Townhall published an article on Thursday by retired U.S. Army Colonel Thomas Cantwell that characterized Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani, who was recently killed by a U.S. drone strike, as “an obstacle to both U.S. interests and Iranian democracy.”

Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan published an opinion piece on the Fox News website on Tuesday arguing that mainstream media reports about protests in Iran have failed to note the anti-regime sentiment that has characterized public protests over the past two years, which underlies the “stark divisions between the Iranian people and the country’s ruling theocracy.”

Supporters of MEK rallied in London on Saturday, December 28 to reiterate their support for the nationwide protests of the Iranian people and to mark the 40th anniversary of the killing of more than 1,500 Iranian protesters in November this year by Iranian security forces. The rally was held in front of the 10th Downing Street, the official home and office of the British Prime Minister.

On December 20, 2019, four lawmakers from the UK House of Commons and the House of Lords released a Press Statement concerning a joint statement by the British Committee for a Free Iran the International Committee of MPs for a Democratic Iran, announcing support of over 200 Parliamentarians from 14 European countries for Iran protests and expressed their solidarity with the Iranian resistance.

In a November 24, 2019 op-ed in the Dallas Morning News, Homeira Hesami of the Iranian-American Community of North Texas argued that the international community lacks a complete picture of the Iranian regime’s response to the nationwide protests that are raging throughout the country. Because Internet access in Iran is still limited to government officials and state-run media, the world has only had a glimpse of the crime against humanity that is currently taking place.

 

The Iranian regime’s foreign policy has increased in its brazenness, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) attacking or seizing commercial vessels in the Gulf, bombing Saudi oil infrastructure, and continuing its aggressive policies in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, but Professor Ken Blackwell warns that the US should not decrease pressure on the mullahs.

#IRANIAN REGIME USES TERRORIST PROXIES TO CARRY OUT OPERATIONS WORLDWIDE.@gobadi–#MEK spokeperson:“The expansion of the regime’s conduct in the region did not stem from its strength &prowess. Rather it was the consequence of the weak approach of the intnl community.”#FreeIran

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) August 6, 2019

He wrote: “The regime’s recent actions cannot simply be interpreted as a response to rising levels of pressure from the US. Its abuses both at home and abroad have been getting worse for quite some time. And they have done so not because of newfound foreign pressure but because of the predictable absence thereof.”

In his op-ed for Townhall, he quoted the head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),  Maryam Rajavi, as saying that the impunity enjoyed by the regime’s leaders have resulted in emboldening them to export terrorism and warmongering.

The regime’s crimes have been overlooked in favor of appeasement for four decades now, the most heinous of which was the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners who refused to disavow the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), the main Iranian opposition. The massacre was the subject of an extensive exhibition at the NCRI’s international conference in July, where Rajavi noted that even after they brought this evidence to the West, they remained silent.

Blackwell wrote: “America is known to be the foremost defender of human rights around the world and has taken on the scourge of terrorism head-on. Human rights abuses and terrorism are the two pillars of the clerical regime’s strategy for survival… As long as Tehran is not held directly accountable for more than 30,000 deaths, the regime will be emboldened to carry out more violations with impunity. Why would Tehran see any reason to scale back its malign activities, unless the US leads the way by making it clear that its standards for regime behavior have changed?”

The #Iranian Resistance is calling for an independent and international inquiry into the #1988Massacre and it is the responsibility of the international community to support it in any way it can.https://t.co/EGEWX4DTsP#Iran #MEK #FreeIran @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/bFnmppVoRu

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) October 23, 2019

He advised that the only way to do this is by holding the regime accountable for its past crimes and bringing those responsible to justice. They must be shown that their actions have consequences. He further noted that while the “maximum pressure” policy is a step in the right direction, economic sanctions are not enough on their own. Instead, the regime’s crimes must be referred to the UN Security Council.

