The People’s Mojahedin of Iran pay tribute to Abbé Pierre

Agence France Presse
January 29, 2007

The Iranian resistance movement, the People’s Mojahedin, based in Iraq, paid tribute to Abbé Pierre, the leader of the struggle against poverty in France, “for his support to the Iranian people’s resistance”.

A ceremony paying homage to the “French champion of Justice” took place on Saturday in Ashraf, the the headquarters of the movement, and situated 80 km north of Baghdad, the group noted in a statement, adding that representatives of the Iraqi Christian community were also present.

The founder of the Emmaüs community, which supports the poor and which is present in almost forty countries, died in Paris on January 22.

“Sedigheh Hosseini, Secretary General of the People’s Mojahedin, presented a biography of Abbé Pierre, that he had dedicated to the champions of Ashraf last month and that arrived in Iraq at the time of his death”, the statement said.

On December 23, Abbé Pierre met President Maryam Rajavi, to express his “satisfaction” at the decision of the European Court of Justice to cancel the freeze of the movement’s assets.

“I have been in contact with the Iranian Resistance for more than 12 years and I cannot hide my sincere liking for them”, Abbé Pierre wrote in February to the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Javier Solana, according to the organization.

In this letter, he had considered that the Mojahedin “attempt to put an end to the injustices and crimes committed by the Iranian regime”, the statement also said.