Ingrid Betancourt pays tribute to martyred PMOI (MEK) members

NCRI - Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate in Colombia, has paid tribute to the members of the main Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) who were slain last week in a terrorist rocket attack on Camp Liberty, near Baghdad, by agents of the mullahs' regime in Iran.

"I am deeply sorry. I share your agony and I am full of revolt and sorrow," Ms. Betancourt said on November 1 at a ceremony in Paris held to remember the PMOI (MEK) members who were killed in the attack.

The rocket attack left 24 unarmed and defenseless PMOI (MEK) members killed and dozens of others injured.

"When I look at the faces of these men and this woman, I see the face of the Iranian nation that has been tortured, smashed, lashed and stoned. At the same time, I see a nation in Iran that is struggling and fighting; a nation with the courage to stand up to the dragon and demon of religious tyranny; a ghastly dictatorship that has now turned into a darkness and frightful night in the Middle East. A night not just for Iran, but for the whole Middle East and all of us. We know that the tentacles of the Iranian regime’s evil octopus have been extended to the whole world; even here in France and everywhere."

"By looking at these martyrs, I see people that defend our values, and it is to pay tribute to them that we are gathered here. I want to share with you a new feeling that is growing in me because by sitting here and sharing your feelings as the relatives and comrades of these courageous martyrs, I should acknowledge that in the face of the pain and agony that exists, there is another reality and that is the tremendous and humiliating defeat of the mullahs."

"In a comprehensive scheme which they had worked on for months and years, they planned to destroy Camp Liberty and all its residents. They fired 80 missiles into a small area. Their objective was not to kill 23. Everyone knows that. They wanted to kill all of the residents. It is a miracle that they are alive."

"Thus, I say to the survivors in Camp Liberty that we praise you, not just for your quick reaction and valor, but I want to say that we are very grateful to you for your steadfastness and your perseverance in upholding the values that are our values as well. It is there that the true fight for our values is taking place. The fact that they are still alive and the fact that they lived through this hideous aggression indicate that they are the light that shines in the darkness and they are the dawn after this thick night."

"I should also say that I praise Maryam Rajavi, the woman that is your leader and my sister, with deep feelings. In a way she is the mother of you all. I know that in a day not too far, we will be in Tehran with her to end this thick night the end of which I see right now."