Blackwell wrote: “A proper investigation of the massacre will undoubtedly lead to a conviction in the International Criminal Court for a number of high-ranking Iranian officials, including the current Justice Minister and the current judiciary chief. The US should clearly send a message that Iranian officials are not immune from their wrongdoing. The Iranian people will see that the world supports them as never before and will rise up to demand, once and for all, a new, democratic government. The American administration needs to bring Tehran’s human rights violations into focus to force the regime to rethink its aggression.”

NBC News published an article on October 17, which contained several long-disproved claims about the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK Iran). Anyone could see that the source for this article is actually the Iranian Regime, but after NBC refused to publish the rebuttal, written by Ali Safavi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), he decided to publish it.

In the rebuttal, Safavi made seven points which we will address briefly, but you should read it in full.

Safavi began by explaining that the MEK has spent 40 years fighting for democracy against the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world and, as a result, has been severely attacked by those who advocate appeasing the mullahs.

He said: “Unable to openly defend the religious dictatorship in Iran, these apologists instead demonize the regime’s democratic alternative to justify appeasing the current regime.”

I've looked through every tweet by Obama's counter-terror chief @Benjamin05055 & haven't found a word against Iranian regime's terrorism. Yet he attacks @realDonaldTrump's 'maximum pressure' campaign & @StateDept's decision to designate Iran's IRGC as a terror org. Wondering why? pic.twitter.com/AlftxsNyCL

— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) October 20, 2019

Safavi noted that the article quoted former State Department official Daniel Benjamin, who was the main opponent to the MEK’s legal battle against the false terrorist designation levied against it in the 1990s to appease the mullahs.

This is not the first time NBC has sought a quote from Benjamin. Last year, when European law enforcement agencies foiled the regime’s terror plot against the MEK in Paris, NBC echoed Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif by calling the plot a “false flag” and then quoted Benjamin as saying that nothing was simple and shifting the blame to the victims.

Then, Safavi quotes the US State Department’s recent release about the Iranian regime’s malign activities during nuclear negotiations and after the signing of the nuclear agreement as proof of Iran’s evil actions, especially against the MEK.

Safavi wrote: “The dozens of honourable and bipartisan American figures who support the MEK and the Iranian Resistance represent the conscience of humanity against the evils of the theocratic rulers of Iran. Targeting these personalities, including America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who have distinguished careers, is part of the clerical regime’s vilification campaign against the MEK, which is sadly echoed by supporters of appeasement vis-a-vis the regime like Daniel Benjamin.”

Safavi explained that Benjamin had while working as the State Department’s Counterterrorism official “inexplicably” refused to implement the orders of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to delist the MEK, meaning that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to do it herself.

Safavi then easily dismissed claims that the MEK has no base in Iran, citing that over 100,000 of its members have been executed, yet they still continue to donate money to the MEK, hang up their posters, and fight for freedom.

Safavi wrote: “Such a movement could not have survived, much less continuously expand, for more than five decades without an extensive popular base. Why would an organization that lacks social support become the clerical regime’s main existential problem?… Hours after the publication of the NBC article, the clerical regime’s state-run media outlets, including the Fars news agency tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), embraced it and translated it into Farsi. Serving the godfather of terrorism and arming it with more fodder to suppress the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance is utterly shameful.”

More than 100K of #MEK members &sympathizers have been executed. Such a movement could not have survived, much less continuously expand, for more than five decades without an extensive popular base. https://t.co/SXRQDBOIaA #NBC #FakeNewsMedia #WeSupportMEK #FreeIran pic.twitter.com/2w6jykoORH

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 20, 2019

Thousands of people in Iran are being forced to sell their body parts, including livers, lungs, bone marrow, blood, kidneys, and corneas, on the growing black market, according to opposition activists.

The National Council of Resistance to Iran (NCRI) provided a dossier detailing allegations of the shocking trade, which has turned into a “lucrative business”, to the Daily Star Online.

The Iranian activists, who are living in exile, said that the economic strain in Iran is why thousands of people are desperate enough to sell their organs, which can go for up to $50,000.

