the case, to speak only of recent years, in 2018, when after the attempted attack in Villepinte, the infamous Assadi, an Iranian diplomat, a specialist in ballistics and explosives, also a member of the mullahs’ security services, had to be shamefully exchanged in Belgium for a humanitarian worker, Olivier Vandecasteele.
In September 2023, five American nationals were exchanged for seven convicted Iranians in rather unmentionable conditions. Recently, two Swedes, not far from your Norway, were also exchanged, including a European Union diplomat for Hamid Noury, a high-ranking official of the Iranian prison administration serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1988 mass executions, most of whom, as you recalled, Madame President, were members of your resistance.
Human rights associations in Sweden spoke of a shameful trade for Sweden. And then, what about the release of the Frenchman, Louis Arnaud, a few days ago? We are waiting to know the currency of exchange, hoping, Madame President, that it is not at the expense of your movement.
Tehran still holds, ladies and gentlemen, eight European hostages, including four French, whose only purpose is to exchange them for the release of Iranian criminals detained abroad. Justice in Iran will be more precise without these trades, and it should also be done without the attacks carried out by the regime.
We almost experienced one in 2018 in Villepinte. Fortunately, nothing happened, and there were no victims. In 2019, it was the Netherlands that revealed the assassinations that took place in 2015 and 2017 of two opponents, Ali Motamed, and Hamid Molaei, with the European Union’s only response being a few financial sanctions against two high-ranking Iranian officials. And then, recently, on November 9, it was the attempted assassination of our friend, the former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, whom I greet today. He had worked so hard for your movement to ensure that the PMOI was removed from the list of terrorist organizations.
And then, I cannot avoid talking about what is happening very close to here, in Auvers-sur-Oise, an attempted attack on May 31, 2023, in the annex buildings of your movement. Several people have been arrested and are currently under investigation for attempted murder by an organized gang and participation in a criminal association with the intent to commit a crime. There were six automatic weapon shots and a Molotov cocktail thrown, which fortunately caused no casualties.
It is, of course, the second-hand criminals who have been detained, and we hope to truly trace back to the mastermind, whom we know very well, you and I. But we are not there yet in terms of the investigation. And then, justice cannot free itself from these trials that you mentioned earlier, Madame President, because, for the mullahs, it is crucial that you all be condemned. You mentioned a hundred. In fact, 104 prominent members of your movement are currently being prosecuted in trials linked to actions undertaken without any real justification, including my dear friend, Dr. Saleh Rajavi, who is among these so-called culprits.
All influential members of the PMOI are targeted with accusations of enmity against God and responsibility for fictitious attacks. Every Tuesday, television broadcasts the hearings of this sham justice, where the accused, tried in absentia, cannot defend themselves. They have a lawyer, of course, but he is court-appointed and also the head of the Basij security forces office.
This shows you how much the defense of these individuals is particularly respected. In fact, the Iranian regime seeks to obtain judgments that would finally allow it to get Interpol to issue the famous red notices against the convicted, which has so far been refused by the authorities. The process is grotesque, we know. It is organized by a justice that is neither independent nor fair, nor impartial, and rendered by judges who are mere security agents at the regime’s service.
So, we must react, ladies and gentlemen, and I believe that you all, well, at least the jurists among you, have read the letter recently sent by my colleague, Master Patrick Baudouin, from the League of Human Rights.
So, we need to act, I think, by publicizing and denouncing the trials that are being held in Tehran without any justification, by reminding, and this is important, the legal rules that are non-existent in a country where, as you recalled, Madame President, death sentences continue to increase, making Iran the country with the most death sentences per capita.
By obviously supporting the PMOI in its resistance actions, but that, all the speakers said before me, perhaps by encouraging foreign nationals not to go to Iran to avoid being used one day as bargaining chips, and by supporting, of course, all PMOI members currently incarcerated, whether it is Zahra Safaei, Karam Rezaei, Ali Moezi, or Mir Yousef Younesi.
And perhaps, Madame President, and this is a pious wish, for the bravest among us, to volunteer as observers in the ongoing trials, or even to offer to defend the interests of these people. But I think it is absolutely impossible. It remains a pious wish. These are the few words I wanted to convey to you. But, of course, I cannot end without speaking to my dear companions. I say companions because I had the chance to belong to one of their companies when I was in Ashraf, several times.
I had the chance, and the honor of sharing the condition of these resistance fighters on several occasions. They are in my heart, and I would like one day to be able to give them back all the courage and selflessness they have given me. And a special hello to Arman, who recently showed me so much affection.
Thank you.
