In a video-taped message to the demonstrators, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance's President-elect, pointed out that bringing pressure on Iranian refugees counters the principles of human rights and the sacred right to asylum. The Iranian people will never allow that their rights be trampled by the clerical regime's conspiracies and collusion, she added.
In the mean time, Ms. Golnaz Javaheri, representative of the National Council of Resistance in the Netherlands, headed a delegation representing the demonstrators to the Dutch parliament where they met with the chairwoman and members of the Foreign Affairs Committee. They explained the latest developments in Iran and handed a copy of the demonstration's final resolution to the MPs. The delegation urged the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee to encourage the Dutch Government to adopt a decisive policy against the theocratic regime ruling Iran. The Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman also expressed concern over the violations of human rights in Iran and said the issue of human rights is very serious for us and we will consider it in our joint meeting with the Foreign Minister on September 8.
A number of Dutch political dignitaries and human rights advocates, including Senator Terfeld (Labor), Mr. Tim Cox, Secretary General of the Socialist Left Party, and Mr. Lode Vanoost, a member of Parliament from Belgium (Green) addressed the rally. They urged the European Union to adopt a firm policy against the Iranian regime and provide accommodations for the Iranian asylum seekers.
The protesters then marched on to the Manifield Square where they read out the final resolution to the demonstration. The resolution expresses solidarity with mid-July popular uprising in Tehran and declares support for the call by the Iranian Resistance Leader Massoud Rajavi for the dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to Iran to probe the situation.
In their resolution, the demonstrators also urged the Dutch parliament as well as the political, religious and cultural dignitaries and personalities in the Netherlands to voice their protest to the freedom of action enjoyed by the clerical regime's Intelligence Ministry in the Netherlands against Iranian asylum seekers, which exceeds their freedom in other European countries, and do not allow their country to become a stamping ground for agents of the Iranian regime's Gestapo.
Chanting "Death to Khamenei, Death to Khatami, Hail to Rajavi," and "Down with the Mullahs' Regime," and carrying placards with similar slogans, the demonstrators displayed the general inclination of the Iranian people for the overthrow of the clerical regime.
Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran - The Netherlands
September 7, 1999
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