NCRI spokesman Shahin Gobadi described this as an “untold catastrophe” and a “systemic problem”.

He added: “The tragedy of Iranians, especially the youths, selling their body parts to survive or to address their own basic needs or those of their families in a country like Iran that has seven percent of the world’s natural resource is an untold catastrophe.”

The dossier includes photos of graffiti, where people have advertised their organs on buildings near hospitals, and a website which advertises the buying and selling of organs via “organ brokers”, who prey on the desperation of both buyer and seller. Messages on this site include:

• “Hello, I want to see my kidney under the market price”
• “Willing to sell kidney due to financial problems”
• “Urgent sale of kidney”
• “I need the money urgently, I am willing to come anywhere in Iran”
• “God would damn the owner of this website”

Must read:
Exclusive – Selling Body Parts in #Iran: An Untold Tragedy https://t.co/Tv53vi2APd#HumanRights #IranRegimeChange #No2Rouhani

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 19, 2019

Most of those selling their organs are aged 22-34 and are encouraged to submit their blood group, mobile number and personal details to the broker.

The NCRI spoke to one dealer, who said that organ brokers can earn up to $56,000 a month, who admitted preying on the poor and even the families of “brain-dead patients” in hospitals.
The dealer said: “Most of those who sell their kidneys are from the lower strata of the society. I find them through friends who live in small towns or poor suburbs. Subsequently, they are satisfied and the price is set. Of course, they are introduced as the donor and the acquaintance of the patient to make the job easier.”

Kidneys are the most in-demand, with blood plasma and livers being more expensive. Here is the price per body part on the black market:

• Kidneys – $5k to $10k
• Livers – $50k
• Corneas – $20k
• Bone marrow – $10k

Tehran is reportedly the center of the organ trade, with an alley known as “Kidney Street” and the area is tagged with numerous A4 sheets of paper counting personal details of people selling their organs.

Resistance and Political Change Will Come from the Depths of Economic Despair

Gobadi said that the Iranian Regime had pillaged the country’s resources and spent billions running “proxy wars” in Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria.

He said: “It is very telling that the painful trend of selling body parts continued and even intensified following the signing of the Iran Nuclear Deal, which released more than 100 billion dollars and enabled the regime to sell more than two million barrels of oil on a daily basis. As the Iranian Resistance said at the time, this windfall was not spent on improving the abysmal living conditions of the Iranian people.”

He continued: “Through embezzlement, theft and astronomical pillaging of these resources, the Iranian regime’s leaders have devoted most of these resources to suppression at home and export of terrorism as well as financing terrorist groups, fomenting proxy wars in the Middle East and working to obtain weapons of mass destruction.”

Staff Writer

 

Recent changes in the White House caused many reactions with different attitudes. Some still seeking appeasement policy toward Iranian regime took the advantage of this event to show their opposition to a firm policy vis-à-vis the world’s most active state sponsor of terror, religious fascism ruling Iran, and attacking the democratic opposition, National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) to justify their support for the terrorist regime of Iran.

Jason Rezaian, a well-known advocator of an appeasement policy, in his Sep 10 Global Opinions column in Washington Post wrote: “The shake-up creates the first real opportunity for Trump to pursue a policy of engaging Iran.”

Mr. Shahin Gobadi, the MEK Press Spokesman in Paris, in an article entitled: “Misplaced and Premature jubilation by an apologist of the murderous mullahs of Iran” discusses this issue.

He challenges the Rezaian’s allegation about MEK and its popularity in Iran writing:

” How does Rezaian know of the true level of support that the MEK enjoys inside Iran under a totalitarian state? What is his measure of sufficient evidence for the MEK’s popularity in a society as complex and repressed as Iran? And how did he conclude that the MEK is reviled by Iranians in a country of over 80 million!? Who are his sources? The Iranian regime and its lobby in the west who want to insinuate that there is no viable alternative to the ruling theocracy and therefore, it must be engaged.”

