
Zarif Resigns as Protesters Protest His Planned Speech in Geneva

MEK supporters rally opposite UN Geneva amid the Fortieth Session of the Human Rights Council, to protest Javad Zarif’s planned speech at the council. Protesters called for regime’s accountability for the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners and for the ongoing violations of human rights in Iran, urging the UN to expel regime’s representatives from the Council.
Members of the Iranian diaspora across Europe and their international allies gathered in Geneva to protest the arrival of the regime’s foreign minister Javad Zarif at the UN. As the UN’s fortieth Human Rights Council convened, the Iranian resistance used Zarif’s arrival as an opportunity to draw attention to the glaring human rights violations perpetuated by the Iranian regime.
#Iranian demonstrators in front of the United Nations in Geneva demand expulsion of mullahs diplomat-terrorists while chanting “democracy, freedom with #MaryamRajavi.”#IStandWithMaryamRajavi #IranRegimeOutOfUN#HRC40 #FreeIran@USUN @eu_eeas@EU_UNGeneva pic.twitter.com/BMDxEMKaSR
— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) February 26, 2019
A Violent and Bloody Regime
Under current President Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian regime has carried out at least 3,590 executions, including 30 executions on those that were juveniles when the crime was allegedly committed. This figure makes Iran the country with the highest rate of executions per capita in the world.
As members of the Iranian resistance protested the regime’s atrocities in Geneva, they carried images of those executed by the mullahs over the forty years of their tyrannical rule. They also carried banners condemning the regime’s 1988 massacre of the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK).
Over the space of a single summer in 1988, the clerical regime executed around 30,000 members of the political opposition group, the MEK. In Geneva, a small exhibit dedicated to the 30,000 victims of the massacre was erected. The protestors echoed Amnesty International’s recent calls for the UN to open an investigation into the massacre and hold those accountable to justice.
Ending the Mullahs Export of Terror
The protestors also expressed their anger and dismay at the regime’s state-sponsored terror activities that played out across Europe and the West in 2018. The regime was involved in the planning of terror attacks in France, Albania, and the US.
#Iran resistance supporters and #MEK rally out side of @UNGeneva promise Zarif and all mullahs’ agents that there will soon be a tribunal in which they will be held accountable for their crimes.#IranRegimeOutOfUN#HRC40 #FreeIran@UNHumanRights@USADarFarsi pic.twitter.com/UXOMZAqrk2
— Iran Freedom (@4FreedominIran) February 26, 2019
The protestors in Geneva called on the European governments to expel Iranian diplomats and prevent the regime using diplomatic buildings and figures as cover for underground terror activities. The protestors held banners with messages stating that there is no place in the UN for executioners and terrorist-agents.
Infighting in Within the Regime Leadership
As protestors gathered, Javad Zarif issued his resignation in a surprise twist of events. His resignations underscored protestors messages that the Iranian regime is in turmoil. Infighting has caused deep rifts in the leadership, which most likely prompted Zarif’s sudden resignation.
In the past 5.5 years, Zarif tried to create a façade of a “moderate image” for #Iran’s religious fascism and pave the way for trade with the regime, intensification of warmongering and terrorism.#FreeIran #IranRegimeChange
— Mohammad Mohaddessin (@Mohaddessin) February 26, 2019
Explaining the decision, the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI’s) Mohammad Mohaddessin tweeted, “Zarif’s resignation for whatever reason and regardless of the outcome, indicates [an] escalation of the crisis and internal power struggle in the regime, also its international failures.”
Mohaddessin said, “in the past 5.5 years, Zarif tried to create a façade of a “moderate image” for Iran’s religious fascism and pave the way for trade with the regime,” he added, “Zarif’s time has come to an end. Whether his resignation is finalized or overturned… [the] world will no longer be duped by Rouhani & Zarif.”
Staff Writer
Tags: 1988 Massacre, HRC40, Human Rights, Iran human rights, Javad Zarif, MEK, MEK Support, Mujahedin-e Khalq, National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), PMOI, UN Human Rights Council