Hon. Giulio Terzi, the former Foreign Minister of Italy
In an editorial published on the Issues & Insights website on Thursday, former Italian Foreign Minister Ambassador Giulio Terzi discussed recent admissions by high-ranking officials within the Iranian regime that the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran(PMOI / MEK) poses a serious threat to the clerical dictatorship ruling Iran.
Terzi described an August 5th press briefing held by the spokesman for regime President Rouhani’s cabinet Ali Rabiee in which Rabiee openly mentioned the conflict between the regime and the MEK.
“This represents a departure from the government’s normal policy of remaining silent on that issue in order to downplay the threat that the MEK poses to the theocratic system,” wrote Terzi.
Unmitigated Confidence
The MEK has fought against the mullahs’ tyranny for four decades in its efforts to bring freedom and democracy to Iran. As the largest resistance group in Iran, it has established a well-organized plan for Iran’s democratic future, which is formally stated in Iranian opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s 10-point plan.
“The MEK has expressed unmitigated confidence that the current regime is nearing its collapse, which will pave the way for that vision,” wrote Terzi. He cited that sentiment as the central theme of last month’s Free Iran gathering at Ashraf-3, the MEK’s headquarters in Albania. The five-day event was attended by hundreds of prominent politicians and dignitaries from all over the world and focused on “transforming Iran into a democratic country led by the rule of law, respect of human rights and democratic freedom,” wrote Terzi.
Terzi argued that Iran has yet to experience this kind of freedom. The Islamic Republic governs through the principle of velayat-e faqih, or absolute rule, of clerical leaders. Anyone who opposes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is excluded from the ballot in political elections.
A Turning Point
The MEK has challenged this rule through protests and boycotts of the polls, often at great personal risk. Boycotts at the polls during the 2016 election were followed by a massive anti-regime uprising in December 2017, which spread to 142 cities and every province in the country. The regime did an abrupt about-face and acknowledged the MEK’s role in the Iran protests, contradicting years of their own propaganda that claimed that the MEK lacked influence inside Iran. “This was arguably the turning point undermining the regime’s oft-repeated claim that the MEK is incapable of presenting a serious challenge to the clerical dictatorship,” argued Terzi.
MEK members massacred by Pourmohammadi
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, an advisor to the head of the regime’s Judiciary Chief, also made recent comments about the MEK. Pour-Mohammadi was a member of Tehran’s Death Committee, which sent thousands of political prisoners to their executions during the 1988 Massacre, which claimed 30,000 lives during a single summer, most of whom were MEK members. Victims of the massacre included girls as young as 15 and pregnant women.
In a recent interview, Pour-Mohammadi once again defended what human rights defenders have called a crime against humanity and called for the elimination of the MEK. “We have no ambiguity about the MEK,” he said. “We are at a time of war. Now is not the time for talk. Now is the time to fight them.”
Tehran’s Greatest Adversary
Terzi stressed that these words make it clear that “the MEK is Tehran’s greatest adversary, and it has not only evaded all efforts to destroy it but has actually grown so much in power and influence that it was able to organize and lead a nationwide uprising just last year.” He went on to urge the world to pay attention to the words regime officials say at home because if they do, “it will become clear that they are afraid.”
This fear provides an opportunity for the international community and the Iranian people, emphasized Terzi. The regime is vulnerable and firm policies by the Western world would be effective in helping the Iranian people take back their country.
“It is now much more difficult for the mullahs to deny that there is already an alternative to their theocratic system and that popular resistance is their Achilles’ heel,” concluded Terzi.
MEK supporters hold signs calling for a halt on executions in Iran, during Hassan Rouhani’s visit to France in January 2016. Under “moderate” Rouhani at least 3800 people have been executed in Iran on various charges.
According to a similar report, two prisoners were hanged on Saturday, August 10th, in Mashhad’s Central Prison. The state-run Khorasan daily briefly reported the executions on Sunday but did not name the prisoners. The paper wrote that a full report would be available in a few days.
#Iran Regime Hangs Seven Prisoners Iran's regime has hanged at least seven prisoners in recent days, according to a group monitoring the human rights situation inside the country.https://t.co/lq10lwUjZZpic.twitter.com/7lrSGqETI1
The regime is notorious for its secretiveness surrounding executions. Many executions are never reported at all, making it difficult to track the true number of deaths at the hands of the Rouhani’s regime.
In another report, the executions of five prisoners in Gohardasht Prison in the city of Karaj is reported on Wednesday, August 7th. The prisoners were identified as Mohammad-Reza Shekari, Yousof Zakeri, Majid Arabali, Hossein Panjeh-Maryam, and Bahram Tork.
Prior to their deaths, the condemned men, along with several others, were transferred to solitary confinement to await execution. This is common practice in Iranian prisons and is a signal that execution is imminent. After the hangings, some of the other prisoners were returned to their original cells. Others were left to wait for their turn with the hangman.
39 prisoners were hanged in Iran during the month of July, including four women. One hanging took place in public.
The executions took place in Birjand, Gohardasht, Karaj, Kashan, Khondab, Mahshahr, Kelardasht, Urmia, Noor, Mashhad, Mahabad, Zanjan, Minab, Bandar-Abbas, Borujerd, Shiraz, Tabriz, Gorgan, Dezful, Rasht and Kermanshah.
MEK supporters in Geneva, call for justice for the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran (mainly MEK activists)- September 2017
Iran’s Human Rights Record
Iran executes more people per capita than any other country in the world. The country is responsible for half of the world’s executions. Since President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, more than 3,800 people have been executed by the Iranian regime.
The United Nations has condemned the Iranian regime for its human rights violations on 65 separate occasions, but the mullahs have not changed their behavior. Rather, they have escalated their campaign of suppression and intimidation against their own people. The regime uses the death penalty as a tool of oppression to silence dissent from its people, and it will continue to do so as long as it can act without fear of consequences.
The MEK’s Political Platform
The MEK has asked the international community to recognize the right of the Iranian people to rise up against their oppressors and overthrow this brutal regime. The people of Iran want a country where voicing dissent is not a capital offense.
The MEK’s political platform includes strong opposition to the death penalty and a commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture.
We enjoy our people’s support in establishing a republic based on the separation of religion&state, gender equality, abolition of the death penalty, an independent judiciary, autonomy for ethnic groups, a foreign policy based on peaceful co-existence, and a non-nuclear #Iran. pic.twitter.com/Gm9A1ytKvH
The brutal crimes of the mullahs will only end when the people of Iran take back their country. The international community can support their efforts by cutting financial ties with the terrorist regime and blacklisting its agents. They can also join the call for an independent investigation into war crimes committed by the regime during the 1988 Massacre.
The “Mothers” demonstration, on May 2, 1981, when over 200,000 supporters of the MEK, took it to the streets of Tehran to protest the killing of 2 teenage girls (MEK supporters), who were shot dead for distributing information behind a stand in one of the streets in Mazandaran. Young MEK supporters have formed a chain in front and side rows to provide protections for the mothers (in the middle).
In state-run media and in official statements, senior Iranian officials have recently made unprecedented remarks about the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), its impact on society, and its role in international policymaking.
A Change in Regime’s Strategy on MEK
For years, it has been the state policy to keep silent about the MEK and its impact, both domestic and global. The recent salvo of remarks and statements reflect a change in the regime’s strategy in this regards. The new approach stems from an unprecedented MEK presence in domestic affairs. Popular support and the public awareness of MEK’s activities have left the regime incapable of continuing its practice of denial.