” Rezaian’s absurd claim that MEK “can claim no popular support” loses muster in face of the facts on the ground. Outside Iran, where Iranians can express their views without the fear of being persecuted, tens of thousands of MEK supporters held major rallies in five major European capitals, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Stockholm, London and in Washington, DC to call for regime change. Indeed, the three-hour-long rally and march from the State Department to the White House, not only snarled traffic in the nation’s capital for several hours, but it also caught the attention of the mainstream media, save for the Post. Even the White House noticed the elaborate and well-organized rally. “What we want to do is stand with the Iranian people, thousands of whom gathered outside the White House on Friday, and tens of thousands of which, took to the streets last year in communities across Iran, we want to stand with them” Vice President Mike Pence told CBS’s Face the Nation on June 23, 2019.” Mr. Gobadi added.

The Spokesman of the MEK in Paris, argues that advocators of appeasing mullahs, including Rezaian, hardly can understand this reality that the religious dictatorial regime in Iran is in a strategic dead-end.

In conclusion, Mr. Gobadi writes: ” The era when the mullahs could forestall the crisis of being overthrown by relying on appeasement is over. The Iranian street will determine the fate the mullahs, especially since all the propaganda by the likes of Rezaian about Rouhani’s moderation has turned out to be hollow. And if past is prologue, the mullahs’ disastrous 40-year reign has proven that no amount of political and economic concessions will moderate the behavior of this regime. The troglodyte clerics only understand the language of decisiveness and “maximum pressure.”

A shorter version of Mr. Gobadi’s response to Razaian’s allegations appeared in the Washingtonpost.com on September 16.

Staff Writer

 

 

The Iranian Regime has denied basic human rights to the Iranian people, especially women, for 40 years now, but the pro-democracy movement has remained strong and active, despite vicious reactions by the Regime.

On occasion, this resistance has been visible to the world, such as for the 2009 protests against the rigged election and the nationwide uprising in January 2018. In every uprising, protest, and pro-democracy movement, women have been at the forefront and, according to women’s rights advocate Dr. Maria Ryan, that is no accident.

She wrote for The Hill on Thursday, September 12, 2019, that the mullahs have targeted Iranian women with “repressive, misogynistic laws and execution”, explaining that a female soccer fan died from self-immolation last week because she expected to be jailed for attending a football match.

Women are crucial to resisting Iran's regime https://t.co/6SuivoN5sP

— Maria Ryan (@MariaRyanNH) September 12, 2019

Ryan spoke at the annual conference of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in July, at Ashraf 3, the new home of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK), during a panel entitled “Women in the Iranian Resistance: Defying the Misogynist Regime, Paying the Price of Freedom”.

Ryan wrote of that event: “I met many brave women who survived the mullahs’ brutal crackdown. Many said they had suffered in torture chambers for long years. They shared their stories with me, their personal suffering and the loss of loved ones.”

She continued: “They explained that, while living in Iran, they were not able to choose their own clothes or their professions; a girl as young as nine years old could be married, they said, and a man could have multiple wives. They were forced to leave Iran and were promised safety in camps inside Iraq, they recounted to me, only to be targeted by bombs and gunfire. Several of them said they lost many of their friends to these attacks.”

Ryan said that daily life had become so difficult for many Iranians that growing numbers are turning to drugs to dull the pain or selling their organs to make ends meet. She said that, despite this, the women she met “inspired” her with their “determination, loyalty, patriotism and faith”.

Maryam Rajavi accompanied by lawmakers, dignitaries and women rights activists in Conference “Iran Uprising and The Role of Women”- Paris – February 17, 2018#WomenForce4Change #Iran pic.twitter.com/kpNys2qtCj

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) February 17, 2018

She explained that the NCRI and its members want basic freedoms and are preparing to serve as an interim government if the Iranian people overthrow the mullahs.

Ryan said: “Whether or not you believe that regime change in Iran is truly just around the corner, I am absolutely convinced that with such women in the ranks of the resistance, the change will come to Iran.”

 Staff writer