Mr. Mohammad Mohaddessin stressed: Italy's Foreign Ministry welcomes the mullahs' Foreign Minister while flagrant violations of human rights in Iran have increased dramatically in recent weeks, including the assassination and abduction of dissidents in Iran and abroad.
The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on November 18, condemning "serious violations of human rights" in Iran, including "executions" and "cases of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including sentences of stoning and amputation." The UNHRC's Special Representative for human rights in Iran also told the General Assembly that human rights conditions in Iran had slipped backward in recent months. In the meantime, all the leaders of the clerical regime -- Khamenei, Khatami, and Rafsanjani-- have emphasized the regime's need to export terrorism and fundamentalism and advocated enmity to peace.
NCR's Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman added: Some 18 months after Khatami took office, these developments show that establishing ties or holding dialogue with the clerical regime cannot strengthen forces of moderation in the regime, as some reason. This is nothing but a preposterous excuse for justifying economic relations with Iran's ruling criminal mullahs.
Welcoming Kharrazi as the Foreign Minister of the mullahs' illegitimate regime is an insult to the Iranian people and an affront to the historical relations between the two nations of Italy and Iran. A majority in the Italian parliament condemned Iran's ruling theocratic regime last year and declared support for the Iranian people's just Resistance and its President-elect Maryam Rajavi, describing her as the symbol of unity, supported by the majority of the people of Iran.
While the mullahs' diplomat-terrorists who assassinated Mr. Mohammad Hossein Naghdi, NCR's representative in Italy, in March 1993, have not yet been brought to justice, Kharrazi's trip is more illegitimate than ever and will adversely affect future relations between the people of both countries.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
November 30, 1998
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