Official remarks have defended brutal suppression against the MEK and have also expressed anxiety about the MEK’s progress and its role in organizing and galvanizing protests against the regime. Senior officials warn about “major events” that could still be forthcoming.
Acknowledging MEK Role in Mobilizing Protests Inevitable
The officials are fully cognizant of the fact that after years of a massive demonizing campaign against the principal Iranian opposition and systematic repetition of the claim that the MEK has no serious presence or role in Iran, acknowledging the real presence of the MEK in Iran is politically costly. However, it is evident to them that in light of the political state of affairs in Iran, they are bound to pay a price for inspiring their forces and to boosting loyalist morale.
A creator of three state TV serials targeting the MEK said in an interview on July 28: “The current strategy vis-a-vis the MEK is not one of silence. A lot of people are interested in making movies and serials about this organization and its members. And a number of other people have also made serials about them… Prior to Armaghan Tariki (i.e. one of the TV serials), no TV serial was made in this regard. But after that, the managers of state TV showed a lot of interest. In reality, this organization has exposed our nuclear issues on 18 occasions in recent years and a lot of the sanctions are consequent of their activities. All of these resulted in the fact that the authorities and managers concluded that it is necessary to make movies and serials about the Monafeghin.” [Monafegin, meaning hypocrites, is the pejorative term that the regime uses to describe the MEK.]
The following are some of the authorities’ recent remarks on the MEK:
Photos of the MEK activists who were massacred during the 1988 massacre. Pourmohammadi was one of the members of the death committee responsible for the massacre.
Mustafa Pourmohammadi, Interior Minister in Ahamdinejad administration, Minister of Justice in first Rouhani administration, a key figure in 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners (mainly MEK activists) in Iran
Mosallas (State-run media), July 24, 2019
“MEK has destroyed our image all over the world. During the past 40 years, there hasn’t been any calamity against the Iranian regime that the MEK hasn’t played a key role in. We haven’t evened out our accounts with the MEK yet. We will make our points and statements [about 1988 executions] subsequent to making our accounts even. It is a serious matter…. Many of our missions in the Iran-Iraq War failed due to the MEK. They found out about our operations, exposed them and as a result, we failed…. Now, should I answer for why I fired a mortar by mistake or did something wrong? All the MEK members are criminals and must be put on trial. According to all international laws they must be punished and face the maximum penalty. We have not even our accounts. It is not the time for these words. Now it is time to exterminate them. The MEK is the worst enemy of this nation [Read the religious extremism ruling Iran]. Today, they must be held to account and be brought to justice. We must uproot every one of them. Unfortunately, due to the current atmosphere of the society and foolishness of some, it is us who have become accused. Rather, the criminals must answer. What are these remarks that some are making in our country? Some repeatedly talk about history. This is the context of history.” Referring to the exposure of the 1988 massacre of MEK political prisoners that the regime had tried to hide for decades and now is coming to light as a result of the organization’s popular support.
Interviewer: Was this also the issue of criticism by Mr. Montazeri?
(Hosseinali Montazeri was the heir to Khomeini in 1980s. He was dismissed by Khomeini in early 1989 and sentenced to house arrest due to his protest against the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988. An audio file was revealed three years ago about a meeting between Montazeri and key figures implicated in the massacre in Tehran, including Pourmihammadi. In this tape, Montazeri stated explicitly that this massacre will be recorded in history as the worst crime of the Islamic Republic.)
Pourmohammadi: “It was unfortunate, but the tape was released anyway. Many of the individuals who purport transparency, in reality, they are doing it on behalf of the enemy of course! Otherwise, what was the reason for revealing that audio file? The context of the discussion was already written and was available. What was the reason for the audio file to be revealed after all these many years? …I believe the MEK case is clear. We have no doubt, no question, and no ambiguity in the case of MEK. Now is a time of war with the MEK. It is not the time to talk. This is an important point for us. It is the time to uproot hem. It is time to paralyze, exterminate and try them…It is time to do this sort of work. It is not the time to answer these criticisms or to provide legal responses or things of this nature[the 1988 massacre of MEK supporters].”
“The current situation should not make us negligent so as to ignore the protests, not see the disenchantment or prevent it, not provide a proper response and assume that these do not exist. Any incident can lead to a major development. We have to be vigilant.”
Mahmoud Shaeri, commander of 71st Division (aka as Ruhollah Division) during Iran- Iraq War
South-e- Qazvin (state-run site), July 28, 2019
“The MEK is still potential and current threat for the Islamic Republic. Their movement is alive. The MEK has been the basis for all of the sanctions against us. If the MEK was not around, the West still would have imposed sanctions on us; however, the MEK provides them with first-rate and accurate information”, referring to MEK’s numerous revelations of regime’s nuclear weaponry and Ballistic Missiles program, and their terrorist activities in the region, as well as the violations of human rights at home
While underscoring that the MEK is still the most active and the most powerful opposition group against the regime, Shaeri stressed that the reason for the continuation of MEK activity is its deep, calculated and judicious actions.
He pointed out that the measures exposing the MEK have not been appropriate for two reasons: “First, we portray them as a cowardly enemy and as a result we discount them. We must consider the enemy serious because they are still motivated and work against the Islamic Republic with proper organization and structure. Second is the danger of MEK infiltration inside the regime, which is the main obstacle in confronting them.”
Assadollah Nasseh, the Deputy Commander of Najaf- Ashraf IRGC base in the Iran- Iraq War (responsible for the central and northwest front), Deputy Commander of IRGC counterintelligence, Commander of the IRGC 10th Division, Deputy to the Inspector General of the regime Armed Forces after the Iran-Iraq War
Ofoq (state-run TV), July 29, 2019
“We must be vigilant and should realize that the enmity of the MEK is so profound that it will never give up on us…Everything that takes place in the world against us, we must know that it is the result of their lobbying effort somewhere, or a price that they have paid, or is the result of intelligence that the MEK has provided. On the issue of missiles, we witness that it was based on the information that they provided to Americans. Regarding human rights, they makeup dossiers and files and provide them to Europeans and they put pressure on us in this way. They use all the leverages against us. We should be aware of this and should be vigilant.”
MEK Role in Street Protests and Strikes
Esmail Kousary, Deputy Commander of IRGC Sarollah Garrison (the main IRGC unit responsible for the suppression of the 2009 uprisings in Tehran) and Mehdi Hasheminejad, a senior official of Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS)
State TV, July 29, 2019
Head of Habilian Association, Hasheminejad, head of the MOIS division responsible for emanating negative propaganda and lies against MEK: “The presence of 1500 people round the clock in three shifts indicates that they had planned the protests and this was done in service of the global arrogance. As our officials pointed out, planning of the enemy played a key role in the unrest that took place in our country in 2018. So, our attitude must recognize the enemy and its targets, so that we will be able to counter them.”
Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), speaking at the conference “Calling for Justice for the 1988 Massacre” – Ashraf3 the MEK’s compound, Albania- July 15, 2019
Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian opposition speaking at the conference “calling for justice for victims of the 1988 Massacre” said that Khomeini, the Iranian regime founder’s intention for ordering the 1988 massacre was to uproot the MEK.
The final day of the Free Iran Conference at Ashraf 3, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI /MEK)’s headquarter in Albania, on Monday, July 15th, was devoted to the topic of the 1988 Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners by the Iranian regime.
