MARYAM RAJAVI: FOR FREEDOM, FROM MOSADDEGH TO JANUARY 2018 UPRISING CATEGORIES // Messages

Mosaddegh’s tenure was a unique example of a government that defended its people’s rights and national interests, was devoid of corruption and tyranny, and was especially characterized an unwavering struggle for national freedom and independence

On the anniversary of the demise of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, leader of Iran’s Nationalist Movement, on March 15, 1967, we salute his exalted soul and renew our pledge to continue and advance his path for the happiness of the Iranian nation.

Mosaddegh became an acclaimed international icon for taking bold action to nationalize Iran’s Oil Industry on March 20, 1952, an unforgettable landmark in Iran’s history. By leading this struggle, Mosaddegh became a great teacher of patriotism and an unwavering struggle for independence for Iranian people and nations of the Middle East.

In the first year after he seized power, Khomeini said, “Our path is not the path of oil… Oil nationalization is not an issue for us. It is wrong… to set Islam aside and praise someone who has nationalized the oil.”

Khomeini and his heirs thus established a dreadful dictatorship instead of democracy and freedom which the people of Iran aspired for. They also squandered the country’s oil and put it on sale.

Khomeini and his heirs resent Mosaddegh not only for his brilliant victory in nationalizing the oil, but for the valuable steps he took to put an end to despotism, corruption and poverty and bring democracy to the various realms of life in Iran. He threaded a road which was totally different from those of the Shah and Khomeini.

The pleasant memory of Mosaddegh’s brief tenure has remained in the nation’s mind since he promoted a nationalist and democratic program which was very progressive in his time.

The popular uprising on July 21, 1952, helped him pass his nine-point plan in the parliament. The plan enabled Mosaddegh to balance Iran’s foreign trade-- an unprecedented phenomenon in Iran’s history-- despite cessation of oil revenues, through imposing severe control on imports and reducing public expenses. He also managed to balance the country’s domestic budget.

For the first and last time in Iran’s history, Mosaddegh succeeded to relieve the country’s reliance on oil revenues for income. His administration introduced a range of progressive social, financial, administrative and political reforms despite tough opposition. He initiated extensive reforms in the Army, in health and education, in the judiciary and legal proceedings, and annulled the special and extraordinary courts.

Mosaddegh introduced reforms based on which landowners had to turn over 10 per cent of their revenues to their tenants. According to the new land reforms, the lands owned by the government were divided into small pieces and sold to the public to build their own housing, as a result of which house rent was lowered for low income families.

Mosaddegh was in office for only 28 months but his brief tenure was a unique example of a government that defended its people’s rights and national interests, was devoid of corruption and tyranny, and was especially characterized by an unwavering struggle for national freedom and independence.

As Massoud Rajavi once reiterated, “Mosaddegh was not an individual but represented a cause. He was targeted from all directions for his cause which cherished independence, freedom, and an unwavering struggle against foreign colonialism, and against domestic dictatorship and fundamentalism.”

The Shah’s path characterized by authoritarianism and dependence on foreign powers failed. The path of religious tyranny also failed.

Inspired by Mosaddegh and the Mojahedin (PMOI), Iran’s young generations have risen up today in dozens of cities across the country. They have a big question: Why doesn’t Iran have a democratic government despite its rich and progressive culture and despite abundant material and human resources?

This is the fundamental question that has made Iran’s people restless in achieving freedom, democracy and equality.

Mosaddegh said, “I will struggle to the last breath for freedom and independence of this country.”

We also pledge to continue the fight for the overthrow of the clerical dictatorship and not relent until the aspirations of our nation for a free, prosperous land free from all forms of discrimination are realized.

It is no secret that the Iranian Regime (both Mullah and Shah) have used disinformation campaigns to attack and discredit the Iranian Resistance group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

One of those disinformation campaigns is the ‘Islamist Marxist’ label that the Shah’s Secret Police (SAVAK) originally used to disparage the MEK in order to undermine its support among the devout Iranian people because the Shah was scared of the MEK’s potential to mobilise Iranians- particularly the youth- against the monarchy. The Shah and SAVAK also used it to disparage other political opponents of the monarchy.

Why? Because of the public perception of the word in Iran as being synonymous with atheism, materialism, and Westernism.

Newspaper reports didn’t help clear up the matter because all opponents of the monarchy (and there were many) would be placed in the same paragraph, meaning that the MEK would be listed in the same paragraphs as the Communist Party and the Marxist People’s Fedayeen, which may have given the false impression that their policies were similar.

After the 1979 Revolution, the MEK wanted to establish a democratic government, while Ruhollah Khomeini and his mullahs wanted a fundamentalist theocracy and the two groups clashed. After the Shah left, the mullahs began to attack the MEK using their terrorist proxy thugs.

The mullahs and their Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) continued to misrepresent the MEK and referred to them as godless Marxists. However, the mullahs and the MOIS went much further than the Shah and the SAVAK in this regard, because the mullahs are alarmed by the MEK’s popularity and see the MEK as a threat to the Regime.

In 1981, MEK leader Massoud Rajavi: “Every high school student knows that believing in God, Jesus Christ, and Muhammad is incompatible with the philosophy of Marxism. But for dictators like Khomeini, ‘Islamic Marxist’ is a very profitable phrase to use against any opposition. If Jesus Christ and Muhammad were alive and protesting against Khomeini, he would call them Marxists, too.”

