"A dove will not be borne of a viper": says a proverb uttered by Maryam Rajavi, who since 1993 has headed the National Council of Resistance of Iran (Ncri), which rallies against the regime of Teheran. The president illustrated yesterday at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg the reasons for the exiled democratic organisations: "The regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is violent, repressive, dangerous for the country and a threat to the whole world". Rajavi tells of the tortures inflicted to his opponents, with people hanged in the squares, strikers who have their tongues cut off. "My people live in terror, yet they do not stop protesting, asking for changes". "There’s no hope of getting any change from the mullahs. And the negotiations that the EU and the international community have started with the government to stop the nuclear tests are useless as well. The only hope would come from a dramatic change in the political guide. We must go back to democracy". The Ncri, founded in 1981, is headed by a Parliament that is currently composed of 530 members, 52 per cent of whom are women. Its members include delegates of the ethnic and religious minorities of Iran. (to be continued)
