On the anniversary of appointing Mrs. Maryam Rajavi as the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), MEK’s resistance units expand their activities in Iran.

Bellow find a quick look at these activities.

Ilam:

Eastern province of Ilam, resistance units of the MEK hanged two banners of Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi near Jaghasabz Park. One banner reads: ” Stand up for toppling Velayat-e Faqih’s regime” and the other reads: “Down with Khamenei, Hail to Rajavi”

Tehran:

Members of the MEK’s resistance units in Tehran, the Capital, hanged a banner of Maryam Rajavi in Niavaran Highway. These words appeared on the banner:

Maryam Rajavi: “We can and we must overthrow the Velayat-e Faqih’s regime”

A banner of Maryam Rajavi with the same words was also hung over a bridge in Damavand Highway by another MEK resistance unit in Tehran.

Mashhad:

In Mashhad, a resistance unit of MEK posted a banner of Massoud Rajavi in Honarestan St. The banner reads: “Down with Velayat-e Faqih, Long live Rajavi”

Kerman

Resistance units of MEK hanged a banner of Maryam Rajavi. The banner reads: “Stand up for overthrowing the Velayat-e Faqih regime ”

MEK also reported that resistance units in Isfahan wrote resistance’s slogans on the street walls in this city, such as: “Iran Rajavi, Rajavi Iran”. In the city of Bandar Abbass MEK’s resistance units wrote: ” Democracy, Freedom, with Maryam Rajavi”.

In the city of Qazvin, MEK’s resistance units wrote on the walls: “Down with Khamenei.”

In the Southern city of Hendijan, MEK resistance units destroyed the symbols of the religious fascism ruling Iran.

The multiplication of MEK’s resistance units’ activities spread panic throw the Iranian regime and its officials, so that, they crossed the regime’s red-line, talking about the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) in public. Talking about MEK in State-run TV channels and media is not surprising anymore.

The resistance units of MEK play a crucial role in mobilizing and inspiring people against tyranny in Iran. Torching the symbols of the Iranian regime in public is witnessed more than ever before. Along with protests and gatherings against the regime across the country on a daily basis, activities of resistance units are shaking the dictatorial regime ruling Iran.

Jocelyn Scott:
In #Iran, terrorism and human rights abuses is happening on a daily matter by the regime. No government should be supporting that.
The #NCRI is committed that in the future of Iran, human rights covenants will be followed.#BlacklistMOIS #BlacklistRouhani #MEK pic.twitter.com/28eTAEjefK

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) October 17, 2019

The mullahs hopelessly try to prevent a popular uprising and thwart the expansion of resistance units by using internal suppression and external sponsorship of terrorism. They seek to contain the deep-seated anger within the society at their disastrous and inhuman rule. However, their measures are in vain and we are witnessing the expansion of both public protests and activities of the MEK’s resistance units.

Staff Writer

 

 

 

 

 

Last week, Iran witnessed a wave of protests across the country. Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) recorded more than sixty protests and gatherings by workers, teachers, pensioners, people who lost money to credit firms affiliated with the IRGC, farmers, and college students. Even in prisons, political prisoners protested against the inhuman restrictions imposed by suppressive guards.

Workers in Azarab factory, the central city of Arak, demanded their unpaid salaries.

Embers beneath the ashes

Difficult living conditions for the people along with unprecedented corruption and embezzlement, turned the Iranian society to embers beneath the ashes, so that, every single protest or gathering can be turned into social unrest as it happened in Lordegan last week. The majority of the Iranian population’s living under the poverty line is the source of the crises.

…In the most recent labor unrest in #Iran’s industrial heartland, #Arak, in central Iran, Azarab Company #workers protest for the familiar demands; unpaid wages and the return of the company to the public sector. read more.https://t.co/JwhmiEfOXL#MEK @threadreaderapp#Unroll pic.twitter.com/7fRKjzHHgS

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) October 11, 2019

Panic spreads to the Iranian regime

After the recent uprisings in Lordegan, Arak, Shush, and Isfahan, the mullahs are afraid of more protests and uprisings, particularly in major cities. They know that every public protest in metropolitan cities can easily spread throughout the country as it happened in December 2018 and January 2019 when 140 cities rose up against the regime.

