Iranian Opposition Leader Addresses Parliament, Meets MPs
Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), met lawmakers and placed a wreath at the Freedom Monument in Tallinn as part of a lobbying visit to Estonia.
Rajavi had addressed MPs on Monday to elicit their support in efforts to "overthrow the religious fascism ruling Iran." According to Mart Nutt of Parliament's human rights support group, it was the first meeting of an Iranian opposition leader at the parliamentary level in Estonia
"Most certainly, the people of Estonia who have suffered greatly under dictatorship would undoubtedly understand the agony that my compatriots are subjected to today. That is why the Iranian people anticipate your solidarity and cooperation in their struggle for freedom," Rajavi said, as quoted by her press representative.
Rajavi was the keynote speaker of an international conference held at the Parliament on the “human rights situation in Iran, the Iranian nuclear crisis, policy solutions regarding the Iranian regime and the democratic opposition.”
Founded in France in 1981, the NCRI is a coalition of political organizations, the largest of which is the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a militant Marxist organization that participated in the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. Until 2009, MEK had been designated a terrorist organization by the EU. The US removed it from its official list of terrorist organizations on September 28 of this year. Human Rights Watch has also accused MEK of severe violations.