In a conference in Paris on Thursday afternoon, the human rights defending personalities in Paris announced foundation of the Committee in Defense of Ashraf in France.

New Human Rights Society headed by Pierre Bercis sponsored and organized this conference in which Dr. Saleh Rajavi, representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in France, was present too.

At the beginning, Mr. Pierre Bercis, explaining black record of the Iranian regime in violation of human rights, said: The threats posed by the clerical regime’s pressures to the Iraqi government aimed at limiting and encroaching on Ashraf is imminent and serious. He explained that the Committee in Defense of Ashraf is established to encounter such threats until the Ashraf residents’ rights are recognized based on the International Law.

Then Dr. Saleh Rajavi, representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in France, emphasized on Ashraf’s role in prevention and slowing expansion of the Iranian regime’s fundamentalism to Iraq, and the support of Iraqi people for the legal rights of Ashraf residents including the statements by 5.2 million Iraqis and 3 million Iraqi Shiites. He said : Ashraf residents are protected persons according to the Fourth Geneva Convention and their rights and protection must be secured according to International conventions and laws.

Other speakers in the conference were:
François Colcombet, judge and former member of the French National Assembly
Ms. Anissa Boumedienne, researcher, expert on Islam, and former Algerian First Lady during the presidency of Houari Boumedienne
Father Henri Le Borsico, a close aide to Abbe Pierre and an anti-fascist French resistance fighter, who visited Ashraf three years ago
Ghalib Ben Sheikh, famous French Islamic Scholar
Mrs. Batoul Fakkar, the first female member of the French Moslem Council