BRIEF ON IRAN

No. 683

Monday, June 23, 1997

Representative Office of

The National Council of Resistance of Iran

Washington, DC


June 20 Honored Worldwide, Iran Zamin News Agency, June 20 

In the biggest-ever gathering of Iranians in the United States, honoring the 16th anniversary of June 20, the start of the Iranian people's nationwide Resistance against Khomeini's anti-human regime, more than 6,000 Iranians from across the U.S. converged on the site of the Summit of the Eight in Denver to call on the Summit leaders to break diplomatic and trade ties with the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran. They also declared their support for the Iranian Resistance's President-elect, Maryam Rajavi.

In her speech broadcast live by 11 satellite channels across Iran, Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, Mrs. Rajavi said: Trampling upon the people's sovereignty, exporting terrorism and practicing misogyny are embedded in the nature and the constitution of this regime. The NLA will sweep aside the mullahs' religious dictatorship and all its different factions. The Iranian nation's will to achieve democracy, peace and social justice will come to fruition before the end of the 20th century.

Addressing the meeting, Mr. Massoud Rajavi said: After Khatami's election, that has led to a troika leadership in the regime, the mullahs are even more divided and have lost their balance. This medieval dictatorship is absolutely incapable of reform and these developments will speed up its inevitable overthrow and the trend of events in the Resistance's favor.

He added: The political and publicity activities of the Resistance's forces inside Iran to honor June 20 and in support of the NLA and the NCR have taken on extensive dimensions in 180 cities and tripled relative to last year.

Mr. Rajavi called on the Summit leaders to impose diplomatic and trade sanctions against the Iranian regime, and demanded that its human rights abuses and terrorism be referred to the U.N. Security Council for the adoption of binding decisions.

  

Iranian Activists Ask World Leaders For Sanctions On, Dow Jones News, June 20

DENVER (AP) - Waving brightly colored flags and cheering noisily… Iranian opposition activists urged world leaders to impose economic sanctions on Iran to help bring democracy to the Islamic Republic….

During a four-hour rally outside the meeting of the Summit of the Eight, National Council of Resistance of Iran officials also renewed demands for European countries to cut off diplomatic ties to Iran…

'All international bodies, and specifically the Summit of the Eight, must institute economic and political sanctions against the clerical regime so as not to allow the ruling dictatorship to take advantage of its economic ties to suppress the Iranian people and export fundamentalism and terrorism abroad,' said Sarvi Chitsaz, the group's U.S. representative.

U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., said world leaders must work toward bringing democracy to Iran.

'There is absolutely nothing, nothing, nothing, not one thing which is redeeming about this regime,' Ackerman said. The Council of Resistance, which says it wants democracy in Iran, has rejected recent Iranian presidential elections as a sham. The rally, which began outside the State Capitol and moved to the Denver Public Library, occurred as the summit formally opened.

The crowd also heard NCR leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, who spoke in Farsi via a satellite link from a National Liberation Army camp near the Iran-Iraq border.

The participants also waved small, triangle flags and large red, white and green banners bearing the council's gold lion and sun symbol.

Iranian Exiles Urge G7 To Boycott Tehran, Reuter, June 20

DENVER -… Banging drums and cymbals, waving lighted torches as a symbol of freedom, they processed under escort by mounted police from Denver's state Capitol to a point one block from the public library where the summit was to open hours later.

"No trade, no ties, no arms to the mullahs," chanted the protesters…

Iran, listed as one of the summit topics, is a divisive subject among participants, most of which have refused to follow the tough line taken by the United States.

A resolution adopted by the marchers called on the G7 to "refer the clerical regime's export of terrorism and abuse of human rights to the United Nations Security Council" and hand over Iran's U.N. seat to the NCR.

At a rally earlier outside the gold-domed Capitol, the Colorado state legislature, U.S. Democratic Representative Gary Ackerman of New York lent support to the demonstrators, saying continued tolerance of the Iranian government was unacceptable.

"It is time for the G7 to show its disgust with this reprehensible regime," he said to loud applause from spectators waving Iranian flags from before the 1979 Islamic Revolution….

 

Iranians Urge Assembled Leaders to Isolate Mullahs' Regime, Los Angles Times, June 21

DENVER - Screaming through loudspeakers and waving placards… opponents of Iran's fundamentalist regime marched through downtown Denver on Friday, exhorting world leaders to sever diplomatic and trade ties with a country believed to be among the most active sponsors of terrorism.

The march… was organized by the National Council of Resistance, an alliance of groups dedicated to unseating the government in Tehran.

The marchers -- many of whom came from Los Angeles to participate -- carried huge photographs of Maryam Rajavi, the 43-year-old woman their movement hopes will become Iran's president if Tehran's government eventually is ousted…

In a speech broadcast live by satellite from a camp along the Iran-Iraq border -- and punctuated here with drum rolls and clashing cymbals -- Maryam Rajavi urged the marchers to "get the people of Iran's voice out to the world."

"No trade! No ties! No arms to Iran! Down with the mullahs! Long live Rajavi!" marchers chanted in response, waving placards of the former metallurgical engineer as she addressed them from an enormous mobile television screen….

 

Iranian Exiles Urge Hard Line Against Tehran, Financial Times, June 21/22 

… "People yes, mullahs no, they are terrorists, they must go," the protesters shouted in an effort to persuade the eight heads of government conferring in Denver to take a tough line with Iran.

The demonstration by the National Council of Resistance, a Paris-based coalition of Iranian dissidents, lent one of the few notes of passion to a "summit of the eight," which has been longer on ceremony, and a certain smugness, than on real emotions….

Iranian Exiles Call For G7 Sanctions On Iran, Reuter, June 21

An Iranian exile group based in Iraq Saturday urged the current Group of Seven summit in Denver to impose sanctions on Iran.

Maryam Rajavi, elected by the Mujahideen Khalaq opposition organization as Iran's president-in-exile, called on G7 leaders to "institute diplomatic and economic sanctions against Tehran."

Rajavi told some 15,000 supporters in one of its bases that Iran's "clerical regime will be toppled before the end of the 20th century." Her speech was carried by satellite around the world….

 

Iran Resistance Rallies In Germany Against Tehran, Reuter, June 20

OBERHAUSEN, Germany - Thousands of opponents of Iran's Moslem rulers rallied in Germany on Friday, calling on the international community to slap economic sanctions on Tehran and break off diplomatic relations.

Waving flags and shouting slogans, a crowd of around 10,000 listened to a speech by Iranian resistance leader Maryam Rajavi, which organizers said was being relayed live from the Iran-Iraq border. "Trampling upon the people's sovereignty, exporting terrorism and practicing misogyny are embedded in the nature and constitution of this regime," Rajavi said.

Parallel rallies were also scheduled to take place in Sweden and on the fringes of the Denver summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations.

Marzieh, the diva of Iranian music known as the nightingale of Persia, and Miriam Makeba, the South African singer and former anti-apartheid campaigner, were among the performers at the rally….

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