The time has come for the international community to end 3 decades of impunity for the leaders of the regime in #Iran, holding Khamenei and his accomplice accountable for their crimes against humanity and the genocide committed in the #1988Massacre at an international tribunal pic.twitter.com/XM7LF0iYdY
In the summer of 1988, Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the execution of all MEK members imprisoned in Iran. He formed three-member Death Committees in prisons across the country to carry out trials that lasted only minutes. Prisoners were executed in groups and buried in mass graves.
To date, none of the perpetrators of this crime against humanity have been brought to justice. Many of those responsible have gone on to hold high-ranking positions within the regime.
The massacre of political prisoners was a blood-drenched encounter between the Middle Ages and a generation which created the 1979 revolution, a generation resolved to achieve a society based on freedom & equality, but encountered the monster of religious fascism. #Iranpic.twitter.com/z5PNzne3UF
On Monday, survivors of the massacre shared their testimony of the brutal crime against humanity, and political dignitaries, human rights activists, and members of the NCRI and MEK discussed the urgent need to hold the perpetrators of the mass executions accountable for their crimes. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi delivered the keynote address.
Mrs. Rajavi’s Speech
“The massacre of the MEK and the other combatants and political prisoners was a blood-drenched encounter between the Middle Ages and tomorrow’s generation: the generation that created the 1979 Revolution, who represented a nation resolved to have a society based on freedom and equality but ran into the monster of religious tyranny and invasion of pillage and repression. The massacre of 1988 was the horrifying scene of such historic confrontation, but it was not the end, despite its excruciating pain and agony. It was the beginning of a new confrontation which still continues and will ultimately write the fate of the Iranian nation with the word ‘freedom,’” said Mrs. Rajavi.
“Khomeini’s intention in ordering the 1988 Massacre was to uproot and obliterate the MEK…The most intense killings began in Evin and Gohardasht Prisons and were specifically aimed at MEK members,” she said.
Mrs. Rajavi stated that the 1988 Massacrewas carried out in 110 cities in Iran and that those cities have become hotbeds of protests and uprisings. “It is no accident,” she said, that these cities are now the scenes of resistance by Iranians of every ethnicity, religion, and sector of society.
“The people of Iran are united for the regime’s overthrow and achieving freedom,” she emphasized. “Our society has such a fervent fire in her heart, leaving Khamenei at an impasse. So the regime’s overthrow is the definite and certain fate of the mullahs,” she added.
“The time has come for the United Nations to form an international fact-finding mission for the 1988 Massacre, and the world to recognize the right of the people of Iran to resistance and struggle to overthrow the mullahs’ religious dictatorship,” said Mrs. Rajavi.
“I call on all Iranians in Iran and abroad to help advance and expand the Call for Justice movement for the victims of the 1988 Massacre. This is the movement of the oppressed, the suppressed and the bereaved,” she stressed.
Protest Rally, Place des Nations, Geneva,26/02/2019 – Hundreds of Iranian exiles supporters of the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), carried Iranian flags and banners opposed to the Iranian regime in a rally on Tuesday February, 26,2019 in front of the UN Headquarters in Geneva to protest grave violations of human rights in Iran, particularly the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners (mainly MEK members).
The final day of the Free Iran Conference was dedicated to seeking justice for the 30,000 victims of the 1988 Massacre and their families. A number of dignitaries gave speeches on Monday, but the most memorable words came from survivors of the massacre. Their words are summarized below.
Kobra Jokar
“I spent six years in prison. The Revolutionary Guards arrested me while I was pregnant. I was taken to Evin Prison and the torture chambers. I was transferred to Ward 209. In the cell, I saw four torturers torture my husband in front of me. They also tortured me in front of him,” said Ms. Jokar.
“A few days later, they executed my husband with 75 others. The torturer said his intention was for him to never see his child. When I gave birth to my child, they took me to a hospital and quickly brought me back to prison even though I was very ill. I personally knew 50 MEK pregnant women who were executed, including Masumeh, the sister of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi,” she said.
“In prison, they would not give milk and food for the kids, and my cellmates would provide their sugar rations to me to give something to my baby. There was no doctor or medication for the children. In the public ward, there were only 15 minutes of warm water every other day, which we had to use to give the children a bath. Many of these children had lost their parents,” Ms. Jokar continued.
“The torturers even interrogated the children. They strapped a six-year-old girl to a chair in a dark room and said they would leave her there if she did not reveal the names of her mother’s friends,” she said.
“I managed to escape prison in 1986. All of those ladies who shared the cell with me were executed in the 1988 massacre,” Ms. Jokar said.
“The roots of our hopes and faith in our leaders helped us overcome the dark times in prison and to fight for freedom,” she concluded. Ms. Jokar remained stoic throughout her testimony but many in the room were visibly moved by her words.
Hengameh Haj-Hassan
“I was a nurse in Tehran. In 1981, I was arrested and imprisoned in Evin Prison and Gohardasht Prison along with many of my colleagues. We were charged with helping the people who were injured by the IRGC,” said Ms. Haj-Hassan.
“In prison, we were subjected to severe tortures. Insomnia, packed cells, sleeping in coffins were what we had to endure,” she said.
“I was in a cage for seven months. These were small partitions where you could only squat. You couldn’t move, you couldn’t even cough or sneeze. If we moved, we were tortured. Our eyes were blindfolded. My eyesight has been degraded and my back was injured. I was operated on five times and yet I still have not recovered,” Ms. Haj-Hassan continued.
“When we came out of the cages, our friends didn’t recognize us. Inside the cage, we had to be prepared for any torture at any moment. The torturers used any excuse to torture us,” she emphasized.
“The torturer told us that we would die here. We were only given three minutes per day to go to the bathroom. We couldn’t even brush our teeth. The food they gave us was scarce and very dirty. At night, when we were allowed to sleep, they would turn on loudspeakers and play the regime’s mourning songs,” she added.
“The torturers sought to break our will and force us to turn our backs on our struggle. I decided that I would not tell the enemy the name of the Mojahed. My friend Shekar was arrested with me, and she was executed in 1988 after suffering torture and the cage,” she stressed.
“I decided to prepare myself for hard days. I scheduled all my moments every day. My program was I started to remember all the songs and the contents of the Mojahedin books and the martyrs’ biographies that I already had read and started to repeat them. I had a physical exercise program. We weren’t allowed to move, but I exercised in my mind. I nursed patients in my mind,” she explained.
“At night, when we couldn’t sleep due to the loudspeakers, I trained myself to shut down those noises and take myself to pleasant places in my memories,” she added.
“The hardest times were the feeling of loneliness. I thought of God, and I thought of my leader, Massoud Rajavi. I spoke to him, and this way, I didn’t feel alone anymore,” Ms. Hassan continued.
“The torturers thought they would break our will through torture. However, they only made us stronger, as we understood that this proved what we were doing was right,” she emphasized.
“In prison, we considered ourselves PMOI representatives, and we deemed it our responsibility to defend their values. When I came out of prison, the first thing I did was to re-join my organization. This is a path that will continue until the end,” Ms. Haj-Hassan concluded. Her speech drew chants and applause from the audience.
Homa Jaberi
“I was in the regime’s prisons for five years and I witnessed many tortures. I was arrested in 1981 because I had participated in a peaceful MEK protest and spent many years in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) and Evin prisons. When the regime wasn’t able to break the will of the MEK woman through torture, they created a compound called the ‘residential units,’” said Ms. Jaberi.
“This was a secret compound. I was there for 40 days. From the first day, I was tortured brutally with whips and physically beaten. They took all of us to a room, blindfolded us, and told us that they would kill us until that night. They tortured us for hours until midnight,” she stated.