This panic can be seen in the remarks of Major General Bagheri, General Staff of Armed Forces of the Iranian regime when he said: ” The security of Tehran is constant and stable! It is heartwarming security for the people!” It seems that the uprising in Lordegan as well as other cities across the country, has forced the top security and military officials of the regime to concentrate on the “security of the capital!”

Due to this panic, all security and military forces of the Iranian regime have been on high alert since one month ago in the capital, Tehran, to control and suppress any unpredicted uprising.

Imposing military fury on the society, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the main surviving tool for the mullahs. Pointing to the key role of IRGC, Khomeini, the founder of this despotic regime once said: “if there was not the IRGC, there wouldn’t be the country (regime)”

The IRGC has always been ready to suppress any uprising inside Iran for decades.

The policy of appeasement, for four decades, and delay in listing the IRGC as a terrorist organization, helped to expand terrorism in the region and the globe. It cannot be forgotten when Mohsen Rafighdoost, the former Minister of the IRGC, referring to the blast of the US NAVY’s base in Lebanon in 1983 said: ” both the ideology and the explosive (of the blast) had gone from Iran.”

Do Economic Aids Save the #Iranian Regime?
Leashing the mullahs, Europe and the US granted many concessions to the Iranian regime in the past three decades. This “generosity”, sadly, emboldened this regime to expand its terrorism and violation …#MEK https://t.co/n2LS0yEaUU

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) September 15, 2019

It is time to put an end to the destructive policy of appeasement and to recognize the main Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (which includes MEK) as the legitimate and reliable alternative to this terrorist regime. Too much time has already been lost.

Staff Writer

Approaching the phony parliamentary election in Iran, Rouhani, President of the mullahs, said last Wednesday in a show style speech:

“You cannot find any Majlis, Parliament in Iran, better than the first one, there was no observation like this, there was no Guardians Council… even the Mujahedin (PMOI/MEK) participated “.

This remark was the starting point of a new war inside the Iranian regime that still continues. This is not the first time Rouhani nagged at the Guardians Council; true, he has never criticized the Guardians Council for the sake of the Iranian people. It is usual, on the occasion of elections, in order to have a bigger share in plundering and looting the people; he starts pretending he is against the Guardians Council.

The Guardians Council is leverage for Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Iranian regime, to omit any candidate who is not in his favor.

Since the foundation of the totalitarian regime of the mullahs, elections have always been a source of a fight inside the regime; every faction seeks its own share of power. Undermining the Guardians Council, Rouhani tries to rock the boat. However, this time the issue is not just the Guardians Council, but the MEK as well, when Rouhani said: “No Parliamentary election was like the first one; even MEK participated.”

Rouhani has always been a top official in this regime. Participating in all suppressions, killings, and crimes against humanity, Rouhani has headed the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council for sixteen years. Finding Khamenei weaker than ever and the deep social unrest Rouhani dared to cross the regime’s red-line, talking about the MEK. He is also worried about being pushed aside by Khamenei in the next election.

Miscalculation of Rouhani

After the uprising in January 2018 in Iran, all political equations have deeply changed when Iranians chanted “Reformists, Conservatives, The game is over!”; Rouhani’s deceptions do not work any longer. Public protests on a daily bases across the country are the source of fear for the mullahs. Protests of the population of Lordegan, workers of Arak’s Azarab industry, the population of Isfahan for the shortage of water, are just some examples. People demand to overthrow this regime in its entirety.

This is the generation of the December 2017-January 2018 uprising whose resolve has culminated in the formation of resistance units and 1,000 Asharfs or bastions of freedom. #Iran pic.twitter.com/WIjgcyCwy6

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) February 6, 2019

There is no doubt, that the only organization that is capable of restoring the people’s right is the MEK, that is the reason why Rouhani as the president of this regime crosses Khamenei’s red line and talks about the MEK.

Staff Writer

 

Supporters of the main opposition to the Iranian regime gathered in several countries to commemorate the victims of the 1899 massacre of political prisoners, mainly Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) members and supporters, in Iran. The gatherings coincided with World Day Against the Death Penalty and there were ceremonies held in the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom.

During the course of summer 1988, the Iranian regime executed more than 30,000 political prisoners – most of whom were supporters or members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK).

