On the 45th day of the sit-in in Geneva, held by the families of Ashraf residents and the sympathizers of the Iranian Resistance, a number of personalities from Italy, Netherlands and the U.S. as well as some members of the NCRI joined the demonstrators and spoke in support of their demands for guaranteeing protection and rights of Ashraf Residents.

Fr. Dom Aldo Benevelli, in charge of Vatican’s judiciary and peace in Cuneo and head of Cuneo’s partisans, expressed his support of Ashraf residents and said: “The people in Ashraf struggle for freedom and this is the same struggle that we had in Italy. I am over 80 and when Italy was occupied in 1944 and 1945, we as volunteers managed to defeat one of the strongest armies in the world with whatever we had and with the support of people. Today I allow myself to tie the martyrs and the tortured of the World War with your martyrs and tortured.”

The next speaker was Mr. Boselli Giancarlo, governor advisor of Cuneo, who said: “Over 70 years ago, the Italian partisans freed Cuneo, and today Cuneo is a symbol fro freedom. What we learn from the history is that any resistance at any corner of the world is related to us. Therefore the case of Ashraf is related to us too. We work to remove the PMOI from the terrorist list and to have the city of Ashraf be protected. The Italian government and other European governments must take the Iranian Resistance serious.”

Mr. Wilem Joham-Fuken was the next speaker who declared his support of Ashraf on behalf of the Friends of a Free Iran Committee in Netherlands and underlined that the Ashraf residents are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Transferring their protection from the MNF-I is not acceptable and the coalition forces should not allow that to happen.

Also Mr. Wood Davead, university professor, while expressing his support of Ashraf and highlighting the importance of continuation of Ashraf protection by the MNF-I, said: “ I have been supporting Iranian Resistance for many years. Your sit-in here is very important and I wish you success. “