FRINGE MEETING, ROYAL EXETER HOTEL, CONSERVATIVE PARTY CONFERENCE, BOURNEMOUTH. TUESDAY 5th OCTOBER, 11.30-12.45 hrs.

Speech by Struan Stevenson, MEP, Co-Chair – Friends of Free Iran.

On August 15th, in a town called Neka in Iran, a 16-year-old girl was publicly hanged from a crane in the main square. Her name was Atefeh Rajabi and the offence, which earned her the death penalty, was for “acts incompatible with chastity.” The man who had sexually abused her was sentenced to 100 lashes, however, Atefeh was sentenced to death because, according to the Judge, “she had a sharp tongue and had undressed in his court.” In fact she had torn off her veil in protest at the ludicrous cruelty of the sentence. So outraged was the judge that he undertook to place the rope around Atefeh’s neck himself at her public execution.

This then is modern Iran. This is the regime ruled by the Mullah’s. A regime that executes women and children and amputates arms and legs. A regime that uses torture in its prisons, while pursuing a culture of impunity for the perpetrators of such outrages. A regime that has brought the civilised and highly cultured population face to face with the black depths of barbarism and has taken Iran back to the stone-age. A regime that has executed 120,000 people since it came to power, over 100 in the first 8 months of this year alone.

The Mullahs in Teheran have been active sponsors of international terrorism. The definitive report on 9/11 drawn up by the American Intelligence Services notes in stark detail how the Mullahs had offered assistance and funding to Osama Bin Laden. A Saudi-owned newspaper reported in July that there were 384 members of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups living in Iran, including 18 senior members of Bin Laden’s network, and even including Bin Laden’s son Saad.

Now, in open defiance of the West, the clerical regime pursues its relentless quest to build a nuclear weapon. Through deception and skilful diplomatic manoeuvring, the Mullahs are now only weeks away from having the capability to enrich uranium to enable them to build a nuclear bomb. At the same time the Mullahs are pouring arms and money into the growing insurgency in neighbouring Iraq. Dissent is ruthlessly crushed. Freedom of expression and a free press are distant memories. Hundreds of moderate candidates were excluded from election to the country’s parliament to ensure the totalitarian Islamo-fascist regime could never again be undermined by democracy. George W. Bush was absolutely correct when he labelled Iran as part of the Axis of Evil. Teheran is now a cauldron of evil and the Mullahs must be removed from power before they plunge the world into a nuclear nightmare.

And there is no use trying to appease the Mullahs. To do so, leads simply to humiliation. Jack Straw discovered that to his cost earlier this year. Despite five visits to Tehran and pledges of support, the Mullahs ordered the kidnapping of British Navy personnel in the Gulf on a trumped up charge that they had strayed into Iranian waters. They seized three British patrol boats and arrested eight crew members who were then subjected to horrific treatment, being blindfolded and forced to kneel in a ditch, where they thought they were about to be beheaded. This is the way Teheran treats its so-called allies.

It was in an attempt to appease the Mullahs and keep the petro-dollars flowing, that the UK, EU and US agreed to Teheran’s demands to place the People’s Mojahedin and the National Council of Resistance of Iran, on the international terror list. This was a disgrace as they have never perpetrated any act of terror against anyone in the West and indeed have spent the past 25 years fighting fundamentalism and oppression in their homeland. Now, following a 16 month State Department and FBI inquiry, the US has recognised that there is no basis for continuing the terror tag. They have stated that the 4000 Mojahedin Freedom Fighters based in a camp at Ashraf in Iraq are ‘protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention’, and refused demands from Teheran that they should be deported back to certain torture and execution.

I have been to Auvers sur Oise to meet the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran – Mrs Maryam Rajavi. I found her to be a compelling leader, determined to free her people from the fascist regime, which has terrorised Iran for more than a quarter of a century. She is a convinced democrat pursuing a platform based on the observance of human rights, the rights of women, freedom of religion and the rights of ethnic and national minorities.

The Charter of Fundamental Freedoms for future Iran is a template for good governance. This is the reason why, together with Paulo Casaca MEP (Portuguese socialist), I have co-founded the Friends of Free Iran Movement in the European Parliament. This is the reason why 25,000 Iranian exiles and other supporters demonstrated in central Brussels two weeks ago, demanding the removal of the Terror Tag from the People’s Mojahedin and the overthrow of the fascist regime in Teheran. We are here today to echo their calls.