The Iranian debate
It is astonishing to witness the radical and hostile viewpoints of Ms Fariba Hachtroudi, the active agent of the terrorist group «National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)» on Iran’s internal and foreign developments, being published in the esteemed Kathimerini newspaper on August 16-17, 2003. The press department of this embassy, considering the false and unfair attributions laid upon the Islamic Republic of Iran by Ms Fariba Hachtroudi, reserves the right to respond to the abovementioned article. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is actually the terrorist group otherwise named MKO «Mojahedin Khalgh Organization,» which is considered a terrorist group by US and European Union member states. The leaders of MKO are supported by the deposed Iraqi regime, and through its misled agents committed thousands of terrorists acts against the people of Iran and Iraq (Kurdish and Shi’ite) as well. They shamefully took pride in their inhuman commitments, which aroused the hatred of the Iranian people against MKO and NCRI’s active leaders and their crime perpetrators. The USA and the EU member states, noticing the nature of this group, even if late, set out to wage an all-out counterterrorism campaign against them. After the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, the leaders of MKO tried to liquidate its ex-members as dissidents, and to restart terrorist acts against the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran across the European Union; but their plot was duly intervened by the French government, which led to the arrest of many MKO agents in Paris. Nowadays the leaders of this group and Ms Fariba Hachtroudi, as well as enjoying the press freedom in European countries, are trying to distort the image of the Islamic Republic of Iran through their familiar propaganda strategy. We feel fully confident that the European societies, especially the elites and journalists, wouldn’t give any credit to the false labels repeatedly attributed to the Iranian religious beliefs. The MKO convicts Iran’s government of breaching human rights and, while trying to ignore their terrorist commitments, make efforts to damage the positive trend now flourishing between Iran and the world, especially the European Union. The Press Department of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, appreciating the kind attention of the Hellenic mass media, especially Kathimerini newspaper, to the internal developments and foreign relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, announces its readiness to increase cooperation and exchange of views with the media and those interested in Iran’s affairs. E. SEYED HOSSEINI, Press Dept., 2nd Cllr, Iranian Embassy in Athens.
