Iran Opposition Leader: Islam is Against Compulsion, Iranian Regime is Enemy Of All Muslims
Rajavi was the keynote speaker of a Ramadan conference in Paris titled: "Tolerant and Democratic Islam vs Fundamentalism, Religious Dictatorship."
"An end is conceivable to the bloodletting and the fire set ablaze by extremists under the name of Islam," Rajavi told an audience of international Muslim dignitaries and activists, adding that that requires "full-fledged solidarity with the Iranian resistance and people, and to stand up to the Iranian regime and its accomplices such as Bashar Assad and the forces in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria who follow and carry out the policies of the velayat-e-faqih (absolute rule of clergy)."
Rajavi said the solution to the crisis in the region is expulsion of the Iranian regime from throughout the region and its overthrow in Iran.
Political dignitaries and parliamentarians from 14 countries including Jordan, Algeria, Bahrain, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, Palestine, Britain, and Italy expressed their support for the conference.
Participants in the conference, as well as many other prominent Arab and Muslim figures, said in a joint statement: "Recognition of the Iranian Resistance led by Maryam Rajavi is not only the will of the Iranian people but the need of the region for peace and tranquility and an imperative step to defeat the ominous phenomenon of fundamentalism."
The statement went on to say that "the Iranian regime has to implement all UN Security Council resolutions regarding its nuclear program and should address all outstanding IAEA questions and allow intrusive inspections of all of its declared or undeclared military and non-military sites."
"We further declare that the United States and the United Nations should provide for and ensure the protection of Camp Liberty residents," the message continued. "Otherwise, they should return part of their personal weapons to them in order to defend themselves against the militias affiliated with the Iranian regime. And Camp Liberty should be recognized as a refugee camp and its siege, in particular its medical blockade, must be completely lifted and annulled."
Under the terms of an agreement among the Iraq government, the United States and the United Nations, members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran were forced to move to Camp Liberty, near Baghdad airport, from Camp Ashraf in 2012.
The PMOI is the main constituent organization of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, of which Maryam Rajavi serves as president.
In her speech at the Ramadan conference, Rajavi outlined five key principles of the Iranian Resistance with respect to religion, listing them as follows:
"We reject compulsory religion and any compulsion in religion. Despotism and tyranny under the name of Islam, the medieval Sharia laws, and the excommunication of opponents, whether Shiite or Sunni, are against Islam and the emancipating Tradition of the Prophet Mohammad.
"In our view, the essence of Islam is freedom; freedom from all forms of coercion, oppression and exploitation.
"We follow the true Islam, the tolerant and democratic Islam; an Islam that defends popular sovereignty; an Islam defends women's equality.
"We reject religious discrimination and defend the rights of followers of all faiths and religions.
"Our Islam believes in brotherhood of all religions. Sectarian wars and sowing discord among Shiites and Sunnis are the sinister products of the fundamentalist Velayat-e Faqih regime aimed at prolonging its anti-Islamic and anti-human rule."
On the group's political motives, Rajavi summarized its view of the current Iranian regime by saying, "So long as this regime is in power, the people of Iran and other nations in the Middle East will not experience freedom and democracy. A regime that continues to persist in acquiring the nuclear bomb, despite opposition of the Iranian people and the international community, is a global threat."