“My hands were swollen from the whiplashes. My face and body were bruised. The regime’s torturer said, ‘This is your hell. No one will hear you here. You will all die here.’ They kept us awake for many days and didn’t let us sleep,” she continued.
“Some of my friends were kept in this place for six months. We weren’t even allowed to scream under torture. Every command was given with whip lashes. For instance, if they wanted to tell us that we could sleep, they would do so by whipping us,” she added.
“After 40 days, I was taken to Evin Prison. Some of my friends had lost their mental balance. Some of the prisoners would not even speak of the tortures they had suffered. They said that the torturers made them make animal noises and insult themselves. Some had been raped,” Ms. Jaberi explained.
“I have faith that with the leadership of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, we will free Iran. It was this faith that helped me overcome the tough conditions of the prison,” she concluded to cheers and chants from the audience.
A video clip about the 1988 Massacre was shown to the conference attendees. MEK members held up photographs of loved ones who were martyred in the massacre. Some held more than one photograph. Mrs. Rajavi wiped tears from her eyes during the presentation.
Witnesses to the 1988 Massacre
Majid Saheb Jam
“I was imprisoned for 17 years. My crime was supporting the MEK. I witnessed many human rights violations. The 1988 massacre was a premeditated and well-planned crime. Some of the people who were directly involved in this crime still hold high positions of power. The regime has done everything in its power to hide its crime. It didn’t even tell the families of the victims the whereabouts of the burial places,” said Mr. Sahebjam.
“During the massacre, the judges only asked one question, in a short trial that lasted only a few minutes. They asked, “What are your charges?” Uttering the word ‘Mojahed’ was enough to seal the fate of the prisoner and send him to the gallows,” he added.
“The prisoners in the regime’s dungeons bore the scars of torture on their bodies. The 1988 massacre was an opportunity for the regime to hide the evidence of its horrible crimes. I personally know at least 20 families who have lost two of their children to the executioners of the regime,” he went on.
“Many of the prisoners were aged 14,15 and 16 when they were arrested. These people were later executed by the regime,” he stressed.
“During the 1988 massacre, dozens of MEK supporters had served their sentence. However, they were kept in prison because they would not repent their support for the MEK. They were executed in 1988 because of their dedication to freedom and human values,” Sahebjam concluded.
Mostafa Naderi
“I spent 11 years in prison, five of those years in solitary confinement. During the 1988 massacre, I was hospitalized because of torture. I was unconscious in the clinic when they called my name for execution, and this is how I survived,” said Mr. Naderi.
“After the executions, when you were taken to the cells, they asked for your name and checked in a notebook. In the notebook, all the names were crossed, which meant they were executed,” he explained.
“In the beginning, they said nothing of the executions, claiming the prisoners were going for family visits. In many smaller cities, not even a single person survived to tell the story of the massacre,” Mr. Naderi added.
“In prison, I was severely tortured. After eight months of torture, I and five other prisoners were taken to a mullah who said we were enemies of God and would be executed that night. They took us to the place of execution. They tied our hands and we heard the guns being loaded. They fired, but they show a meter above our heads. We suffered a traumatic experience. One of the prisoners fainted and another lost his eyesight,” he said.
“The 1988 massacre was planned from two years before. However, the massacre continues to this day. We must stop this,” Mr. Naderi concluded.
Mahmoud Royaei
“I spent 10 years in the regime’s prisons. Many of my friends were teenagers when they were arrested. They spent many years in prison and were finally executed. People who had served their sentences and their families were waiting for them. However, they never got to see them,” said Mr. Royaie.
“One of my friends was executed five years after his sentence was finished. He was taken to the gallows just as he defended the name of Mojahed. Many of the prisoners’ families died after hearing that their loved ones were executed. The father of one of my friends had a cardiac arrest when he heard about his son’s execution. So you could say the regime even executed our families,” he said.
“Some of these families are still staring at the pictures of their loved ones and crying after 30 years. Some of the parents lost their sanity when their children were executed,” Mr. Royaie added.
“The regime even executed the disabled and handicapped. Yet these prisoners stood tall when they went to the gallows. One of my friends had lost his mentality due to the tortures. However, when they took him to the judge, he stood tall and said, ‘I’m a Mojahed.’ He was executed,” he recalled.
“The 1988 massacre was a national disaster, but it is also the pride of our nation. Today, people who weren’t even born then are calling for justice. The members of the 1988 ‘Death Commissions’ are members of the government today,” Mr. Royaie said.
“When I think about those brave prisoners, I am humbled. With the justice movement, I feel that they’re here with us, in Ashraf 3,” he concluded.
Ayatollah Montazeri, regime’s ex-Supreme leader’s heir, ina taped message revealed the extent of the massacre of the MEK supporters, calling it “the greatest crime committed in the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn” the mullahs ruling Iran for.
In a July 24, 2019 interview with the state-run Mosalas magazine, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, Advisor to the Iranian regime’s Judiciary Chief and former Interior and Justice Minister defended the regime’s mass execution of 30,000 political prisoners in the 1988 Massacre and further vowed to carry on the regime’s efforts to seek out and kill MEK members until the group was eliminated.
The 1988 Massacre
Pour-Mohammadi was appointed to Tehran’s Death Commission in the summer of 1988 by regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini. The Death Commissions were tasked with carrying out Khomeini’s fatwa decreeing that all MEK political prisoners in Iran must be executed.
#Iran#1988massacre In those days, nobody found out what happened 2d freedom-loving youth, & unfortunately, Western societies stayed silent with their appeasement and securing their interests, pic.twitter.com/Van5YMPWBa
More than 30,000 political prisoners were executed over the course of the summer of 1988, most of whom were MEK members. To date, none of the perpetrators of this crime against humanity have been brought to justice. Many of those responsible for the executions have gone on to serve as high-ranking members of the regime.
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi’s Interview with Mosalas Magazine
Pour-Mohammadi made a number of shocking statements about the 1988 Massacre, along with direct threats to the MEK, some of which are translated and excerpted below:
Unfortunately, he has no shame about his role in the #1988Massacre He recently had an interview with Mosallas sate-tTV, he said: We are not yet done with #MEK, this is no joke! No time to talk but only to clear them out. They must be trialed. @UNGeneva@USUN#HumanRightspic.twitter.com/2l70tWUquf
Question: A major accusation against the Islamic Republic, which is usually picked up by foreign news organizations, relates to the issue of the ‘Hypocrites’ [MEK] and the manner in which the Islamic Republic dealt with the MEK, the height of which was in 1988. You were in the Foreign Intelligence Department and had a role in this affair. You can explain how you were involved.
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi: Look, your enemy is lying. It is making accusations. It is resorting to any evil act. It has no barrier. It is coordinating in detail with your enemies and does not hesitate to carry out any action against you. Imagine we are in the middle of this. Do you expect us to simply announce all our operational plans and those issues that they can use to their advantage and clobber us with every day? So that they sideline and cover up 100 of our logical and correct statements in the media, and expose two of our points which we accept are our weaknesses so that they can present an important point of history using just two or three issues and events, and cast this image in the public mindset? This is certainly not the right thing to do. They are blowing their propaganda horns and concentrating on this story.
When the criminal, traitor enemy [MEK] is carrying out operations as a brigade of the enemy [Iraq], are we really expected to talk about legal debates and civil and humanitarian protections when we are in the middle of a war, and say, ‘this happened here’, ‘that happened there’?..
Mostafa PourMohammadi, member of the “Death Committee” during the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners (mainly MEK activists) who were slain by a direct fatwa from the Iranian regime’s supreme leader, Rouhollah Khomeini.