More than three decades later, the Iranian regime has still not been held accountable. Some of those involved in carrying out this terrible crime against humanity has even risen through the regime’s ranks, now occupying high-level and senior positions. The country’s justice minister Alireza Avaei and the head of the judiciary Ebrahim Raisi are two such individuals.

Supporters of the Iranian Resistance and the PMOI / MEK in the Netherlands held a ceremony in front of the Dutch parliament in The Hague. They put up an exhibition showing just a few of the regime’s horrific crimes against the people, especially political prisoners, highlighting that the death penalty is used as a way to suppress the people.

The supporters of the Resistance paid tribute to those that died in 1988 and called for justice for these victims.

#Netherlands: #MEK supporters condemn #DeathPenalty in #Iran
Report by https://t.co/dhiNJSFUBX
PMOI supporters held a demonstration in front of 🇳🇱Parliament to commemorate victims of #1988Massacre
They held banners which read “#FreeIran”and"#NoToExecution"https://t.co/DkYX8Bj6bU

— Iran Freedom-En (@4freedominiran2) October 11, 2019

Hadi Mozafari who was involved in the organization of the ceremony spoke to the crowds, emphasizing that the policies of appeasement towards this so-called moderate government in Iran must stop. He highlighted that during Rouhani’s time in office, there have been more than 3,800 executions. He and the participants called on the international community to ensure that the regime officials involved in the 1988 massacre are tried in international courts for their crimes.

There was also an exhibition set up in the United Kingdom where supporters of the Resistance gathered in front of parliament. The exhibition included pictures of some of the people that died during the 1988 massacre and it remained in place for 4 days.

Human rights activists, legal experts, and witnesses to the Iranian regime’s crimes and brutality spoke at the event, with the main consensus being that the regime must be held accountable for all of its crimes, especially the 1988 massacre that should not go unpunished for another year.

Tahar Boumedra, a board member of the Justice for Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) group and a legal expert, said that the crime the Iranian regime committed 31 years ago is an “atrocious” crime against humanity and the regime’s impunity must end.

A representative of the Iranian communities in London and former political prisoner Reza Fallah said that time has not healed the wounds that that “we will neither forget nor forgive”.

The Iranian regime tried to get rid of the opposition back in 1988, but it has done nothing but make the opposition stronger and more determined to see the regime fall.

Staff Writer

 

 

 

 

October 10 is World Day against the Death Penalty, so around that time, it’s important to think about the thousands of death row prisoners in Iran. Iran is the world record holder in executions per capita, the highest executioner of juveniles, and a major executioner of political prisoners.

Iran’s use of capital punishment is a regular source of international outrage, attracting the attention of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and Amnesty International as well as many others. It is not just the mullahs’ refusal to ban the death penalty or the sheer number of executions, but also the fact that the regime uses execution uses as a tool to suppress the Iranian people.

The regime also refuses to categorize murders according to a degree, which means that anyone committing murder is sentenced to death, regardless of motive. This means that many victims of domestic abuse and those who kill another in self-defense are executed as if they acted in cold blood.

Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran HRM) reported that between October 2018 and October 2019, there were at least 273 executions in Iran, including:

• 13 women, including Leila Zarafshan, Maliheh Salehian,  Zahra Safari Moghadam, Arasteh Ranjbar, and Nazdar Vatankhah

• 10 juvenile offenders, including Mehdi Sohrabifar and Amin Sedaghat

• 10 political prisoners, including Seyyed Jamal Haji Zavvareh, Maliheh Salehian, Abdullah Qasempour, Abdullah Karmollah Chab, Ghassem Abdullah, Hamid Derakhshandeh, Behrouz Abdipour, Hossein Roshan and Mohsen Kounani.

• 17 public executions

In March, supreme leader Ali Khamenei appointed Ebrahim Raisi, a notorious former judge, as head of the judiciary, likely because of his role in the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners.

On the 30th anniversary of this unforgettable epic, let us rise and honor the memory of the 30,000 red roses of the Iranian Resistance massacred in 1988 by a minute-long applaud.#1988Massacre #Iran pic.twitter.com/coQraoCJaT

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 25, 2018

US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino called Raisi’s appointment a “disgrace” and a “mockery of [the] legal process”.