To be clear, the MEK has never referred to itself as Marxist, socialist, or communist, according to Iran historian Ervand Abrahamian, and they have shunned Marxist philosophy. Massoud Rajavi has even said that the MEK avoided the socialist label to avoid being misrepresented in the people’s minds.

The MEK actually spent the first six years of its existence studying Islam, philosophy, history and economics in order to formulate its political positions based on a democratic and tolerant interpretation of Islam and to prepare a strategy to replace the Shah’s dictatorial monarchy.

In 1982, Massoud Rajavi said: “The Islam we want is nationalist, democratic, progressive, and not opposed to science or civilization. We believe that there is no contradiction between modern science and true Islam, and we believe that in Islam there must be no compulsion or dictatorship.”

However, after 50 years of being described as Marxists, especially during the Cold War, many people wrongly believe this about the MEK. We must be clear, the MEK is not Marxist; they are freedom fighters who believe in democracy and a tolerant Islam.

Riyadh "Riyadh Daily" 

Iran: Protests continue in numerous cities

Despite Iran's security forces being on high alert following the nationwide protests erupting on December 28th, protests are reportedly continuing in cities across the country. The Iranian regime intends to mark the beginning of its 40th year in power after the 1979 revolution, yet these protests are causing quite a stir and disrupting such plans.

Iran is known to filter and impose severe control over its internet, further indicating that despite the Iranian officials' claim of conditions returning to normal, it is anything but. There is a fire simmering beneath and the society is being labeled a powder keg by experts.

ANALYSIS: Revisiting Iran’s 9/11 connection

By Heshmat AlaviSpecial to Al Arabiya EnglishMonday, 11 September 2017

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16 years have passed since that tragic day, September 11, 2001, when over 3,000 innocent people lost their lives in the “the largest mass casualty terrorist attack in US history.” The course of modern history changed as we know it.

For more than 15 of these past years the policy of appeasement has withheld the international community from adopting the will needed to bring all the perpetrators of this hideous crime to justice.

Iran has a history of fueling foreign crises to avoid responding to its own domestic concerns. 9/11 provided the window of opportunity to derail world attention to other states and buy Tehran crucially needed time.

Unfortunately, the regime ruling Iran has been the main benefactor of the 9/11 aftermath. As a result of two wars in the Middle East the entire region has been left wide open for Tehran to take advantage of and spread its sinister ideology and sectarianism.

It is hence necessary to highlight Iran’s role in 9/11 attacks and demand the senior Iranian regime hierarchy involved in blueprinting and implementing this attack to be held accountable before the law.

Warmongering history

For the past four decades Iran has been ruled by a clerical regime that is simply incapable of providing the society’s needs and demands. To this end, Tehran has resorted to a policy of exporting the “Islamic Revolution” by meddling in neighboring and distant countries to create havoc.

History has recorded how Iraq invaded Iranian territories and caused the beginning of the devastating eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War. Several months before Iraq launched its military attack, Ayatollah Khomeini, accused of hijacking Iran’s 1979 revolution, described then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as a “hypocrite” and a “threat for the Iraqi people.”

Khomeini went as far as calling on the Iraqi people to “place their entire efforts behind destroying this dangerous individual” and the Iraqi army to “flee their forts” and to “rise and destroy this corrupt individual, and appoint another individual in his place. We will support you in this regard.”

Fast forward more than two decades, and again with Iraq in its crosshairs, Iran began what has been described as a very complicated effort to literally deceive the US intelligence community.

Ahmad Challabi, dubbed as “The Manipulator” by The New Yorker, was Iran’s front man in feeding the US false information regarding Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction to justify Washington’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The war ultimately eliminated the main obstacle before Iran’s hidden occupation of Iraq and full blown meddling across the Middle East.

Looking further west in the region, Iran ordered Bashar Assad in Syria and former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to facilitate the escape of thousands of al-Qaeda prisoners. This development, parallel to the ruthless crackdown of the two countries’ Sunni communities, led to the rise of ISIS.

This entire episode provided Iran the necessary pretext to justify its presence in Iraq and Syria, especially through tens of thousands of proxy forces.

New Light On Iran's Human Rights Violations

Heshmat Alavi

Two of the major crises the international community is currently engaged with are terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Iran, in particular, is negatively involved in both fields, being known as the central banker of international terrorism, and suspicious for its own controversial nuclear program at home parallel to its nuclear/missile collaboration with North Korea.

As these subjects are of significant importance and deserve even more attributed attention, what must not go neglected is the fact that Iran is taking advantage of such circumstances to continue an equally important campaign of belligerence against its own people. The scope of human rights violations carried out by Tehran is continuously on the rise, with the ruling regime interpreting the mentioned international crises as windows of opportunity to extend its domestic crackdown.

And yet, a promising report issued from the United Nations has shed very necessary light on a specific dossier Iran has gone the limits throughout the past three decades to cloak. In 1988 the Iranian regime carried out an atrocious massacre sending tens of thousands of political prisoners to the gallows. Unfortunately, the world has until recently remained silent in this regard.

Twenty nine years after the atrocious carnage, Asma Jahangir, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, issued a report on September 2nd for the first time referring to the massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, mostly members and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

This document, coupled with a note by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and presented to the UN General Assembly, has for the first time specifically attributed a number of articles to the 1988 massacre. Thousands of men, women and juveniles were sent to the gallows, and buried in mass, unmarked graves, all according to a fatwa, or decree, issued by the deceased Iranian regime founder Ayatollah Khomeini.

