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Iranian opposition leader condemns abduction of French journalists |
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Wednesday, 01 September 2004 |
Iran Focus
 Paris, Aug. 31 – The leader of an umbrella coalition of Iranian opposition groups strongly condemned the abduction of two French journalists in Iraq and called for their immediate release.
In a statement issued in Paris, Maryam Rajavi, the charismatic leader of the coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran, condemned “any form of hostage-taking, maltreatment and harassment of innocent civilians under any pretext.”
Journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot of France disappeared Aug. 19 on their way from the Iraqi capital to the southern city of Najaf. A group calling itself The Islam Army in Iraq claims to be holding the two and has demanded that France abolish its ban on Muslim head scarves in public schools.
Rajavi, herself a Moslem woman, said the murder of innocent people was a “blatant contradiction of the principles and teachings of Islam as a religion of mercy and peace.”
The NCRI has elected Rajavi to serve as the interim president of Iran during the transitional period after the fall of the current theocracy. |