He tweeted:

“Ebrahim Raeesi (Raisi), involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead Iran’s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!”

Iran HRM wrote:

“[We urge] all international human rights organizations, especially the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, journalists and the media, to condemn horrendous executions in Iran and take immediate action to stop these medieval crimes being carried out in the twenty-first century. We want an Iran, free of any executions.”

Staff Writer

After four decades of the ruling, unemployment, corruption, embezzlement and many other social disasters have been the souvenirs of the mullahs for the Iranian people. Structural economic crisis, a staggering rate of military and security expenses, plundering of the population, water-shortage, destruction of the environment and …. have made a black hole of poverty, homelessness, and misery for the Iranian people. The minimum wage is at least less than one-fourth of the poverty line. Minimum needs, even a loaf of bread, are no longer on the people’s table.

In the first place, dictators annihilate democracy so that they can plunder the people and destroy the economy. This is the roadmap chosen by the religious dictatorial regime in Iran since its formation.

On 16 April 2019, Rezaie, Iranian MP, acknowledged in the regime’s parliament that people are furious about discrimination, injustice and more lies. He added that how do you expect teachers to educate our children while they are paid five to seven dollars a day?  He compared the condition of workers with slaves.

#Iran: People of Lordegan protest, chant “death to the dictator,” https://t.co/QG6207p8GV pic.twitter.com/K4mzczqJnb

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 5, 2019

Controlling the situation, the mullahs, as usual, resort to intimidation, imprisonment, torture, and long term sentences. Arresting labor activists, teachers, defiant youth, and … are the tools that mullahs use to curb opposition movements. In response to this catastrophic situation, the people have no other option but to resist a decent and better life. Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) resistance units are mobilizing people to restore their rights.

IRGC Commander, Hussein Rahimi, acknowledged that from March 2018 to January 2019, during nine months, there have been 923 protest gatherings just in the capital, Tehran. Another IRGC commander from the province of Khuzestan also admitted there had been 650 protests by workers in this period of time in this Southern province.

Last year the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and also the MEK’s networks inside Iran covered the news of protest movements, daily gatherings, and strikes of workers, farmers, particularly in Isfahan, teachers, pensioners, nurses, and looted people by credit firms affiliated to IRGC. MEK reported that in the one month period of 22 June to 22 July 2019there had been 267 protests in different cities, villages, and industrial districts in Iran; that is nine protests a day. MEK resistance units played a key role to form and direct those growing protests.

 

Such beautiful future is very distant from today’s abysmal situation in #Iran, but it is achievable, and I urge every one of you, the aware and freedom-loving students and youths who seek equality, to join the struggle to achieve it. #FreeIran pic.twitter.com/23DwWKEDjs

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) September 22, 2019

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of NCRI, said in this regard:

“Expand the resistance units in all schools and universities. Turn every school into a resistance unit, every college into a resistance unit, and every Iranian city into a resistance city. Freedom and victory are in your hands!”

Staff Writer

October 10 was World Day against the Death Penalty and this makes it the perfect time to reflect on the death penalty in Iran, for which Iran Human Rights Monitor’s (HRM) annual report has just been released.

There are hundreds of people in Iran that are sentenced to death every year, with thousands lingering on death row in Iranian jails, but the Iranian officials have never heeded the world’s calls to ban the death penalty.

Several independent international bodies, including the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran and Amnesty International, have said that Iran is the top executioner per capita, the second biggest executioner in terms of numbers, and the world leader in the executions of children and juvenile offenders.

Iran Human Rights Monitor notes that in 2019 alone, at least 200 individuals have been executed, including eight juvenile offenders, 10 women, and six political prisoners. At least 12 executions were carried out in public. More worrying still, this appears to be escalating, with at least nine women executed in just eight months, compared with an average of 6 to 10 per year from 2016 to 2018.

The Regime uses execution as a tool to suppress the Iranian people, most of whom live under the poverty line, are unemployed, and deprived of freedom of expression. They hardly make a secret of it. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei appointed notorious former judge Ebrahim Raisi, who was partly responsible for the massacre of 30,000 people in 1988, mostly members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK), as judiciary chief back in March to keep a lid on social unrest.