Raising the stakes to a level Tehran has sought to avoid through the years, this damning UN report has called for an independent and thorough inquiry into these crimes to unearth the truth of the atrocities carried out in the summer of 1988.

Activists and the Iranian Diaspora have for 29 years focused their measures on presenting evidence of the killings. This has finally been acknowledged in this UN report.

“Between July and August 1988, thousands of political prisoners, men, women and teen-agers, were reportedly executed pursuant to a fatwa issued by the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. A three-man commission was reportedly created with a view to determining who should be executed. The bodies of the victims were reportedly buried in unmarked graves and their families never informed of their whereabouts. These events, known as the 1988 massacres, have never been officially acknowledged. In January 1989, the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, expressed concern over the “global denial” of the executions and called on Iranian authorities to conduct an investigation. Such an investigation has yet to be undertaken.”

The atrocities, of such grave nature, rendered a major rift amongst the regime’s leadership and highest authorities. The late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, then Khomeini’s designated successor, expressed his opposition to the killings and the massacre came back to haunt a presidential hopeful in the most recent such election held back in May.

“In August 2016, an audio recording of a meeting held in 1988 between high-level State officials and clerics was published. The recording revealed the names of the officials who had carried out and defended the executions, including the current Minister of Justice, a current high court judge, and the head of one of the largest religious foundations in the country and candidate in the May presidential elections. Following the publication of the audio recording, some clerical authorities and the chief of the judiciary admitted that the executions had taken place and, in some instances, defended them.”

I am a political/rights activist focusing on Iran & the Middle East. I also write in Al Arabiya English, and contributed to The Hill, Algemeiner and Raddington Report. I tweet @HeshmatAlavi

General Assembly

73. Between July and August 1988, thousands of political prisoners, men, women and teen-agers, were reportedly executed pursuant to a fatwa issued by the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. A three-man commission was reportedly created with a view to determining who should be executed. The bodies of the victims were reportedly buried in unmarked graves and their families never informed of their whereabouts. These events, known as the 1988 massacres, have never been officially acknowledged. In January 1989, the Special Representative of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Reynaldo Galindo Pohl, expressed concern over the “global denial” of the executions and called on Iranian authorities to conduct an investigation. Such an investigation has yet to be undertaken.44 74. In August 2016, an audio recording of a meeting held in 1988 between high - level State officials and clerics was published. The recording revealed the names of the officials who had carried out and defended the executions, including the current Minister of Justice, a current high court judge, and the head of one of the largest religious foundations in the country and candidate in the May presidential elections. Following the publication of the audio recording, some clerical authorities and the chief of the judiciary admitted that the executions had taken place and, in some instances, defended them. F. Right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

A LOOK AT KHOMEINI'S FATWA FOR PMOI/MEK MASSACRE

By Jubin Katiraie

29 years ago these days, in Iran under the mullahs’ regime, the massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners, mainly members, and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) had engulfed all of Iran.he intensity and speed of this massacre were so severe that not only PMOI/MEK families,but all other families of prisoners sought information about their loved ones.

No authorities would provide answers, however.

The international community had turned its back on this horrible genocide, all under the pretext of Iranian regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini signing United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 ending the Iran-Iraq War. This signing was the result of Khomeini becoming terrified of his regime being toppled by the PMOI/MEK.

Initially, groups opposing the PMOI/MEK, followed by the mullahs’ regime, portrayed these executions as the mullahs’ response to a massive combat operation staged by the National Liberation Army of Iran and the PMOI/MEK in the final days of July of that year.

However, these claims were discredited shortly and other sources indicated that the massacre was carried out based on Khomeini’s inhumane and anti-Islamic fatwa against the PMOI/MEK issued far before. Khomeini and his regime have to this day considered the PMOI/MEK as the sole serious threat that remains steadfast on its non-negotiable position of “overthrowing” this regime.

In a recent interview with state-TV Aparat, former Iranian intelligence minister Ali Fallahian said the order to massacre PMOI/MEK inmates in 1988 was issued previously by Khomeini.

“In relations to the PMOI/MEK, and all groups considered mohareb (enmity against God), their rulings are execution. He emphasized in saying don’t hesitate in this regard… they have always been sentenced to execution, before or after 1988,” he said. Based on this fatwa, over 30,000 political prisoners were hanged in less than three months.

Last year in the PMOI/MEK convention in Paris the Iranian Resistance President-elect Maryam Rajavi launched a justice movement seeking accountability for those involved in the 1988 massacre of PMOI/MEK inmates and other political prisoners. This movement expanded throughout Iran at a rapid pace, caused major troubles for the Iranian regime and been welcomed across the globe. This movement is demanding that senior Iranian regime officials be brought to justice for their PMOI/MEK genocide.

The PMOI/MEK genocide by the regime ruling Iran is the most important dossier challenging this regime after Tehran’s nuclear program controversy. This dossier has such deep roots in Iran’s society and enjoys the enormous global support that it prevented Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei from engineering the May presidential elections. He intended to have conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi replace the incumbent Hassan Rouhani as president.

Raisi was a member of the notorious “Death Commission” involved in the PMOI/MEK genocide back in 1988. The PMOI/MEK justice movement and revelations by the PMOI/MEK regarding Raisi’s candidacy – blessed by Khamenei – shocked the very pillars of the mullahs’ regime.

