Opponents of Iran regime find their voice in Paris

Rajavi's message Saturday to the crowd of 10,000 or more just outside Paris was that Iran needed neither nuclear weapons nor nuclear power but rather secular democracy, presumably led by Rajavi herself or her husband, Massoud Rajavi, who is now presumed to be in hiding in Iraq.

But the meeting's deeper message was that the Rajavi organization was still alive and biding its time.

The national council, which Maryam Rajavi heads, has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States because of the violent tactics of its military arm.

The United States and the European Union have made the same declaration about the council's dominant military arm, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People's Holy Warriors.

Its militia in Iraq has been disarmed and confined to a camp north of Baghdad since May 2003. Rajavi's freedom to travel was restricted after a raid that July on the group's headquarters near Paris.

The organization has been lobbying to have the terrorist label removed and to be taken seriously as a viable opposition movement to topple the theocracy in Iran.

Rajavi has built a loyal following among middle-class Iranian immigrants across Europe, primarily through an online network of Iranian women.

More women than men support Rajavi "because of the misogynist character of the Iranian regime," one woman at the meeting said.

Most of the women were dressed in typical European summer fashions, in contrast to Rajavi's signature head scarf and matching suit, bright green on this occasion.

They arrived for the weekend event by bus from as far north as Norway and as far south as Italy.

Some had their travel subsidized by local donations.

"They are the only organization that can bring freedom to Iran," said Sofie Soroori, who came to the rally from Sweden.

She dismissed talk of the organization's dark side, blaming the mullahs in Iran for misinformation.

By Craig S. Smith The New York Times

/www.iht.com/