Women Activists and Politicians from Around the World: Rouhani's Attitude Toward Women's Rights Proves he is no Moderate

PARIS, March 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Women activists from around the globe joined with prominent women politicians and dignitaries from Europe and the US and met in Paris for an international conference on Saturday, March 1^st, in advance of International Women's Day on March 8^th. Participants rejected the notion that Iran's new President, Hassan Rouhani, has any moderate agenda. They pointed out his lack of moderation is especially transparent when it comes to the issue of women's rights.

The participants emphasized the need to support the Iranian Resistance against the religious dictatorship that now rules Iran and preventing Tehran from supporting Islamic fundamentalists.

Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, was the keynote speaker of the event. In a moving speech, Rajavi said few countries in the Muslim world have remained immune from Tehran's intransigence and meddling plots. She called the Tehran regime the primary culprit in the massacre of 140,000 civilians in Syria.

Speakers from old and new Europe as well as Syria, Palestine, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, India, Canada and Australia reiterated that Hassan Rouhani is part of the establishment - and his only mandate is to maintain the clerical rule in Iran. Participants criticized Western policy regarding Tehran as "appeasement" that only plays into the hands of Tehran and its proxies in Islamic countries.

In her remarks, Mrs. Rajavi said that the mullahs' regime will crumble if they put aside misogyny and the export of fundamentalism from their policies. That is why neither mullah Mohammad Khatami, Iran's former president, nor Rouhani made any moves to alleviate the systematic suppression of and discrimination against Iranian women, as this would be tantamount to the beginning of the end for the clerical rule.

Rajavi stressed the need to defend women of the Iranian Resistance, who are among the 3,000 members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Camp Liberty, near Baghdad.

Prominent speakers included Michele Alliot-Marie, former foreign and defense minister of France; Linda Chavez, former White House Director of Public Liaison; Kim Campbell, former Prime Minster of Canada; and Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian presidential candidate who was held hostage for years. Dozens of Iranian women's associations in exile from Europe, the U.S. and Canada dispatched delegates to the conference.

A similar event was held on Sunday, March 2^nd. Women politicians and activists from Islamic countries constituted the majority of participants in the Sunday conference.