Question: So the context of this saga was the war that was taking place.
Pour-Mohammadi: … Can you have an enemy that is worse than that? They destroy your image all around the world. There has not been a single case of such destruction in the past 40 years, other than those in which the MEK has had the leading role. We have not yet settled the score with the MEK. We will discuss these matters after we eliminate them. We are not joking. They need to come and answer for their crimes and treachery. … And now you want me to come forward and answer, in legal terms, why I threw a grenade into the wrong place or acting incorrectly? The MEK are all criminals. They must all be prosecuted in court. Under any law in this world, all of them have killed people and have waged war, and they must all face capital punishment.”
Question: Even those who were in prison [at the time]? Except for those who repented?
Pour-Mohammadi: Look! When you commute a sentence, on a temporary basis, for a criminal terrorist in prison, and then he behaves like he is taking part in the depth of the conspiracy and is cooperating [with the enemy], are you supposed to be dimwitted and simplistic and let him carry out any operation? Who would do that?
Question: Those who were executed were all collaborators?
Pour-Mohammadi: Look. These were the minimum legal protocols that were adhered to. No one doubts this. We were told to accept the word of even those who falsely repented. But when someone is involved in an operation plot, has plotted his escape, is planning to take over Jamaran [Khomeini’s home] the next day, kill the Imam [Khomeini] and his entourage, and take over the state broadcaster and all government centers, and has received an operational plan telling him where to go; are we supposed to be simplistic and say: ‘No, you weren’t on the frontline. You were backup forces. You were spying. You were a mechanic [for their] vehicles.’ Huh? Is that what we were supposed to say? Whoever is in the enemy lines is the enemy. What are we supposed to do to the enemy? We are supposed to fight the enemy. We have not yet eliminated them. Now’s not the time for such talk. Now’s the time to root them out. Today as well, the MEK is the most treacherous enemy of this nation. They need to come and answer and stand trial. We have to deal with each and every one of them…
I think the issue of the MEK is clear. We have no ambiguity about the MEK. We are at a time of war. Now is not the time for talk. Now is the time to fight them, now is the time to subdue them. Now is the time to conduct prosecutions. It is time to put the criminal world that defends terrorism in its place. Now is not the time to give legal answers and say for example, ‘this judge acted well’, ‘this judge acted poorly’ or to ask whether this file was closed properly. Yes, perhaps the Judiciary might have many weaknesses, and it might make a mistake now and then. Are we supposed to defend our mistakes? But, the issue is not about a mistake having been made. This whole issue is immaterial and does not merit attention. But, I think once, God willing, we get rid of the MEK, then these matters will become more clear with greater detail.
Statement from Amnesty International
Amnesty International issued a statement in response to Pour-Mohammadi’s interview expressing alarm at the lack of accountability from the perpetrators of the 1988 Massacre and the continued threats to the family members of the victims of the crime. The statement read, in part:
“The organization is particularly concerned about comments by Mostafa Pour Mohammadi accusing those advocating for truth and accountability of ‘terrorism’ and ‘collusion’ with Iran’s geopolitical enemies, and warning that they shall face prosecution. These comments, coupled with the appointment, in March 2019, of Ebrahim Raisi, who, like Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, was involved with the mass extrajudicial executions of 1988, to the position of the head of the judiciary, put survivors, family members of those executed and human rights defenders at increased risk of harassment and persecution simply for seeking truth and justice.”
List of thousands of PMOI / MEK martyrs executed during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran- A photo of the exhibition at Ashraf3, during the 5-day conference in solidarity with the Iranian resistance- July 2019
The final day of the Free Iran Conference was dedicated to seeking justice for the 30,000 victims of the 1988 Massacre (mainly MEK supporters) and their families. A number of dignitaries gave speeches on Monday, but the most memorable words came from survivors of the massacre. Their words are summarized below.
“I spent six years in prison. The Revolutionary Guards arrested me while I was pregnant. I was taken to Evin Prison and the torture chambers. I was transferred to Ward 209. In the cell, I saw four torturers torture my husband in front of me. They also tortured me in front of him,” said Ms. Jokar.
Iran #1988Massacre witness Hengameh Haj Hassan: “We were blindfolded & put in cages, small partitions where you could only squat. You couldn’t move. If we moved, we were tortured. My eyesight was degraded & my back was injured. Despite 5 operations I've still not recovered.” pic.twitter.com/XIqocJs1eX
“A few days later, they executed my husband with 75 others. The torturer said his intention was for him to never see his child. When I gave birth to my child, they took me to a hospital and quickly brought me back to prison even though I was very ill. I personally knew 50 MEK pregnant women who were executed, including Masumeh, the sister of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi,” she said.
“In prison, they would not give milk and food for the kids, and my cell mates would provide their sugar rations to me to give something to my baby. There was no doctor or medication for the children. In the public ward, there were only 15 minutes of warm water every other day, which we had to use to give the children a bath. Many of these children had lost their parents,” Ms. Jokar continued.
“The torturers even interrogated the children. They strapped a six-year-old girl to a chair in a dark room and said they would leave her there if she did not reveal the names of her mother’s friends,” she said.
“I managed to escape prison in 1986. All of those ladies who shared the cell with me were executed in the 1988 massacre,” Ms. Jokar said.
In the summer of 1988, Iran's regime summarily and extra-judicially executed tens of thousands of political prisoners held in jails across Iran. The #1988Massacre was carried out on the basis of a fatwa by the regime’s Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini.#FreeIran#WeSupportMEKpic.twitter.com/fiZ8YgAAVs
“The roots of our hopes and faith in our leaders helped us overcome the dark times in prison and to fight for freedom,” she concluded. Ms. Jokar remained stoic throughout her testimony but many in the room were visibly moved by her words.
Hengameh Haj-Hassan
“I was a nurse in Tehran. In 1981, I was arrested and imprisoned in Evin Prison and Gohardasht Prison along with many of my colleagues. We were charged with helping the people who were injured by the IRGC,” said Ms. Haj-Hassan.
“In prison, we were subjected to severe tortures. Insomnia, packed cells, sleeping in coffins were what we had to endure,” she said.
Death Commissions sent 30000 political prisoners to the gallows. The vast majority of the victims were PMOI (MEK) members. Perpetrators of Iran's #1988Massacre have never been held accountable. Worse still, some have been promoted to top government & judiciary positions #FreeIranpic.twitter.com/ngiM7qvhHW
“I was in a cage for seven months. These were small partitions where you could only squat. You couldn’t move, you couldn’t even cough or sneeze. If we moved, we were tortured. Our eyes were blindfolded. My eyesight has been degraded and my back was injured. I was operated on five times and yet I still have not recovered,” Ms. Haj-Hassan continued.
“When we came out of the cages, our friends didn’t recognize us. Inside the cage, we had to be prepared for any torture at any moment. The torturers used any excuse to torture us,” she emphasized.
“The torturer told us that we would die here. We were only given three minutes per day to go to the bathroom. We couldn’t even brush our teeth. The food they gave us was scarce and very dirty. At night, when we were allowed to sleep, they would turn on loudspeakers and play the regime’s mourning songs,” she added.
“The torturers sought to break our will and force us to turn our backs on our struggle. I decided that I would tell the enemy the name of the Mojahed. My friend Shekar was arrested with me, and she was executed in 1988 after suffering torture and the cage,” she stressed.