Iranian youths across the country, previously unaware of such crimes by the mullahs’ regime, are now in defense of the PMOI/MEK demanding the mullahs admit to their crimes against humanity. This has led the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to refer to the 1988 massacre of PMOI/MEK members and supports in this year’s annual report.

From the very days when reports of this massacre leaked outside of Iran’s prisons, the PMOI/MEK placed a massive global effort to unveil these crimes. They published the names of a number of massacred PMOI/MEK members, along with their graves and information about members of the Death Commission in various provinces. Human rights organizations and other such bodies were provided with this data.

Marking the anniversary of this justice movement, new measures are necessary to realize the goals set for this initiative:

1) Inside Iran, gathering new information about massacred PMOI/MEK members, their burial sites, identifying the perpetrators and officials behind these crimes and…

2) Abroad, further condemning the massacre of PMOI/MEK members by parliaments, political parties, human rights advocates, religious leaders and political figures to hinge political and economic relations with Iran on ending all executions and torture, launching an independent commission to investigate into the massacre of PMOI/MEK members and supporters in 1988 to have senior regime officials brought to justice for crimes against humanity and …

Now is the time for the international community to open its eyes to the flagrant human rights violations, and specifically the massacre of PMOI/MEK members and supporters in 1988, and not permit this dossier to remain closed as it has for years.

There is no doubt that that the solution for Middle East crises, now affecting all other countries, is through regime change in Iran. Realizing such an objective needs all of this regime’s senior figures to be tried for human rights violations and massacring PMOI members and supporters in 1988.

This should be followed with the official recognition of the democratic alternative, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The PMOI/MEK is the pivotal force of this coalition.

This reminds us of how US President Donald Trump said the Iranian people are the main victims of the regime ruling Iran.

*Some important issues about MEK:

A Long Conflict between the Clerical Regime and the MEK

The origins of the MEK date back to before the 1979 Iranian Revolution., the MEK helped to overthrow the dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi, but it quickly became a bitter enemy of the emerging the religious fascism under the pretext of Islamic Republic. To this day, the MEK and NCRI describe Ruhollah Khomenei and his associates as having co-opted a popular revolution in order to empower themselves while imposing a fundamentalist view of Islam onto the people of Iran.

Under the Islamic Republic, the MEK was quickly marginalized and affiliation with it was criminalized. Much of the organization’s leadership went to neighboring Iraq and built an exile community called Camp Ashraf, from which the MEK organized activities aimed at ousting the clerical regime and bringing the Iranian Revolution back in line with its pro-democratic origins. But the persistence of these efforts also prompted the struggling regime to crack down with extreme violence on the MEK and other opponents of theocratic rule.

The crackdowns culminated in the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988, as the Iran-Iraq War was coming to a close. Thousands of political prisoners were held in Iranian jails at that time, many of them having already served out their assigned prison sentences. And with the MEK already serving as the main voice of opposition to the regime at that time, its members and supporters naturally made up the vast majority of the population of such prisoners.

As the result of a fatwa handed down by Khomeini, the regime convened what came to be known as the Death Commission, assigning three judges the task of briefly interviewing prisoners to determine whether they retained any sympathy for the MEK or harbored any resentment toward the existing government. Those who were deemed to have shown any sign of continued opposition were sentenced to be hanged. After a period of about three months, an estimated 30,000 people had been put to death. Many other killings of MEK members preceded and followed that incident, so that today the Free Iran rally includes an annual memorial for approximately 120,000 martyrs from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

The obvious motive behind the 1988 massacre and other such killings was the destruction of the MEK. And yet it has not only survived but thrived, gaining allies to form the NCRI and acquiring the widespread support that is put on display at each year’s Free Iran rally. In the previous events, the keynote speech was delivered by Maryam Rajavi, who has been known to receive several minutes of applause from the massive crowd as she takes the stage. Her speeches provide concrete examples of the vulnerability of the clerical regime and emphasize the ever-improving prospects for the MEK to lead the way in bringing about regime change.

The recipients of that message are diverse and they include more than just the assembled crowd of MEK members and supporters. The expectation is that the international dignitaries at each year’s event will carry the message of the MEK back to their own governments and help to encourage more policymakers to recognize the role of the Iranian Resistance in the potential creation of a free and democratic Iranian nation. It is also expected that the event will inspire millions of Iranians to plan for the eventual removal of the clerical regime. And indeed, the MEK broadcasts the event via its own satellite television network, to millions of Iranian households with illegal hookups.

MEK’s Domestic Activism and Intelligence Network

What’s more, the MEK retains a solid base of activists inside its Iranian homeland. In the run-up to this year’s Free Iran rally the role of those activists was particularly evident, since the event comes just a month and a half after the latest Iranian presidential elections, in which heavily stage-managed elections resulted in the supposedly moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani securing reelection. His initial election in 2013 was embraced by some Western policymakers as a possible sign of progress inside the Islamic Republic, but aside from the 2015 nuclear agreement with six world powers, none of his progressive-sounding campaign promises have seen the light of day.

Rouhani’s poor record has provided additional fertile ground for the message of the MEK and Maryam Rajavi. The Iranian Resistance has long argued that change from within the regime is impossible, and this was strongly reiterated against the backdrop of the presidential elections, when MEK activists used graffiti, banners, and other communications to describe the sitting president as an “imposter.” Many of those same communications decried Rouhani’s leading challenger, Ebrahim Raisi, as a “murderer,” owing to his leading role in the massacre of MEK supporters in 1988.

