Patrick Kennedy: Maryam Rajavi poses existential threat to Iran regime

NCRI – The Iranian Resistance, led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, which supports democracy and human rights, poses an “existential threat” to the mullahs and their theocratic regime in Iran, former U.S. Democratic congressman Patrick Kennedy has said.

Mr. Kennedy made the remarks at an event in Washington last Saturday to mark the Golden Anniversary of Iran's main opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, or MEK).

Highlights from remarks by Hon. Patrick Kennedy, former Representative, U.S. Congress, in the Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC on Saturday, September 4, 2015:

Obviously today we celebrate a very important anniversary: The 50th anniversary of the MEK, and the purpose for its founding, which is to resist aggression and tyranny and torture and to return Iran to a democracy that honors human rights and respect for all of its citizens. The reasons for the founding of the MEK are as relevant today as they were when this movement got started by these three historic founders. We are literally at not only a historic anniversary but we’re living in a historic time when it comes to the freedom for Iran, and the freedom for all peoples around the world.

So let’s understand where we stand today. Iran under the mullahs is the largest sponsor of state sponsored terrorism, both at home with its own people, and around the world. It’s number one for the massacre of its own people. And in addition to that, it is the central banker and arms supplier for terrorism around the world. We understand in America what is at stake in the next few weeks as the United States develops and decides its own policy, once again, towards Iran.

But let me say the three main reasons for a sound U.S. policy are all intertwined with the story of the MEK andMadame Rajavi and the sacrifice of the 120,000 martyrs and the residents of Ashraf and now Liberty. For without the Iranian resistance, the world would never have learned about Iran’s secret and clandestine nuclear program. That’s why we ought to celebrate the MEK. All Americans, however they vote on this Iranian deal, ought to know they have the MEK to thank for us understanding and knowing what was going on in Iran. And for that reason it’s appropriate that we honor the 50th anniversary of the MEK. And without Maryam Rajavi and a place called Camp Ashraf and a place called Camp Liberty, the world and the people of Iran would not know that there is an alternative to the mullahs that run Iran. In fact, an alternative that supports democracy and human rights and is led by a woman, an existential threat to the mullahs and their theocracy. So thank God today for the modern MEK leadership, and the residents of Ashraf and Liberty because they have told us there is an alternative.

Without the residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty the world would not have known about those refugees that were being killed and denied the needed protection. The world would never have known that the United States broke its promise to protect the Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf and in Camp Liberty. And the world would have never have known that the international community violated—violated—the fourth Geneva Convention to protect the unarmed, defenseless asylum seekers.

But this 50th anniversary is a historic time, and it’s the best opportunity to make good on the promises of the founders, the promises of freedom and democracy and human rights. For that is the alternative now. Freedom, democracy, human rights, or repression, torture, theocratic dictatorship and execution. That’s the choice for both the people of Iran, and for the people of the world. The mullahs say they now want to be a part of the community of nations, but we now the truth is that they are more unstable both in Iran and around the world than they’ve ever been before. That is why it’s our time, this 50th anniversary, to make good on the promises of the MEK. We have to be clear and unequivocal. And we must choose a side, we cannot have it both ways. And neither can the mullahs, they cannot say that we have to be peaceful but at the same time construct a nuclear program. They cannot be the number one executioner of their own people and support genocide in Syria and then say they want to be members of the international community.

So in conclusion, my father, Senator Edward Kennedy, stood with the future not only in writing letters for those imprisoned in the Shah’s prisons, but writing letters every time that he was ever asked by Amnesty International on behalf of the Iranian dissidents. He also stood with Nelson Mandela, who was part of the ANC, not the MEK, another “terrorist group” that just wanted the freedom of their own people. So I say we have to choose which side of history we’re going to be on on this historic anniversary. Are we going to be on the side of the future, which is what the founders of the MEK and Maryam Rajavi stand for, or are we going to part of the past? Are we going to be on the side of human rights or are we going to be on the side of dictatorships? Are we going to be on the side of democracy, or theocracy? I say the answer is clear today, the 50th anniversary of the MEK, to rededicate ourselves to the principles upon which it was founded.