“I decided to prepare myself for hard days. I scheduled all my moments every day. My program was I started to remember all the songs and the contents of the Mojahedin books and the martyrs’ biographies that I already had read and started to repeat them. I had a physical exercise program. We weren’t allowed to move, but I exercised in my mind. I nursed patients in my mind,” she explained.
“At night, when we couldn’t sleep due to the loudspeakers, I trained myself to shut down those noises and take myself to pleasant places in my memories,” she added.
“The hardest times were the feeling of loneliness. I thought of God, and I thought of my leader, Massoud Rajavi. I spoke to him, and this way, I didn’t feel alone anymore,” Ms. Hassan continued.
“The torturers thought they would break our will through torture. However, they only made us stronger, as we understood that this proved what we were doing was right,” she emphasized.
“In prison, we considered ourselves PMOI representatives, and we deemed it our responsibility to defend their values. When I came out of prison, the first thing I did was to re-join my organization. This is a path that will continue until the end,” Ms. Haj-Hassan concluded. Her speech drew chants and applause from the audience.
Homa Jaberi
“I was in the regime’s prisons for five years and I witnessed many tortures. I was arrested in 1981 because I had participated in a peaceful MEK protest and spent many years in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) and Evin prisons. When the regime wasn’t able to break the will of the MEK woman through torture, they created a compound called the ‘residential units,’” said Ms. Jaberi.
Iran #1988Massacre witness Homa Jaberi: “After 40 days I was taken to Evin Prison. Some of my friends had lost their mental balance. Some prisoners would not speak of the tortures they suffered. The torturers had made them make animal noises & insult themselves. Some were raped.” pic.twitter.com/cVnKSUUezy
“This was a secret compound. I was there for 40 days. From the first day, I was tortured brutally with whips and physically beaten. They took all of us to a room, blindfolded us, and told us that they would kill us until that night. They tortured us for hours until midnight,” she stated.
“My hands were swollen from the whiplashes. My face and body were bruised. The regime’s torturer said, ‘This is your hell. No one will hear you here. You will all die here.’ They kept us awake for many days and didn’t let us sleep,” she continued.
“Some of my friends were kept in this place for six months. We weren’t even allowed to scream under torture. Every command was given with whip lashes. For instance, if they wanted to tell us that we could sleep, they would do so by whipping us,” she added.
“After 40 days, I was taken to Evin Prison. Some of my friends had lost their mental balance. Some of the prisoners would not even speak of the tortures they had suffered. They said that the torturers made them make animal noises and insult themselves. Some had been raped,” Ms. Jaberi explained.
“I have faith that with the leadership of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, we will free Iran. It was this faith that helped me overcome the tough conditions of the prison,” she concluded to cheers and chants from the audience.
A video clip about the 1988 Massacre was shown to the conference attendees. MEK members held up photographs of loved ones who were martyred in the massacre. Some held more than one photograph. Mrs. Rajavi wiped tears from her eyes during the presentation.
Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian opposition, addressing a crowed of MEK members and distinguished politicians on the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran- July 15, 2019
On June 29, the Iranian Resistance leader Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) delivered a speech to visiting lawmakers from throughout the world, at the Albanian headquarters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). It was the most significant international gathering at the compound (Ashraf3) since it was established following the evacuation of the group’s former community in Iraq, which had been under fire for years from forces aligned with Iran’s theocratic regime.
The successful relocation of all of the camp’s 3,000 residents was regarded as a triumph by the MEK, insofar as it provided a new, more stable base of operations for the global effort to remove the existing regime and establish a democratic system in its place. Last month’s speech was an opportunity for Mrs. Rajavi to emphasize the practical outlook for that project and to encourage the international community to continue pursuing the type of assertive foreign policy that was on display when the United States and the United Nations stood up to Iran over the issue of the MEK and its members residing in camp Ashraf in Iraq.
The effort to relocate those people to what is now known as “Ashraf 3” was a modest beginning to more confrontational dealings with the Islamic Republic. But as Mrs. Rajavi explained in her remarks, the world had a long way to go to reverse a decades-long strategy of conciliation and “appeasement.” It still does, although the Trump White House has done a great deal to help demonstrate the potential effect of putting pressure on the regime instead of negotiating with it in the vain hope that its behavior will someday change.
“Imagine for a moment, what would have happened if such a disastrous policy would not have been adopted from the outset,” she said to a crowd of MEK members and visiting supporters before outlining a wide variety of malign activities that were enabled in large part by Western powers’ preoccupation with reaching out to so-called moderates within the regime. The prime target of this effort, in recent years, was President Hassan Rouhani, but his progressive-sounding campaign promises were belied by his previous dealings with the West and his proven disregard for human rights issues.
The time has come for the international community to end 3 decades of impunity for the leaders of the regime in #Iran, holding Khamenei and his accomplice accountable for their crimes against humanity and the genocide committed in the #1988Massacre at an international tribunal pic.twitter.com/XM7LF0iYdY
Like many of those who played a major role in Iran’s government in the years following the 1979 revolution, Rouhani was aware of many of the killings and other crimes that were carried out in the interest of silencing dissent against the fledgling theocracy. As a Member of Parliament and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Rouhani was in a position to press for an end to these crimes or at least speak out against them. Yet he consistently demonstrated complicity, even when “death commissions” began the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988.
That dark stain on Iran’s history, with its estimated death toll of 30,000 over just a few months, was the first thing mentioned by Mrs. Rajavi when she listed all that could have been prevented by more assertive Western policies. Sadly, not only did lawmakers and Western media largely ignore warnings about what was happening in 1988, they learned hardly anything about the regime in the aftermath. The world should have recognized the futility of appealing to “moderates” when it became clear that the few who objected to mass killing were driven out of the system, while those who participated were rewarded for the rest of their political careers.
In 1988, Hossein Ali Montazeri was next in line to be Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. But after he warned his fellow officials that they would be remembered as criminals for facilitating thousands of politically motivated executions, he not only was shunned by the regime but went on to spend the last years of his life under house arrest.
By contrast, one of the main architects of the killings, Ebrahim Raisi, was appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei earlier this year to head the entire nation’s judiciary. Two other members of the “death commissions” were appointed by Rouhani to head the Ministry of Justice during each of his successive terms. This should tell lawmakers throughout the world all they need to know about Tehran’s view of human rights, about Rouhani’s moderate credentials, and about the future the Iranian people will face if the international community continues trying to elevate such figures while promoting a slow pathway to reform.
There are only two realistic outcomes for the Islamic Republic: maintenance of the status quo as advocated by the authors of “appeasement,” or sudden, transformative change of the sort championed by the MEK and its allies in the NCRI.
The fact is that constructive dialogue with the mullahs does not work. Even the 2015 nuclear agreement demonstrated this, as the regime’s acceptance of modest, easily reversible restrictions on its nuclear program produced a financial windfall that has since been used to accelerate missile development, violent intervention into the affairs of surrounding nations, and ultimately, the nuclear program itself. In recent days, the supposedly moderate Rouhani has personally expressed about his intention to oversee uranium enrichment in “any amount” desired. This only underscores the lack of restrictions put in place by negotiators for whom conciliation has long since become the norm.
But there were clear warning signs about Rouhani’s duplicity in this, as well. When he served as Tehran’s chief nuclear negotiator between 2003 and 2005, he publicly bragged about creating a “calm environment” in which the regime could accelerate its nuclear development while giving the impression that it was preparing to wind down.
The regime is giving no such impression now, and its open hostility can only be explained by its well-learned confidence that the world will not do anything to stop it. Notwithstanding the Ashrafis’ relocation and the effective economic pressure being exerted by the US, the world community as a whole has shown little interest in severing ties with Iran or adopting the strategy of “maximum pressure,” even in the wake of direct attacks on oil tankers and a US drone, and proxy attacks on pipelines, airports, and more.