That fact helped to underscore the domestic support for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, insofar as many people who participated in the election said they recognized Raisi as the worst the regime had to offer, and that they were eager to prevent him from taking office. But this is not to say that voters saw Rouhani in a positive light, especially where the MEK is concerned. Under the Rouhani administration, the Justice Minister is headed by Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who also served on the Death Commission and declared as recently as last year that he was proud of himself for having carried out what he described as God’s command of death for MEK supporters.

With this and other aspects of the Islamic Republic’s record, the MEK’s pre-election activism was mainly focused on encouraging Iranians to boycott the polls. The publicly displayed banners and posters urged a “vote for regime change,” and many of them included the likeness of Maryam Rajavi, suggesting that her return to Iran from France would signify a meaningful alternative to the hardline servants of the clerical regime who are currently the only option in any Iranian national election.

Naturally, this direct impact on Iranian politics is the ultimate goal of MEK activism. But it performs other recognizable roles from its position in exile, not just limited to the motivational and organization role of the Free Iran rally and other, smaller gatherings. In fact, the MEK rose to particular international prominence in 2005 when it released information that had been kept secret by the Iranian regime about its nuclear program. These revelations included the locations of two secret nuclear sites: an uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water plant at Arak, capable of producing enriched plutonium.

As well as having a substantial impact on the status of international policy regarding the Iranian nuclear program, the revelations also highlighted the MEK’s popular support and strong network inside Iran. Although Maryam Rajavi and the rest of the leadership of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran reside outside of the country, MEK affiliates are scattered throughout Iranian society with some even holding positions within hardline government and military institutions, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Drawing upon the resources of that intelligence network, the MEK has continued to share crucial information with Western governments in recent years, some of it related to the nuclear program and some of it related to other matters including terrorist training, military development, and the misappropriation of financial resources. The MEK has variously pointed out that the Revolutionary Guard controls well over half of Iran’s gross domestic product, both directly and through a series of front companies and close affiliates in all manner of Iranian industries.

In February of this year, the Washington, D.C. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran held press conferences to detail MEK intelligence regarding the expansion of terrorist training programs being carried out across Iran by the Revolutionary Guards. The growth of these programs reportedly followed upon direct orders from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and coincided with increased recruitment of foreign nationals to fight on Tehran’s behalf in regional conflicts including the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars.

In the weeks following that press conference, the MEK’s parent organization also prepared documents and held other talks explaining the source of some of the Revolutionary Guards’ power and wealth. Notably, this series of revelations reflected upon trends in American policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. And other revelations continue to do so, even now.

MEK Intelligence Bolstering US Policy Shifts

Soon after taking office, and around the time the MEK identified a series of Revolutionary Guard training camps, US President Donald Trump directed the State Department to review the possibility of designating Iran’s hardline paramilitary as a foreign terrorist organization. Doing so would open the Revolutionary Guards up to dramatically increased sanctions – a strategy that the MEK prominently supports as a means of weakening the barriers to regime change within Iran.

The recent revelations of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran have gone a long way toward illustrating both the reasons for giving this designation to the Revolutionary Guards and the potential impact of doing so. Since then, the MEK has also used its intelligence gathering to highlight the ways in which further sanctioning the Guards could result in improved regional security, regardless of the specific impact on terrorist financing.

For example, in June the NCRI’s Washington, D.C. office held yet another press conference wherein it explained that MEK operatives had become aware of another order for escalation that had been given by Supreme Leader Khamenei, this one related to the Iranian ballistic missile program. This had also been a longstanding point of contention for the Trump administration and the rest of the US government, in light of several ballistic missile launches that have been carried out since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations, including an actual strike on eastern Syria.

That strike was widely viewed as a threatening gesture toward the US. And the MEK has helped to clarify the extent of the threat by identifying 42 separate missile sites scattered throughout Iran, including one that was working closely with the Iranian institution that had previously been tasked with weaponizing aspects of the Iranian nuclear program.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) led by Maryam Rajavi is thus going to great lengths to encourage the current trend in US policy, which is pointing to more assertiveness and possibly even to the ultimate goal of regime change. The MEK is also striving to move Europe in a similar direction, and the July 1 gathering is likely to show further progress toward that goal. This is because hundreds of American and European politicians and scholars have already declared support for the NCRI and MEK and the platform of Maryam Rajavi. The number grows every year, while the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran continues to collect intelligence that promises to clarify the need for regime change and the practicality of their strategy for achieving it

Iran and Massacre of 30,000 MEK and Other Political Prisoners

By Jubin Katiraie

The US Senate voted almost unanimously last Thursday to impose new sanctions on Iran. The legislation cracks down on Iran’s activities including their missile development programs and human rights abuses. This is the first time that Iran has been targeted for violation of Human Rights.

“Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a list of each person the Secretary determines, based on credible evidence, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act (1) is responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals in Iran who seek (A) to expose illegal activity carried out by officials of the Government of Iran; or (B) to obtain, exercise, defend, or promote internationally recognized human rights and freedoms, such as the freedoms of religion, expression, association, and assembly, and the rights to a fair trial and democratic elections; or … “ Reads part of the bill

For the past 4 decades Iran has been one of the worst violators of Human Rights in the world. Since the 1979 revolution Iranian regime has been condemned 63 times by the UN bodies for violation of Human Rights.

Given the articles of the new bill about violation of human rights, and based on the actions of Iranian authorities in the past 4 decades, all the Iranian officials must be sanctioned.