The US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino denounced Raisi’s appointment as a “disgrace” and a “mockery of legal process”.

He tweeted: “Ebrahim Raisi, involved in mass executions of political prisoners, was chosen to lead Iran’s judiciary. What a disgrace! The regime makes a mockery of the legal process by allowing unfair trials and inhumane prison conditions. Iranians deserve better!”

While 160 countries have abolished the death penalty, Iran continues to execute people contrary to the standards required under international law and executes juvenile offenders, those with mental disabilities, and those who have not committed serious crimes (i.e. drug users, political activists). They also refuse to categorize murders according to their degrees, meaning that there is no leniency for manslaughter, self-defense, or domestic abuse victims.

Iran HRM wrote:  “[We urge] all international human rights organizations, especially the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, journalists and the media, to condemn horrendous executions in Iran and take immediate action to stop these medieval crimes being carried out in the twenty-first century. We want an Iran, free of any executions.”

In 1988, Khomeini, the founder of the mullahs’ religious dictatorship, penned the fatwa ordering the massacre of political prisoners. #1988Massacre #NoImpunity4Mullahs #InternationalDayoftheDisappeared #Iran pic.twitter.com/UiYKl4PmGP

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 30, 2019

Staff Writer

Iran has the most number of executions per capita in the world, as well as being the world’s top executioner of juveniles, having executed at least 3,800 people since supposed moderate Hassan Rouhani became president in 2013.

This should come as no surprise because all the way back in 1980, when he was a lawmaker, Rouhani called for the Regime’s political opponents to be hanged in public at Friday prayers to serve as an example to others.

These executions have continued in Iran throughout 2019, with at least 199 people executed so far this year, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor (Iran-HRM). This is despite the fact that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, Javaid Rehman, condemned Iran’s execution rate in 2018, specifically the executions of at least six juvenile offenders.

Under the Regime’s so-called Citizens Rights Charter, Iranians don’t have a right to life and the age at which the death sentence can be handed down is nine for girls and 15 for boys.

The most common victims of this heinous crime are activists of the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), with some 120,000 of them executed by the Regime since 1981.

Some 30,000 of these were executed under a fatwa by Regime Founder Ruhollah Khomeini in 1988 after hastily set up Death Commissions held kangaroo trials and ordered the execution of anyone who refused to renounce the MEK. The victims were buried in mass graves, their deaths covered up, and those responsible given cushy positions in the Regime, like current Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi and current Justice Minister Alireza Avaei.

Amnesty International, the late UN Special Rapporteur on Iran Asma Jahangir, and Iran HRM all called for an independent investigation into the massacre, but so far it has not materialized.

The time has come for the international community to end three decades of impunity for the clerical regime leaders in #Iran and to hold them accountable for their crimes. #1988Massacre https://t.co/QgnvFDu12F pic.twitter.com/n4L9WFqWlF

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 24, 2019

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi wants to ensure that the death penalty is banned in Iran, alongside torture and all other human rights abuses; something they’ve advocated many times over the past four decades.

Rajavi said:

“Our plan for the future is to put an end to the mullahs’ religious decrees. We reject the inhuman penal code and other abusive laws of this regime. We believe Retribution is an inhuman law. Our plan is to institute an independent, dynamic and free judiciary. Our plan is to defend democratic values, freedom, equality, and sanctity of every citizen’s private life…. Our plan is for all citizens to enjoy genuine security and equal rights before the law. We are seeking a new order based on freedom, democracy, and equality.”

Staff Writer

Confronting the unrest in Iran, Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of religious fascism finds no solution but accelerating internal suppression and external terrorism. Adopting Ebrahim Raissi, the key figure in the 1988 prison massacre, in which 30,000 Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) members and supporters were executed in just a few months, as the head of the Judiciary shows he has no other option to control the explosive situation in Iran but appointing henchmen as high-ranking officials.

However, the growing protests during recent months in Iran led by the MEK indicate repression does not work for mullahs as it did before. The protests in Iran prove that the rulers cannot dictate their demands and people do not accept this miserable situation any longer. Expanding the popular movements and protests, and also the growing war between different factions inside the regime, both reflect the reality of Iranian society.

This leads the society to stand up and protest against poverty and repression. Recent uprising of people in the Southwest city of Lordegan is just an example.

