Iran rally in Berlin to highlight abuses, call for democratic change
Laptop Battery Monday, 7th February 2005
Iran Focus
Berlin, Feb. 07 - Iranians are planning a massive rally in Berlin on the twenty-sixth anniversary of the 1979 Iranian revolution to call for an end to theocratic rule in their country. The announcement comes after the barring of a similar rally on Iran which was scheduled for the same day in Paris.
Organisers are expecting a huge turnout in the event scheduled for February 10 at the Brandenburger-Tor in central Berlin, despite the original Paris demonstration having been barred by French authorities, days before the event.
Iran's main opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, issued a statement on Saturday condemning the French government's decision to ban the peaceful protest by Iranian exiles in Paris against the dictatorship ruling Iran, despite prior approval.
The NCRI called France's decision to cancel the rally "kowtowing to the demands of the medieval regime seeking to expand its repression from Tehran to Paris", adding "French officials as part of a shameful deal with the clerical regime in power in Iran, banned a February 10th demonstration by Iranians in Paris".
It said, "According to reports from organisers of the demonstration in Paris, more than 40,000 Iranians from across Europe were expected to attend the rally, something which would terrify the ruling mullahs".
Demonstrators in Berlin will call for an end to diplomatic and economic ties between European governments and the clerical regime, and the removal of the terrorist-tag on the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, the biggest organisation within the NCRI. Many in the international community believe that the PMOI was placed in the EU's terror-list as part of an appeasement policy towards the clerical state.
The rally has already received strong support from a broad array of German and French political and social personalities and human rights groups.
"The demonstration was sponsored by more than 250 European parliamentarians and dozens of international human rights organisations", the NCRI statement added.
Organisers are putting up a list of prominent European political figures to address the rally.
The NCRI revealed from sources from within Iran that France gave into the demands of the Iranian regime to secure economic deals for French companies, adding that Tehran was spreading its dictatorship thousands of kilometres to the heart of Europe.
United States President George W. Bush, in his 2005 annual State of the Union address last week, said, "And to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you".
The worsening human rights situation in Iran is coming under increasing international scrutiny. In January, the European Parliament adopted a resolution by majority vote censuring human rights violations in Iran in the second such move over the past six months.
The toughly-worded resolution denounced practices such as execution of juveniles and stonings carried out by the Iranian regime.
Iran was also censured by the United Nations General Assembly in December for its flagrant violations of human rights. Human rights agencies report that at least 174 forms of torture such as flogging, limb amputation, and eye gouging are used in Iranian prisons.
The Berlin rally is expected to highlight these violations and call on the EU to develop a new firm policy to induce genuine change in Iran by supporting the Iranian people's democratic aspirations.
According to a press release for the event "Participants in the demonstration will underscore that the solution to the Iranian problem is neither appeasement nor military invasion. Democratic change in Iran is possible through supporting the Iranian people and their organised resistance".
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