Struan Stevenson, a former member of the European Parliament

The Herald published an article from Struan Stevenson, former president of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq.

“Nowruz, the Persian New Year, began yesterday. In normal years, Iranians globally would be celebrating the ancient ritual of Nowruz, which marks the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of the first month – Farvardin – in Iranian calendars,” reads Mr. Stevenson’s article.

“It is traditionally a time of great joy for millions of Iranians and non-Iranians around the world who gather to celebrate a season of new life and to wish each other good luck for the year ahead. Sadly, this year, because of the Covid 19 coronavirus epidemic, Nowruz was not a time of great joy inside Iran. Indeed, for the past 41 years, since the 1979 revolution swept the Ayatollahs to power, Nowruz has never been a time of unbridled happiness,” Mr. Stevenson added.

The Scottish politician adds:

“As the ultimate killjoys, the mullahs have tried to scale back Nowruz celebrations. Citing the pre-Islamic roots of the festival from thousands of years ago, the theocratic regime always frowned upon it, in the same way as they have tried to stamp out music, dancing and most kinds of carefree entertainment that they regard as anti-Islamic, western and decadent. But the 80 million Iranian citizens who have been horribly oppressed by the clerical regime, would not tolerate a ban on their age-old celebrations. It is sadly depressing that the corruption and incompetence of the mullahs have, albeit inadvertently, led to the virtual outlawing of Nowruz this year,”

Pointing those resistance units of the

“People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK Iran), the main democratic opposition movement, are able to provide the only accurate and reliable information coming out of the beleaguered country,”

Struan Stevenson adds:

“Only now, as the extent of the epidemic has become obvious and knowledge is being widely shared on social media, have spokesmen for the regime begun to hint at the extent of the catastrophe. It is evident that the number of those infected is increasing exponentially and referrals to the ill-equipped hospitals have engulfed their ability to cope,”

Reminding a historical event, Mr. Stevenson wrote:

“It is worth remembering that the New Year in question, under the Persian calendar, is 1399. There are uncanny parallels with what is happening in Iran today and events that occurred in medieval 1399. Back in the Middle Ages, Europe was just beginning to recover from the Bubonic Plague pandemic, which had killed millions. England in 1399, was ruled by the tyrannical Richard II, who believed he was answerable only to God and who was thought by many to be clinically insane. He ruled over a cruel and despotic regime where opponents were routinely arrested, brutally tortured and often hanged in public. Women were treated as second class citizens,”

“The comparisons with 1399 Iran are striking. A tyrannical and irrational Supreme Leader, who claims he is answerable only to God, rules over a cruel and brutal medieval regime where arrests, torture and public hangings are commonplace and where misogyny and the treatment of women as second-class citizens are sadly all too familiar. In the opening scene of Shakespeare’s play Richard II, the King says: “Forget, forgive, conclude and be agreed: Our doctors say this is no month to bleed.” But the people of Iran are bleeding, and they will not forgive or forget. We can only pray that the Persian year 1399 will see the Ayatollahs swept from power, ushering in a happy new year for Iranians.”