Saturday, October 5, 2019, thousands of residents in Lordegan demonstrated against the mullahs’ regime in support of the residents of Chenar Mahmoudi village in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province. Angry youths set ablaze the office of the representative of the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Lordegan Governor’s Office as well as several other regime’s centers.

The demonstration began outside the Governor’s Office and spread to the Health Department’s local office. The security forces attacked the protesters at both locations. The protesters defended themselves by throwing rocks. The suppressive forces fired live rounds and tear gas into the crowd to disperse them, wounding a number of demonstrators.

Despite the unprecedented suppression, the angry workers in two industrial facilities, Hepco and Arak Azarab, are still continuing their protests against the regime.

Hail to the brave workers of Azarab, Arak, who did not succumb to the clerical regime’s threats &intimidations, continuing their protest today. The regime again responded by tear gas, arrests, &beatings. Such oppression will be foiled by the courageous workers’ will power. #Iran pic.twitter.com/yzKXAy9TP0

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 7, 2019

Everything indicates circumstances are changing in Iran with freedom and prosperity on the horizon.

Pointing to the protests of people in Lordegan, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said:

“With their chants of death to the dictator and attacking the office of the representative of the Iranian Regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, they targeted the clerical establishment as the main cause of all the atrocities perpetrated against the Iranian people,”

On the current situation she emphasized:

“This corrupt and criminal regime has squandered Iran’s national wealth by pursuing nuclear and missile projects and engaging in foreign warmongering, which has destroyed all aspects of life for the people of Iran, including health and well-being.”

After four decades of suppression, the MEK resistance units are active more than ever, pushing the mullahs towards a deadly cliff. Victory is within reach. It is time for the international community to recognize the Iranian Resistance, the NCRI and the MEK.

Staff Writer

On October 10, which was the World Day against the Death Penalty, Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the Iranian opposition, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), gave a speech about execution in Iran, which has stolen the lives of 120,000, Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) members and supporters.

Rajavi said the sacrifice of the martyrs not only exposed the bloody nature of the mullahs’ religious dictatorship but also helped raise support for banning the death penalty in Iran; something that she is sure will happen as soon as the mullahs are overthrown.

Rajavi said: “Over the past 40 years, the cycle of executions of youths in Iran actually perpetuated the rule of the mullahs’ religious tyranny. Such bloody insanity has created an atmosphere of suppression and terror crucial to preserving the mullahs’ decadent regime, on the one hand. And on the other, it provided a mechanism for training ruthless mercenaries to take on the rule. Their fieldwork included interrogation and torture of victims, laying the hanging noose around their necks or giving them the coup de grace. Having passed this course, Ebrahim Raisi, an executioner involved in the 1988 massacre, has now become the head of the Judiciary.”

Rajavi noted that there were 253 executions in Iran in 2018 alone, according to international bodies, but that this was only a small number because many executions are carried out secretly. She also highlighted that at least four of these executions were carried out on juvenile offenders, while the number of executions of political prisoners has increased dramatically over that period.

She then mentioned the murder of a political prisoner that was planned by prison authorities in Greater Tehran Prison in June and the execution of three political prisoners in Dezful and Kazerun in July and August, before citing the secret executions of 22 Arab compatriots in November 2018, as reported by Amnesty International.

Rajavi said that these executions, combined with the Regime’s brutal suppression of the Iranian people, makes it all the more urgent for the United Nations and international human rights bodies to investigate how political prisoners are being treated in Iran. She warned against allowing the regime to threaten the lives of political prisoners in a desperate effort to counter the protest movement, pointing out that appeasement has only led to more executions.

Rajavi said:  “Appeasement is what the clerical regime relies upon to export their terrorism by taking advantage of their diplomatic facilities on European soil and through warmongering in the region… To stand up to a regime which is the main threat to global peace and security, all governments need to make their ties and commerce with the clerical regime contingent on end to executions and torture in Iran.”

She advised that the dossier on human rights abuses in Iran must be referred to the UN Security Council and the International Tribunal, that the UN should pressure the regime to admit their fact-finding delegation to prisons where political prisoners are held, and that the international community should recognize the Iranian people’s right to a “sovereign republic”.

Staff Writer