It is not clear how Mr. Cassidy arrived at such conclusion in just three days, which were spent in meetings with some of the second rate officials of the mullahs' medieval regime. Which democratic mechanism helped him discover the Mojahedin's isolation? Mr. Cassidy's trip coincided with the public executions of 12 persons in Western Iran.
Mr. Cassidy's comment, made immediately after the trip, clearly reveals the regime's intentions in arranging such visits for parliamentarians. The mullahs increasingly need such comments to justify their extensive executions and brutal torture of opponents and the Mojahedin. The criminal leaders of the mullahs' regime must be tried at international tribunals for their countless crimes against the people of Iran, for issuing death decrees for foreign nationals, for sabotaging the Middle East peace process, and for trying to establish proxy regimes in Islamic countries.
Mr. Cassidy also claimed that he had been much pressured by the representatives of the Mojahedin to cancel his visit.
Contrary to this claim, Mr. Cassidy's decision to go ahead with this visit was strongly opposed by his colleagues at the European Parliament and in his own political group. As it was also proven in practice, the MEPs were convinced that while the mullahs' regime does not enjoy any legitimacy in Iran and any popularity abroad, such trips only serve the propaganda purposes of the mullahs.
In contrast to Mr. Cassidy, the European Parliament has in one of its latest resolutions on Iran in March 1996, "strongly condemned" the persecution of the mullahs' opponents, including the assassination of Mrs. Zahra Rajabi, member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and expressed solidarity with the "those Iranian citizens being persecuted" by the mullahs' regime on the account of their sex or ethnic origin, or because of their political opposition to that government.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran calls on the European Parliament to adopt a clear stance against the Khomeini regime and do not allow such private trips, taking place despite opposition of other EP members, and their subsequent comments distort this Parliament's image among the people of Iran.
Representative office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran -
Brussels
June 17, 1996
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