One case in point is the massacre of MEK* members and other political prisoners which all of Iranian officials were involved. In 1988, the Iranian regime massacred more than 30,000 political prisoners, most of whom were members and supporters of the main opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin Organizatioreligious decree ordering the massacre. His intention was to purge the country of any opposition, notably the MEK. Khomeini's decree set up a committee of four men which were tasked with vetting the ideological standing of prisoners. Many prisoners were only questioned for a few minutes by the committee. Those refusing to renounce their affiliation with the MEK were sent to the gallows.

n of Iran (PMOI or MEK). All the current and previous officials of the regime were directly involved in the massacre. Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iranian regime issued a

“Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the MEK must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately!…Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the MEK are waging war on God, and are condemned to execution … It is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God,” reads part of the decree.

For more than three decades, Iran ignored the slaughter, until this year in the presidential election when Ebrahim Raisie one of the perpetrators of the massacre and a member of death committee, was selected as one of the main candidates. MEK supporters inside Iran carried out widespread campaigns revealing Raisie and his role in the massacre.

Immediately, the issue of massacre of MEK members surfaced, forcing regime officials, one after another, to confess to the bloodbath.

“Regarding MEK and all the militant groups, the ruling is the death sentence … Imam (Khomeini) has said this … their verdict is death sentence …” Ali Fallahian, the former Iranian intelligence Minister, confessed in an interview.

“First, you should bear in mind that their (MEK’s) ruling was death punishment; and if the religious judge did not sentence them (MEK) to death, his ruling has been illegal … so all of us should acknowledge that the verdict for a Monafeq [the term used by the regime to call a MEK member or sympathizer] is death sentence, this was both Imam’s fatwa and his verdict …” Fallahian said in the interview.

Last August an audio tape of a meeting between the late Ayatollah Montazeri, the former successor to Khomeini, and the death committee was revealed and shed light to the carnage. The news of the revelation was covered in the international media.

“The publication for the first time in Iran of an audio recording from nearly three decades ago has reopened old wounds from the darkest period in the Islamic Republic. In the summer of 1988, thousands of leftists and supporters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) organisation were executed in a massacre of political prisoners.” The Guardian reported.

“I urge the UN High Commissioner on human rights to immediately set up an independent committee to investigate the 1988 massacre and subsequently put those in charge before justice. I urge the UN Security Council to make the arrangements for prosecution of the regime’s leaders for committing crime against humanity.” said Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in her message on the 29th anniversary of the massacre.

With adoption of the new bill the time has come to hold the mullah’s regime accountable for crimes against humanity.

“Full implementation of these sanctions against the Iranian regime must be completed with urgent actions against officials in charge of executions, torture and particularly the massacre of political prisoners in 1988. Topping the list is Ali Khamenei, the mullahs’ supreme leader.” Said Maryam Rajavi in another message.

More about MEK:

A Long Conflict between the Clerical Regime and the MEK

The origins of the MEK date back to before the 1979 Iranian Revolution., the MEK helped to overthrow the dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi, but it quickly became a bitter enemy of the emerging the religious fascism under the pretext of Islamic Republic. To this day, the MEK and NCRI describe Ruhollah Khomenei and his associates as having co-opted a popular revolution in order to empower themselves while imposing a fundamentalist view of Islam onto the people of Iran.

Under the Islamic Republic, the MEK was quickly marginalized and affiliation with it was criminalized. Much of the organization’s leadership went to neighboring Iraq and built an exile community called Camp Ashraf, from which the MEK organized activities aimed at ousting the clerical regime and bringing the Iranian Revolution back in line with its pro-democratic origins. But the persistence of these efforts also prompted the struggling regime to crack down with extreme violence on the MEK and other opponents of theocratic rule.

The crackdowns culminated in the massacre of political prisoners in the summer of 1988, as the Iran-Iraq War was coming to a close. Thousands of political prisoners were held in Iranian jails at that time, many of them having already served out their assigned prison sentences. And with the MEK already serving as the main voice of opposition to the regime at that time, its members and supporters naturally made up the vast majority of the population of such prisoners.

As the result of a fatwa handed down by Khomeini, the regime convened what came to be known as the Death Commission, assigning three judges the task of briefly interviewing prisoners to determine whether they retained any sympathy for the MEK or harbored any resentment toward the existing government. Those who were deemed to have shown any sign of continued opposition were sentenced to be hanged. After a period of about three months, an estimated 30,000 people had been put to death. Many other killings of MEK members preceded and followed that incident, so that today the Free Iran rally includes an annual memorial for approximately 120,000 martyrs from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

The obvious motive behind the 1988 massacre and other such killings was the destruction of the MEK. And yet it has not only survived but thrived, gaining allies to form the NCRI and acquiring the widespread support that is put on display at each year’s Free Iran rally. In the previous events, the keynote speech was delivered by Maryam Rajavi, who has been known to receive several minutes of applause from the massive crowd as she takes the stage. Her speeches provide concrete examples of the vulnerability of the clerical regime and emphasize the ever-improving prospects for the MEK to lead the way in bringing about regime change.

The recipients of that message are diverse and they include more than just the assembled crowd of MEK members and supporters. The expectation is that the international dignitaries at each year’s event will carry the message of the MEK back to their own governments and help to encourage more policymakers to recognize the role of the Iranian Resistance in the potential creation of a free and democratic Iranian nation. It is also expected that the event will inspire millions of Iranians to plan for the eventual removal of the clerical regime. And indeed, the MEK broadcasts the event via its own satellite television network, to millions of Iranian households with illegal hookups.

