Speech [Claimants to human rights; Media imperialism]

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

I thank the respected ladies who are sympathetic to us and in these tragedies that have befallen the people of Iran have expressed their support to us; but I remind you the respected ladies, that neither you nor we and nor those who were close to the Shah, have complete information of the crimes of the Shah. Their crimes had levels and degrees some of which were obvious and all have seen them. The news of these crimes and murders and imprisonments and tortures has reached the outside world from within the prison walls. One level of the crimes and treason were those that the ministers of the Shah and his coteries knew about and the likes of you and I had no information about them. Some of these horrible crimes were just known to the Shah; the treasons that he committed were not known to the others. We cannot know the depth of the crimes and treasons of this father and son. At the most, one of you has lived here for twenty-two years «1», while we, who were here all our life and were informed of the events, cannot gain information of the depths of these crimes. History too cannot record the depths of these crimes and treasons. History can know only as much as it has information of. The crimes perpetrated by the Shah are mostly concealed and only he and the likes of Jimmy Carter know about them.

I thank you for organizing an association in support of us and for wishing to convey our viewpoints to the world. We are the oppressed of the world because the world sided with the despotic Shah; and all the foreign governments- except a few of them- sided with him and supported his cruelty and oppression. Even now, our nation is oppressed because the foreign writers showed this Revolution in a different light abroad, and spread lies and rumors so that our nation was portrayed other than what it is and other than what you are seeing in the foreign newspapers. One of the things that they wrote was that those who were killed and executed were being dug out from their graves by the people and were cut to pieces! You check all over Iran and see whether a single dead person has been treated in this manner; if so then they will have the right to that say such a thing has occurred. Nevertheless, I know that most of the foreign writers are financed by these very news media. They have seen that the people of Iran because of the power of their faith started an uprising because of which the hands of the masters were cut off and the hands of those who passed on these interests to them were cut off too. They undertook this propaganda in order to take revenge, or to return the country to its previous situation in order to secure their interests.

All these propaganda, are contrary to the truth. You can see for what type of individuals the death sentence is being issued here. It would be good if you look at these individuals, go through their files, and see whether these individuals, for whom the death sentence has been passed and carried out, had killed one person or ten persons? Or have they brought misery to a single nation? These individuals brought misery to the whole nation; and in a span of fifty years subjugated everybody. They committed such crimes that had there been no court of law, then the nation themselves would have caught hold of them and lynched them. The courts of law were able to control the sentiments of the nation; a nation that has seen its youth being butchered in the streets on the orders of the likes of these; on the orders of this same Shah; and on the orders of this very Amir `Abbas Howeyda; «2» and on the orders of this very Ni`matullah Nasiri «3»- head of the dreaded secret police `SAVAK' and their likes. People cannot bear to see them alive.

These who claim to be the champions of human rights and show their support for the likes of Amir `Abbas Howeyda and express their sorrow and condolence; «4» are they in fact the supporters of human rights or are the supporters of the countries and the governments of the superpowers?

If they are the proponents of human rights then how is it that for fifty years these human beings here were being tortured; were on the brink of execution; these humans that were being roasted alive in the frying pans here and the human beings whose legs were being sawed off, why did they never breathe a word about them? Why are they breathing today and are indulged in propaganda today? Were not those who were killed human beings? Did not these have human rights? Is it not the right of a human being to seek retribution if a person kills another person? This is the right of a human; it is the right of an individual who is the off spring or the family of the killed person to seek retribution from them. However, the fact is that these human rights' groups are at the service of the superpowers in the name of" human rights". The groups who clamor for human rights wish to trample upon the human rights. These presses and journalists who produce falsities in the name of service to humanity are at the service of the superpowers. They in fact, trample upon human rights.

After expressing my thankfulness, I would like the association that you have now organized in Iran to probe the conditions of our nation and the situation in the country, to analyze the situation in Iran and report it as it is. Find out whether the people here are massacring. Are these people digging out the graveyards and chopping the corpses into pieces? Are the people indulged in arson? Should not you investigate this and see whether the issue is one of seeking revenge in an inhuman manner? Or no, that there are courts of law that after their guilt has been proven- and all of them were guilty of a large number of crimes- they are condemned to death. And if these courts were not present and if it was not because of the courts that the people were being restrained, then the people themselves would have revolted and taken the law in their own hands because those who are being executed are those who committed public killings of the people; those who were responsible for the burning alive of more than four-hundred people in a cinema hall in Abadan; «5» these are the ones that are being executed and not ordinary people. Ordinary people numbering about six-hundred or seven-hundred people as you observed have been freed so far, because their crimes were few. Those who are sentenced to imprisonment or condemned to death are those individuals who have committed serious crimes. This is how it has been portrayed in the foreign newspapers and this has resulted in the people of Iran becoming cynical of the foreigners, because of these newspaper articles, and because of these claimants of human rights.

You should enlighten them, and inform the people of Iran, that these people are not the supporters of human rights; rather they are the supporters of the rights of superpowers. They are not from among the noble people of Europe; rather they are a bunch of paid hirelings. In any case, I thank you for intending to help our nation to resolve this difficult problem. Propagandistic help are the greatest help that you can give us now. May God be with you.

May God's peace, mercy, and blessings be upon you.