The President-elect of the Iranian Resistance Mrs. Maryam Rajavi received strong backing at the Italian Parliament on Wednesday, in a move which drew quick rebuke from Tehran.
On the second day of her visit at the invitation of a number of members of the Italian Parliament and the Friends of a Free Iran group in that country, Mrs. Rajavi addressed a meeting of dozens of parliamentarians.
Upon arrival at the Parliament building in Rome, she was greeted by hundreds of cheering supporters of the Iranian Resistance and several Italian Members of Parliament. Mrs. Rajavi was the keynote speaker at the parliamentary meeting, in which a number of lawmakers also spoke, expressing the support of various Italian political parties for her movement.
The speakers also condemned the policy of appeasing the regime and stated the hope that Rajavi’s visit to Italy would mark the beginning to an end for the policy of appeasing Tehran and the start of a new policy to support the Iranian people’s ideal for freedom.
The speakers of the session were as follows:
· Antonio Stango, chairman of Helsinki Watch and the head of Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom in Italy
· Mrs.Elizabetta Zamparutti, member of Italian parliament from Radical party
· Carlo Ciccioli, member of Italian Parliament and deputy chairman of the social affairs commission of parliament from National Coalition party (ruling party)
· Lord King, the MP from the Labor party in the House of Lords
· David Jones MP, the MP from Conservatives Party in the House of Commons
· Alessandro Forlani, former memer of Italian parliament
· Mrs. Suad-Sbai, member of Italian parliament of Arab origin
· Dario Rivolta, former memer of Italian parliament and the spokesman of the foreign affairs of the Viva Italy party
· Aurelio Misiti, member of Italian parliament from Italy’s Values party
· Massimo Vanucci, former memer of Italian parliament from Democratic party
· Stephano Menikacci, lawyer and former memer of Italian parliament
· Dr. Minas Ibrahim al-Youssefi, the president of Iraq’s Christian-Democrat party

Mrs. Rajavi was presented with a document signed by a majority of Italian parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, in support of the cause of democratic change in Iran and calling for removing the terrorist label from the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI).

The declaration by the Italian Parliamentarians said: “We ask the European Union and France, as the EU’s rotating presidency to remove the terror label against the PMOI, which has already been annulled by the European Court of Justice and the UK court. The PMOI is the pivotal force within the Iranian opposition and is the antithesis to fundamentalism and the key to resolving the Iranian crisis and bringing stability to the region because of its vast popular support, it democratic platform and commitment to defending a democratic and tolerant Islam. “
Mrs. Rajavi told Italian lawmakers at the Chamber of Deputies that the European Union’s current policy of “appeasement” toward Tehran is “getting nowhere”. She said that nuclear negotiations between the world’s major powers and Iran on 19 July in Geneva had failed, and that the “mullahs’ regime” is working to develop nuclear weapons.

“Firmness in the correct policy in dealing with this regime. The choice of either appeasement or war is only a deception”, Rajavi said. “There is a third option: democratic change in Iran by the Iranian people and their Resistance. This is the only way to avert a war”. She added, “I urge the European Union to remove this label and no longer deprive the world from the most important lever for change in Iran and in the fight against fundamentalism.”

Rajavi’s visit to the Italian Parliament was fiercely denounced by Tehran. Roberto Toscano, Italy’s ambassador to Tehran, was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday in protest to Rajavi’s meeting with the Italian lawmakers.