In the international conference held in Paris on Friday,  December 6, 2012 in defense of Ashraf, the world known defender of human rights and a social justice, a leading academic expert in the United States on criminal law, and member of faculty at the Harvard Law School, Professor Alan Dershowitz made the following remarks:

Thank you.  What an absolute honor and responsibility it is to be here today to participate with Mrs. Rajavi, with the members of the panel, and with you in helping to save human lives.  What a privilege that is.

The Talmud and the Quran both say that he who saves a single human life; it is as if they have saved the world.  We are here to save lives.  As human rights advocates, we generally get to become involved only after tragedies have occurred to bring people to justice.  Here, we have an opportunity to prevent a terrible injustice.  There’s good news and there’s bad news, as we’ve heard from many of the panelists.  Let me start with the good news.  I’ve been involved in human rights advocacy for 50 years now and in all of my involvement, I have never seen a more effective example of preventive human rights advocacy than what we have before us today.  On paper, this has worked better than any other human rights project I have ever observed or been involved in. 

Just think about the progress that’s been made over the past year.  [applause]  Many, many of our demands have been met, at least in theory.  Our efforts have now reached the highest level in the State Department.  I had the privilege of actually speaking to the President of the United States, President Obama, recently about this matter.  I’m not free to disclose precisely what he said to me, but I can tell you that he was very deeply involved in this.  He knew the facts very well and he was very sensitive to the concerns and to the responsibilities of the United States.  I had occasion to speak to the chief prosecutor in The Hague about this matter and he, too, although he has no jurisdiction over either Iraq or Iran, reminded me that, of course, the failure to satisfy responsibility and the failure to prevent a massacre when there’s an opportunity to do so may constitute an international war crime.  He, too, is sensitive to these issues.  Mrs. Rajavi and you deserve much credit for demonstrating that human rights advocacy can prevent humanitarian disasters.  In fact, I see this project as a model of how human rights advocacy can save lives and I’m looking forward to the day when I can invite Mrs. Rajavi to the United States to speak to my class at Harvard Law School [applause] and to teach them how to organize effective advocacy for human rights. 

But there is bad news and the bad news is the new reality in Iraq reflected by headlines in today’s International Herald Tribune, “Courting of Iraqi Militants,” “Prime Minister Welcomes Group with Close Ties to Iran and a Violent Record.”  The Shite government of Prime Minister Maliki is welcoming the militant group into Iraq’s political system.  The militant group “Asaib Ahl al-Haq” which is a surrogate for Iran.  We simply cannot trust the current Iraqi government to protect the three thousand and more people at Camp Ashraf.  [applause]  We just can’t trust them.  We’ve seen deaths and injuries since the United States militarily left and we see the government always blaming it on other people.  How easy it would be for the Iranians, with the Iraqi government, to organize a horrible, horrible massacre and just to say our fingerprints are not on it.  We were not responsible, just as the Iraqi government disclaimed responsibility for the previous massacres and terrible events that occurred.  We must get these innocent civilians out of Iraq.  It is absolutely essential.  We must get them resettled in peaceful counties where they are safe around the world and we must get this organization delisted immediately, as a matter of law, as a matter of fact, and as a matter of morality.  [applause]

I had the occasion this week to speak to Eli Wiesel, who asked me to convey to this group today his deepest concerns and his deep commitment to continue to work and to use the prestige of his Nobel Peace Prize to bring to bear on this life saving activity.  And he reminded me of something he said many times, that the major lesson of the Holocaust for him was always believe the threats of your enemies more than the promises of your friends.  And we’ve had promises [applause] and we’ve had threats.  But now is the time for action.

Everybody involved seems to want somebody else to be responsible.  Whenever you speak to the State Department, they say, no, no, no.  It has to be done by the Justice Department.  The Justice Department says the State Department.  The UN says the United States government.  The United States government says the Iraqi government.  Responsibility stops with the United States government.  It is the body that made the promise.  It’s the body that disarmed the residents and it is responsible, legally, and morally.  It has been said that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.  That’s not what the Bible says.  The Bible says, “Do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbors.”  The people in Camp Ashraf are our neighbors.  They are our brothers and sisters.  We must not stand idly by.  [applause]  We must not do what the world did when Armenians were murdered.  We must not do what the world did during the Holocaust.  We must not do what the world did during several of the most recent genocides in Africa.  We must prevent this massacre from occurring.  We cannot remain silent.  We must continue to have our voices heard.  I was thrilled to hear that such distinguished former government officials actually protested in front of the White House.  What a message that sends, how important this issue is to the world today.  And we must continue to have our voices heard.

As human rights lawyers and as monitors, we must be allowed to go to Iraq and actually observe and monitor the transfer to make sure that it’s done right. [applause] We must make a promise to the people in Camp Ashraf and that is, we will not be among those who stand idly by.  We will not be those good people who do nothing.  We will not remain silent.  Our voices will be heard.  Our legal talents will be used.  Our status will be employed.  We will use every moral, legal force in our power to prevent this massacre from happening.  And what we need to do is find countries around the world that are prepared to take these people, these innocent, good, decent people into their countries for at least until such time as they can safely return to their homes and do what they want to do as free and refugee people.  We must not remain silent.  We have an obligation.  Responsibility stops with every human being.  We have the great honor and privilege to be in a position to save human lives.  We must succeed.  It is our obligation.  We cannot shirk that responsibility.  We will not rest.  We cannot rest until every single one of the residents of Camp Ashraf is safely in a country that can actually secure their liberty and safety.  That is the short term.  The long term, as many of us have heard, obviously involves changes in what is going on today in Iran.  We all are hopeful that someday Iran will see the kind of liberty and freedom that has been so lacking.  But in the meantime, we have the responsibility for these 3400 people and I think every one of us on this platform today has pledged to maintain that responsibility until what we have seen on paper becomes a reality, as a Governor Dean mentioned.  He was a doctor and doctors like to see results and, and progress.  The last thing we need is a human rights success in which the operation succeeds, but the patient dies.  We cannot have that kind of success.  We have succeeded on paper.  We have done magnificently, marvelous in moving the immovable and we know that the State Department is often immovable and the UN is even more immovable.  We have had great successes, theoretically.  Now our obligation is to turn these theoretical successes into practical results.  And the only practical result that makes any short term sense is the immediate removal of all of the residents of Camp Ashraf out of the dangerous country of Iraq into safety and security.  That’s what the United States promised.  We’re here to make America keep its promise.  Thank you very much.  [applause]

| More...