The most serious action that the European Union has taken over the past year is to sanction Iran’s secret service and some of its known operatives. All it took was for France, Albania, and other nations to be directly threatened by bomb and assassination plots targeting Iranian opposition activists. Considering what those plots say about the political climate inside the Islamic Republic and the potential for more killings on the scale of 1988, it is shocking that the international community is so hesitant to go at least as far as the White House has done, by sanctioning the office of the supreme leader and designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.
If they were to do so, the Europeans would go a long way toward promoting the sudden, transformative change that represents Iran’s only hope for a free and democratic future. Last year, a nationwide mass uprising led by the MEK demonstrated that the people of that country are ready to take it upon themselves to bring this about. All they need is the international support that has been almost always withheld throughout the past four decades.
Conference “1988 Massacre in Iran, Perpetrators must be TRIED ” held at Ashraf 3, MEK’s compound near Tirana, Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian opposition address the conference. During this conference, MEK former political prisoners and survivals of the massacre, gave extremely moving testimonies about the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. The event was broadcast live via @Iran_Policy in 4 different languages. July 15, 2019
The summer of 1988, after months of deprivation from visiting their loved ones, thousands of families of MEK supporters and activists, gathered at the prison’s entrance across Iran, received the remaining cloths of their family members, a reference to a grave or in most cases no news about their whereabouts.
In Tehran, families could manage to find a mass graveyard in Khavaran, were, apparently, thousands of bodies of MEK supporters were dumped and buried in a night. These hopeless families go every year to Khavaran, to commemorate their loved ones. Yet within the past few years, so many of these families were arrested, even executed. People such as Ali Saremi, Jafar Kazemi, Mohammad-Ali Haj-Aghaie, supporters of the MEK, lost their lives.
According to survivors and the regime defectors and other sources, more than 30,000 members and supporters of the MEK were executed in a matter of months in the summer of 1988.
Tragic but heroic, they were executed for how they called the MEK and its historical leader Massoud Rajavi.
Although MEK informed the International Community about this massacre, Western governments chose to close their eyes and rather follow commerce with the so-called reformist Mullah Hashemi Rafsanjani, then Iran’s president.
After 30 years, a tape was exposed, with the voice of the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeini’s heir at that time, speaking to members of the death committee telling them they had committed a crime for which History would curse the regime. Those positions cost Montazeri his seat as heir apparent to Khomeini.
The crimes of the Iranian regime is known to everyone, anyone with the least dignity condemns these atrocities such as the massacre of 30000 MEK members in 1988. Amnesty International recently published a vast report based on a thorough study which shows that this massacre is no less than a crime against humanity. Among others, it was based on tens of testimonies by MEK members now settled in Albania in Ashraf3 compound, where the opposition has regrouped after quitting their former settlement in Iraq under Iran regime’s pressures.
I call on all Iranians in #Iran and abroad to help advance and expand the Call-for-Justice movement for the victims of the #1988Massacre. This is the movement of the oppressed, the suppressed and the bereaved. #FreeIranpic.twitter.com/z2yBw1Jq69
At the same time, a vast and costly demonization campaign is followed by the mullahs to tarnish the image of their victims. Their motto is: if you have to kill, demonize your victims so you are justified in your crime.
An array of websites and well implanted “journalists” are in the mullahs’ inventory to achieve this goal. So-called journalists, who blame the MEK and ultimately the victims of this regime, for the latter’s crimes! This demonization campaign against the Iranian resistance pursues nothing but one goal: Washing the hands of the mullahs so the Western company managers can shake hands with them! History has proven that no one sides with dictators for God’s sake and “the democratic cultish issues” of a resistance movement such as the MEK with more than 120,000 fallen for the cause of freedom and the vast network inside, which the Iranian regime fears most and repeatedly warns its troops of those units’ activities.
Khomeini’s intention in ordering the #1988Massacre was to totally uproot and obliterate the Mojahedin. To this end, he deployed his killing machine in several areas. The most intense killings began in Evin and Gohardasht prisons, aimed specifically at members of the PMOI/MEK. pic.twitter.com/y8CaGHOtNw
History is the best judge, time will move on, Iranian people and their resistance MEK will topple this regime, the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre will be held accountable in international courts, but the remaining question is would those who white-washed those crimes also be held accountable?
As it comes to those longing to do business with Iran at any cost, it should be said that such business is called “bad business,” since they invested in the blood of the Iranian people.
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Lincoln Bloomfield
Panelists:
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Former Commandant of the U.S. Marines Corps James Conway
University of Baltimore Professor Ivan Sascha Sheehan
Former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Ambassador Robert Joseph
Former Foreign Minister of Canada
Former U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli
The following are some of the most notable moments from the day’s event. (Questions in bold type were asked by panel moderator Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield.)
"The JCPOA [Iran deal] was such a bad deal … I don't know how the British Foreign Secretary today could be wanting to resuscitate the JCPOA after what happened yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz. It just boggles the mind" – @Baird at today's Iran policy conference in Albania pic.twitter.com/hamQiCoAZq
Sen. Torricelli “There’s a fundamental belief that things will work out. The future is not as bad as the past. Even a despotic regime will reform itself over time. That’s a handicap for us. The Iranian regime is not going to reform. It’s not going to change.”
“The second handicap is, those who would accommodate the regime take the high ground because they’re speaking out against war. Here’s the problem: first of all, there is a war. There’s no one fighting back. Tens of thousands of Iranians were killed by their own government. There’s been a war waged on the Iranian people since 1979. Those who would argue for patience and time have no moral high ground.”
Where can we have the maximum effect on pushing the regime back?
“Iran's regime will fall. But if we pursue wrong policies that assist the rgm such as giving it a $150B down payment, we'll be perpetuating the threat & hurting the people of Iran” – ex-US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Robert Joseph.#FreeIran#IStandWithMaryamRajavipic.twitter.com/gr96VdUGRR
Amb. Joseph: “The right policy is whatever accelerates the end of this regime. The wrong policy is what prolongs the life of this regime. Appeasement has turned out to be not just a failure but also counter to American interests. We should start with maximum pressure, and the administration has been doing a good job. The sanctions are having a deep impact on the Iranian economy.
“If we show weakness, it’s provocative. When we show strength, the regime backs down. It’s important that we always keep in mind that the show of strength is key to success.”
“Land invasion is not what’s necessary. Change has to come from within [Iran]. A more effective policy would include calling out the regime on its gross human rights violations. We don’t do that often enough.”
“We should negotiate on nuclear affairs, but we have to keep in mind what our principles are. We should not be victim of the mindset that negotiations mean compromise and giving the other party concessions. That is what happened in the JCPOA.
“Our focus ought to be calling them out, and combining these tools, whether its sanctions or the military, that will facilitate the end of this regime.”
What’s the right strategy to impair the military of the Iranian regime? Is it something we should be looking at? What else could we be thinking of that would undermine the cohesion of this criminal enterprise?
Prof. Sheehan: “The contest is ultimately over the right to think freely. The regime fears the truth, they fear facts. We must hold panels like this and expand the truth. We must give the Iranian people a sense of what’s going on around them and the idea that there is this viable alternative.
“The Iranian opposition does not fear the truth, and they know ultimately that it is on their side. With time these ideas will lead to the revolution that we’d all like to see take place.”
Should we be more specific about the guilt of the Iranian regime?
