The statement of 175 members of the Bundestag and 300 members of state assemblies was made public in the conference. '
In the letter, the representatives of the German people referred to Khatami's submission to the Supreme Leader, his vehement support for the massacre of 30,000 Mojahedin prisoners in 1988, continuation of torture, murder of opponents and the Mojahedin during Khatami's presidency and growing popular uprisings, student and labor protests and the Resistance's operations inside Iran.
The parliamentarians concluded that Khatami's visit to Germany would not help the situation of human rights in Iran and said that the cancellation of this trip was a historical test for Germany's adherence to principles of democracy and human rights.
The speakers in the conference referred to unjust sentences and long prison terms for the Iranian Jews and announced that Khatami's visit to Germany comes on the anniversary of student and popular uprisings in Tehran and other Iranian cities against the terrorist, religious dictatorship ruling Iran. They reiterated that the uprising was suppressed on Khatami's orders.
The legislators added that any improvement in economic and diplomatic ties with Iran should hinge on Iran's full respect for human rights.
The parliamentarians welcomed the recent statement by a majority of British MPs which condemned Khatami's direct role in suppression and expressed support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The legislators urged the German government to support the Iranian people's resistance for democracy and pluralism in Iran.
The text of the statement by 475 German parliamentarians follows.
Representative office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany
July 5, 2000
For his part, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has remained silent vis-a-vis these repressive measures and continued to kowtow to the theocratic state.
After 12 newspapers were closed down, Khatami said: "One of the advantages of our state and the armed forces is that we are all under the command of His Eminence, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei."
Those arrested or whose publications were closed down recently, have been part and parcel of the governing apparatus and worked in the state's military, repressive and intelligence agencies in the past two decades. One can easily imagine that a regime which so treats its own members, will certainly show no mercy toward the Mojahedin and the genuine opposition.
Today, admissions by senior government officials about widespread fraud and rigging in the parliamentary elections last February dash any illusions about liberalization under the ruling dictatorship.
The Tehran regime has been condemned 46 times by different United Nations agencies for summary executions, torture, stoning, amputating limbs and gouging out eyes. The latest censure resolution was adopted by the U.N. Human Rights Commission in April 2000. These atrocities have continued under Khatami, with the number of executions exceeding 620. In its April report, Amnesty International said that there have been 100 more executions in Iran in 1999 than the previous year.
Tehran dailies from both ruling factions revealed recently that as the propaganda minister and the cabinet spokesman in 1988, Khatami vigorously endorsed Khomeini's fatwa to massacre 30,000 Mojahedin prisoners.
The continuing popular uprisings, the expansion of the operations by the organized Resistance inside Iran, and student and worker demonstrations and strikes show clearly the extent to which the Iranian people despise the clerical regime and its factions.
Under such circumstances, a visit to Germany by the mullahs' President neither serves human rights in Iran nor friendship between the peoples of both countries. Canceling the visit by the President of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran is a litmus test of our country's commitment to the principles of democracy and human rights.
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