While Iranian regime president Ebrahim Raisi prepared to deliver his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 19, thousands of freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the PMOI rallied in front of the UN headquarters in New York to deliver a different message: Raisi is not the representative of the people of Iran, he does not deserve to speak at the UN, he is a murderer, and he must be prosecuted.
The demonstrators held placards with pictures of the regime’s numerous victims and a large banner that read, “Iran has an alternative,” referring to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the ten-point plan of NCRI president-elect Maryam Rajavi.
The rally, which lasted for several hours, featured speeches from Iranian Resistance members and supporters as well as U.S. politicians, lawmakers, and rights activists.
In her video message to the rally, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi said, “Today is among the ugliest and darkest days of the UN because the bloodthirsty president of the mullahs’ regime is present there. This event blatantly contradicts the United Nations’ raison d’être and is an affront to the people of Iran.”
Mrs. Rajavi stressed that Raisi’s hands are tainted with the blood of thousands, including PMOI members and other combatant prisoners who were massacred in 1988. “He must be held accountable for his crimes against humanity,” she said.
Mrs. Rajavi said that thanks to the efforts of the brave Resistance Units, nothing will save the regime. She emphasized that the West must stop appeasing the regime, including giving them cash and returning their arrested spies, terrorists, and agents.
“I must emphasize that the Iranian people and Resistance do not ask for help from any government or power to overthrow the regime and establish freedom and democracy,” she said. “What they want is for governments in the West and East to stop providing aid to this murderous regime.”
Senator Robert Torricelli, who also spoke at the rally, criticized the UN for hosting Raisi and said, “The voice you will be hearing is the same voice that ordered the murder of thousands across Iran. It is his voice who murdered them. Understand who Raisi is. He is a murderer.
“When Raisi walks to the podium today and shakes the hands of the leaders of the UN, know that his hands have the blood of thousands of martyrs of the 1988 massacre. That’s who shakes your hand today. He is a murderer, and his hands have blood on them.”
Torricelli stressed that the people of Iran want is a democratic country “where they can choose their own leaders, where they can speak freely, where they are at peace with their neighbors, a state that is true to the tradition of the great nation of Iran.”
Senator Joseph Lieberman said that instead of the UN General Assembly, Raisi must be sent to the International Criminal Court to face prosecution for his crimes.
Senator Lieberman emphasized the need to recognize the Iranian people’s right to resist against the regime. “The universal declaration of human rights, adopted by the UN, has a clause that says people and nations have recourse to rebellion against tyranny and oppression,” he said. “It’s the last recourse, but pursuant to the UN Universal Declaration of Rights, the people of Iran have the right to rebel.”
He also highlighted the major role that the Iranian Resistance has played in championing the cause of freedom in Iran. “There is no more effective force for bending the arc toward freedom for the people of Iran than the NCRI under Mrs. Maryam Rajavi and the MEK inside the country,” he said.
Senator Sam Brownback said that the regime’s end is nearing. “The people want regime change and they want it now,” he said.
Senator Brownback emphasized the need for a shift in policy toward Iran. “Let’s back the yearning of the people of Iran. No more money to the ruling mullahs. If we’ve learned nothing else, giving money to terrorists only gets you more terrorism,” he said.
He expressed optimism for the victory of the Iranian people and their resistance movement. “History and the hand of God move inexorably towards freedom. It often takes time and much struggle, but the natural state of human beings, of men and men and women around the world is to be free,” he said.
Ambassador Marc Ginsberg described Raisi as “The man who is going to use $6 billion to strengthen Iran’s internal Gestapo, to pay off Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, to make a hefty deposit into the account of the Ayatollah Khamenei.”
“This is the man who comes to the United Nations,” he said.
Soona Samsami, the representative of the NCRI in the U.S., said that Raisi’s report card in the past decades has been tens of thousands of executions.
“On the other hand, our movement has significantly grown and we have made major progress by pushing back the Iranian regime and neutralizing its plots,” she said. “Today, our movement is far more organized, far more recognized than it was even a year ago and the world has more respect for the Iranian women and their courageous resistance against the regime than many years ago. Today, more people in the world recognize Iran, not by its brutal butcher, but rather, but its organized Resistance.”
The rally also included speeches by Iranian teenagers, students, professionals, and former political prisoners, all of whom reiterated their resolve to support the people of Iran, especially the Resistance Units, in their quest to establish freedom in Iran. They also echoed the Iranian people’s determination to overthrow the mullahs’ regime and avoid returning to the tyranny of the shah regime, and they reiterated the role that the Iranian Resistance has played in advancing the struggle for freedom in Iran.
“The Iranian people only want one thing: They want to change the regime in Iran by the will of the Iranian people. Just stop the appeasement policy. The Iranians will do their job,” said Dr. Siamack Shojaei. “Today, it is clear that only the PMOI and other real freedom-fighting organizations want to free Iran.”