Baird: “We can exploit the regime’s vulnerability, to support the people of Iran. The regime realizes that when it falls, they will have no place to go. The senior members of this regime know that they will have nowhere to go and they will be held to account for their crimes such as the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and the bombing of the Jewish center in Argentina.”
Sen. Torricelli: “No one can seriously believe this regime will last long. It’s an unsustainable situation. If you’re in the leadership today, there’s going to be a moment in your life when you’re going to be held accountable.”
What messages are the ones that really hurt the regime the most and isolate them among their people?
Amb. Joseph: “We must continue to push forward on exposing the regime’s brutality and its human rights violation. In the information space, we ought to focus on how this regime has failed the people. Just look at their inability to respond to the recent flooding. It is an incompetent regime. That is a vulnerability that would further deteriorate support for this regime in Iran, which is already decreasing day after day, month after month, year after year.”
Do the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) deserve to wear a uniform at all, given their unprofessional behavior?
Gen. James Conway, ex-Commandant of the US Marines: “The objective of authoritarian regimes is the survival of their regime. Iran's regime wants to be the premiere power in the region. How do we counter that? We should ratchet up the sanctions." #FreeIran#IStandWithMaryamRajavipic.twitter.com/c2g4hJ6krO
General Conway, “Iran’s regime invariably gets greedy. Every one of the leaders of this regime have Swiss bank accounts that are growing while the people of Iran are living in poverty. We should expose that and let the people know who their leadership is.”
What will do the trick [to overthrow the mullahs]?
Prof. Ivan Sascha Sheehan “The regime in Tehran fears internal pressure more than it fears external threats. The people of Iran don’t need the world to rescue them. The regime change will be led by you.”
Are we playing strong offense and defense?
Sen. Torricelli: “Not enough.”
“It happens all the time. In Tehran, they have carefully disseminated false information into the mainstream media. We’re fighting back, and it’s been a long climb. What the mullahs are doing with misinformation in Washington, London and Paris, you can do with the truth. “
Baird: “The fact that the European authorities uncovered a plot by the regime that tried to attack the Free Iran rally in Paris in 2018, the rashness just shows how fearful the regime is of you.”
How do we amass the power of the many outrages about the regime and put it all into a powerful mixture?
Amb. Joseph: “The process that I’ve seen is that reporters tend to go to the same sources over and over again. If you look at who they’re going to in the world of think tanks, most of these people are doing the work of the regime.”
“This is where the MEK and NCRI can make a difference.”
Is the world taking notice of the regime’s terrorism in their countries? When did it become acceptable behavior? What should we do about it?
Prof. Sheehan: “There are some groups and individuals that you simply can’t negotiate with, and the regime is emblematic of that group.”
“In Washington, DC, we found a deeply entrenched pro-regime lobby, and that lobby exists in other places of the world. But the tools and power of ideas that we have at our disposal today are much stronger than the tools we had before.”
“We don’t have to wait for Washington to change its policy. Every citizen around the world can help contribute to this change.”
A lot of people in Washington fear that what happened in Syria and Libya will repeat in Iran.
Baird: “They need to understand who the Iranian people are and what their capacity is. We have to push back against the elite foreign policy view in the West. In the West, regimes start to do crazy stupid things and the type of behavior we’ve seen in this regime. They are not being rational in their final days, and the more we see this, the closer they are to their end.”
The Iranian people have had this aspiration from at least the beginning of the 20th century. How can we convince the West that we can trust them if this regime collapses?
“Those who accommodate Iran's regime take the high ground since they’re speaking out against war. Iran's Gov has waged war on its ppl since 1979 killing tens of thousands. Those who argue for patience/time have no moral highground” @bobtorricelli#FreeIran#IStandWithMaryamRajavipic.twitter.com/bqUuKtouAd
Sen. Torricelli: “Tehran is desperately trying to keep the Europeans in a dialogue to keep an economic lifeline. They do not want military confrontation but they are attacking the U.S. drone. These are irrational acts. When the regime becomes this irrational, it means that the sanctions are working. Those irrational actions tell me that we’re reaching a point. If I were Trump or Merkel or Macron, I would press my foot on the pedal because they’re telegraphing that what we are doing is working.”
How do we direct western policy in the right direction? What could we do that we are not doing enough of?
Giuliani: “We had an opportunity a few years ago when the sanctions were working. There are strong indicators that the protests in Iran are becoming political.”
“People have said bad things about you because you support the MEK and Madam Rajavi. What does Washington need to know that this group is entirely misportrayed in Washington?” asked Amb. Bloomfield.
Giuliani: “We need a massive public relations campaign. When people find out what this group really stands for and they get past the allegations, it all starts to make sense. We’ve got the same goal that is a free democratic Iran.”
Is there a potential for Canada, the U.S. and Europe to find common ground on how the regime is gaming the west and escaping accountability?
Baird: “After Iraq, President Obama and other European leaders were so desperate to make diplomacy work rather than military force. What we need is leadership. The weakness in 2009 in not standing up for the Iranian people will go down in history as a lost opportunity. We must do all we can to stand up for what’s right. We need leadership. That is what Madam Rajavi is trying to provide.”
Sen. Torricelli: “The people are realizing that this regime will not moderate. The regime’s behavior is also deteriorating all the time.”
What can we do to show there’s a democratic alternative? How do we find that next gear in Washington?
Giuliani: “In the past year, the regime has become more frightened and irrational. Striking the drone and what they’re doing with the tankers, maybe they want us to attack them and they hope that it would rally the people behind them. We’re so reluctant to take military action, and the world would also react badly, that the mullahs could push us along if they engaged diplomatically. But their poking their finger in our eye.”
“I think the mullahs are going to fall, with these protests going on, the crazy things they are doing. I think they are desperate. What they are doing sounds like a regime that is not thinking in clever ways.”
Let’s assume the Iranians will continue to lash out desperately. What’s your advice in Washington for a legitimate response?
Amb. Joseph: “One of the things we need to do is recognize that revolutions are very messy. What is missing in those revolutions is a viable alternative that would be beneficial not only to the Iranian people but also to the U.S. and the world in general.”
“What we need to do is to think strategically and integrate our tools in an effective strategy. The only solution to the nuclear issue in Iran is regime change and the viable alternative is a key component to that.”
“I spoke to many people in Ashraf. The sacrifices that the members of MEK in Ashraf have endured are many. But they do not have a sense of revenge. That, I think, will deliver the people of Iran their freedom.”
Do we have the ability to select surgical targets as an acceptable response?
Prof. Sheehan: “What unifies us here in this panel and this room is that the mullahs are not irrational when it comes to one thing, which is their fear of the organized resistance. What I wish U.S. officials knew is the democratic aspirations and inclinations of the Iranian people, which run very, very deep. The Iranian people are not the slightest bit irrational. I have come to appreciate how sophisticated and educated they are. I have come to appreciate that the NCRI’s platform and Madam Rajavi’s plan is the future of Iran. That’s the viable alternative that we need Washington to realize.”
People have been in the streets since the late 2017. They are admitting that the MEK and NCRI are organizing the demonstrations. Are we making progress here?
Giuliani: “The fact that the protests continue is a very good sign even though the regime has tried to harm them. The biggest frustration is getting the European governments to do the right thing. Whatever their economic interests and fear, we should all be together in eliminating this regime. We have to keep up the pressure, try to put more sanctions. And the important point is, some of these revolutions have happened without an alternative. Here you do not have to let that happen. We must get Americans to understand that there is an alternative and let them see it.”