MEK’s Domestic Activism and Intelligence Network

What’s more, the MEK retains a solid base of activists inside its Iranian homeland. In the run-up to this year’s Free Iran rally the role of those activists was particularly evident, since the event comes just a month and a half after the latest Iranian presidential elections, in which heavily stage-managed elections resulted in the supposedly moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani securing reelection. His initial election in 2013 was embraced by some Western policymakers as a possible sign of progress inside the Islamic Republic, but aside from the 2015 nuclear agreement with six world powers, none of his progressive-sounding campaign promises have seen the light of day.

Rouhani’s poor record has provided additional fertile ground for the message of the MEK and Maryam Rajavi. The Iranian Resistance has long argued that change from within the regime is impossible, and this was strongly reiterated against the backdrop of the presidential elections, when MEK activists used graffiti, banners, and other communications to describe the sitting president as an “imposter.” Many of those same communications decried Rouhani’s leading challenger, Ebrahim Raisi, as a “murderer,” owing to his leading role in the massacre of MEK supporters in 1988.

That fact helped to underscore the domestic support for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, insofar as many people who participated in the election said they recognized Raisi as the worst the regime had to offer, and that they were eager to prevent him from taking office. But this is not to say that voters saw Rouhani in a positive light, especially where the MEK is concerned. Under the Rouhani administration, the Justice Minister is headed by Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who also served on the Death Commission and declared as recently as last year that he was proud of himself for having carried out what he described as God’s command of death for MEK supporters.

With this and other aspects of the Islamic Republic’s record, the MEK’s pre-election activism was mainly focused on encouraging Iranians to boycott the polls. The publicly displayed banners and posters urged a “vote for regime change,” and many of them included the likeness of Maryam Rajavi, suggesting that her return to Iran from France would signify a meaningful alternative to the hardline servants of the clerical regime who are currently the only option in any Iranian national election.

Naturally, this direct impact on Iranian politics is the ultimate goal of MEK activism. But it performs other recognizable roles from its position in exile, not just limited to the motivational and organization role of the Free Iran rally and other, smaller gatherings. In fact, the MEK rose to particular international prominence in 2005 when it released information that had been kept secret by the Iranian regime about its nuclear program. These revelations included the locations of two secret nuclear sites: a uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and a heavy water plant at Arak, capable of producing enriched plutonium.

As well as having a substantial impact on the status of international policy regarding the Iranian nuclear program, the revelations also highlighted the MEK’s popular support and strong network inside Iran. Although Maryam Rajavi and the rest of the leadership of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran reside outside of the country, MEK affiliates are scattered throughout Iranian society with some even holding positions within hardline government and military institutions, including the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Drawing upon the resources of that intelligence network, the MEK has continued to share crucial information with Western governments in recent years, some of it related to the nuclear program and some of it related to other matters including terrorist training, military development, and the misappropriation of financial resources. The MEK has variously pointed out that the Revolutionary Guard controls well over half of Iran’s gross domestic product, both directly and through a series of front companies and close affiliates in all manner of Iranian industries.

In February of this year, the Washington, D.C. office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran held press conferences to detail MEK intelligence regarding the expansion of terrorist training programs being carried out across Iran by the Revolutionary Guards. The growth of these programs reportedly followed upon direct orders from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and coincided with increased recruitment of foreign nationals to fight on Tehran’s behalf in regional conflicts including the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars.

In the weeks following that press conference, the MEK’s parent organization also prepared documents and held other talks explaining the source of some of the Revolutionary Guards’ power and wealth. Notably, this series of revelations reflected upon trends in American policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. And other revelations continue to do so, even now.

MEK Intelligence Bolstering US Policy Shifts

Soon after taking office, and around the time the MEK identified a series of Revolutionary Guard training camps, US President Donald Trump directed the State Department to review the possibility of designating Iran’s hardline paramilitary as a foreign terrorist organization. Doing so would open the Revolutionary Guards up to dramatically increased sanctions – a strategy that the MEK prominently supports as a means of weakening the barriers to regime change within Iran.

The recent revelations of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran have gone a long way toward illustrating both the reasons for giving this designation to the Revolutionary Guards and the potential impact of doing so. Since then, the MEK has also used its intelligence gathering to highlight the ways in which further sanctioning the Guards could result in improved regional security, regardless of the specific impact on terrorist financing.

For example, in June the NCRI’s Washington, D.C. office held yet another press conference wherein it explained that MEK operatives had become aware of another order for escalation that had been given by Supreme Leader Khamenei, this one related to the Iranian ballistic missile program. This had also been a longstanding point of contention for the Trump administration and the rest of the US government, in light of several ballistic missile launches that have been carried out since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations, including an actual strike on eastern Syria.

That strike was widely viewed as a threatening gesture toward the US. And the MEK has helped to clarify the extent of the threat by identifying 42 separate missile sites scattered throughout Iran, including one that was working closely with the Iranian institution that had previously been tasked with weaponizing aspects of the Iranian nuclear program.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) led by Maryam Rajavi is thus going to great lengths to encourage the current trend in US policy, which is pointing to more assertiveness and possibly even to the ultimate goal of regime change. The MEK is also striving to move Europe in a similar direction, and the July 1 gathering is likely to show further progress toward that goal. This is because hundreds of American and European politicians and scholars have already declared support for the NCRI and MEK and the platform of Maryam Rajavi. The number grows every year, while the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran continues to collect intelligence that promises to clarify the need for regime change and the practicality of their strategy for achieving it.

THOSE WHO MASSACRED PMOI MEMBERS SHOULD BE REWARDED, SENIOR IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS

Ahmad Khatami, a board member of the Iranian regime’s Assembly of Experts, used the Tehran Friday prayers sermon to express his anger over the ever-increasing scope of the justice movement related to the 1988 massacre. He called for the perpetrators of the atrocity of executing over 30,000 political prisoners to be awarded medals.“Then we see some people who on their websites switch the place of martyrs and murderers.

It was a divine move by [Iranian regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini] to force the [PMOI (People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran)] out of the country. All those who acted based on these orders should be rewarded with medals… however, those who on their websites have switched the place of martyrs and murderers should repent and beg for forgiveness,” he said.

This senior Iranian official, involved in many of the regime’s crimes, continues to be infuriated over the July 1 Iranian opposition rally held in Paris. He made ridiculous remarks against the former Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, blaming the 1953 coup d'etat on him for not thanking the mullahs for their support, and for instead feuding with mullah Abolghasem Kashani, a figure hated by the Iranian people for his relations with 1953 coup perpetrators.

Mullah Abbasian, another Friday prayers imam, made similar remarks in this regard:

“During the election season we witnessed how a number of people sought to change the PMOI’s image and criticized those who stood against the PMOI (MEK)… Hat’s off to the judge who executed PMOI members,” he said.

A few days ago, former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, sought by Swiss, German and Argentine prosecutors through international subpoenas, also expressed his concerns over the justice movement.
“Regarding the PMOI (MEK) and all other groups who are mohareb [at war with God]… [Khomeini] ordered it… the ruling for all of them is execution… [Khomeini] constantly emphasized to beware they don’t slip out of your hands… [Khomeini] would always say be careful in this regard… before and after the 1988 issue. If a judge didn't sentence them to death, he would have acted incorrectly,” he said.

“I want to discuss my first analysis, and that is the [PMOI] rally in France… the sheer fact that they are permitted to hold a rally there is practical support for terrorism…,” he said at Tehran’s Friday prayers.

Former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, a leading official involved in the 1990s chain murders in Iran, referred further to the scope of the 1988 massacre of MEK members.

“This was [Khomeini’s] orders… these people should always be executed, before and after the 1988 case. [Khomeini] would constantly say be careful they don’t slip out of your hands. He would say we should act based on our religious duties and don’t wait for history to judge us,” he said. Fallahian also acknowledged that many people were arrested in the early years after the 1979 revolution simply for selling newspapers, or procuring food and other necessities for the PMOI.

These horrific remarks are only a tip of the iceberg of an intense chorus launched by the regime's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to justify the 1988 massacre, especially after his failure in engineering the recent presidential election and attempting to have his favored candidate, mullah Ebrahim Raisi, known for his direct role in the 1988 massacre, replace the incumbent Hassan Rouhani.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

Keyvan Salami

Iran’s Most Feared Mullah Acknowledges Massacre of Political Prisoners

Iran massacred over 30,000 political prisoners in summer of 1988 and kept a lid on this atrocity for three decades. In this year’s presidential election a conservative cleric by the name of Ebrahim Raisi, one of the perpetrators of the massacre, was selected as a main candidate, resurfacing the 1988 massacre and forcing regime officials, one after another, to confess about the carnage.

Last week in an unprecedented interview, former Iranian intelligence minister Ali Fallahian revealed the mindset behind the 1988 mass execution. Fallahian, described as “perhaps the most feared mullah in Iran” by Newsweek, is wanted by Interpol for his involvement in the 1994 AMIA bombing that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In his interview Fallahian explains whoever had any relation with the Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) was condemned to death.

“Imam [Khomeini] said you must execute those who are steadfast in their beliefs,” he said referring to the Iranian regime founder. “We couldn’t let them go and couldn’t keep them in jail. If we had kept them in jail, we would have had a bunch of people over our head telling us don’t keep them in jail. So a 3-man team of judges and ministers was assigned to oversee these cases, release those who were eligible and execute those that were not,” he continued.

In the summer of 1988 Khomeini issued a religious decree calling for the massacre.

“Whoever at any stage continues to belong to the (PMOI/MEK) must be executed. Annihilate the enemies of Islam immediately! … Those who are in prisons throughout the country and remain steadfast in their support for the MEK are waging war on God, and are condemned to execution … It is naive to show mercy to those who wage war on God,” the decree reads in part.

A committee of four men was formed to implement the order, and in a matter of a few months over 30,000 political prisoners were executed, mostly members and supporters of the main opposition PMOI/MEK.

“The principal point was to execute all prisoners, except those who were eligible for parole?” asks the interviewer.

“They were supposed to check and see and talk to the prisoners to find out if they still adhere to their beliefs,” Fallahian responds.

“What was the benchmark for evaluating who is steadfast and who is not?” asks the interviewer. “To say that I believe in the PMOI and don’t believe in you,” Fallahian explains.

Last year the revelation of an audio tape and unpublished letters of the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, former successor to Khomeini, shed light on new dimensions of this grave crime. Pregnant women and girls as young as 14 and 15 years old were among those executed, Mr. Montazeri wrote.