By: Jubin
Katiraie
For many
associated with the Iranian lobby and appeasers of the clerical regime in
Tehran, the best way to prop up the regime is to discredit any alternative options presented to the
international community. In addition, the lobby and appeasers continue to
stress that regime change will lead to war. As an example, they point to the
struggles of the Iraq government since the removal of Saddam by the U.S. and its allies.
However,
history teaches us that any regime’s existence is limited when it begins with a
violent upheaval. The current Iranian regime was born out of a revolution to
end the rule of the Shah, but that revolution’s goal was to create a secular, pluralistic, and democratic
Iran. However, the mullahs hijacked the revolution, creating a theocracy and
suppressing any alternative political voices, including the MEK/PMOI.
Instead, to
consolidate their power,
the Iranian regime has relied on the typical tools of oppression, including the
creation of a paramilitary and judiciary system that touches every section of
Iranian society. The regime, using its lobby and appeasers, have been quick in
attacking any publication
or personalities that dare to speak up about the quest of the Iranian people to
achieve their original dream of a democratic Iran.
Anyone who
dares to talk about “regime change” is targeted for repressive measures. The
MEK/PMOI have been high on the regime’s list, since the MEK/PMOI are the most
dedicated and organized opposition with extensive routes and support at home,
with the ability to
materialize regime change.
The people’s
Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) has been the subject of propaganda
campaigns by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) at home
and by regime lobbies and appeasers throughout the international community. This campaign is focused
on discrediting the MEK/PMOI, by saying there is no democratic alternative to
the Iranian regime and that regime change will result in war and increased
instability within the region.
But why is the
MEK/PMOI being
targeted so directly? The MEK/PMOI is the oldest, largest, and most popular
resistance movement within Iran. They form the core of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is a coalition of opposition groups from all
sectors of Iran. The
PMOI/MEK was founded in September 1965 by three Iranian engineers who wanted to
replace the Shah’s dictatorship with a democracy.
It is this
continued support of democracy that has kept the MEK/PMOI so popular among
Iranians. The MEK/PMOI believes that Islam is inherently tolerant and democratic, and fully compatible
with the values of modern-day civilization. This vision is the cure to the
current spread of extremism, which can be traced back to Iran and its mullahs.
Yet, during the time of upheaval after the revolution, the MEK/PMOI leaders witnessed Ayatollah
Khomeini’s hijacking of the revolution to create his theocracy.
Khomeini’s
response to the efforts of the MEK/PMOI to stop the rise of this theocracy was
brutal repression throughout the 1980s, including the massacre of some 30,000 political
prisoners who were primarily members or supporters of the MEK/PMOI. Despite the
escalation of attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
throughout the years, the MEK/PMOI has never stopped promoting a pro-democracy vision of Iran. These
actions demonstrated that the regime would only hold power by using brutality
and repression to keep the Iranian people under their control.
Despite this,
the MEK/PMOI has continued to receive support and demonstrations held throughout Iran show that the
Iranian people are not cowed by the regime, but still believe in a free Iran.
In the recent
2017 election, hundreds of video clips and photos of banners and placards
hanging from pathways and auto routes on billboards, were published on Telegram and YouTube
channels, showcasing the vast magnitude of the activities of those who support
the MEK/PMOI. The slogan, “My vote is regime change”, echoed throughout the
country.
The regime’s
election was therefore quickly ended in the first round to avoid further
opportunities for protest. Yet, internally, the regime is suffering from deep
divisions about how to ensure its survival, as the domestic unrest continues to
grow.
Dr. Rafizadeh, a leading
Iranian-American political scientist, president of the International American
Council on the Middle East, and best-selling author in an opinion piece in
Huffington post publishing 8 video clips of MEK activities inside Iran, wrote:
“The activists of the
network of the Iranian opposition movement, the National Council of Resistance
of Iran and its group the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), inside Iran have been
engaged in an extensive campaign nationwide, calling on Iranians to boycott the
elections. Finally,
from my perspective, it is critical to point out that Iranian leaders fear the
soft power of oppositional groups more than the military and hard power of
foreign governments. That is why Iranian leaders and media outlets normally
react forcefully and
anxiously to activities by the opposition such as the recent critical move,
where Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
recently met with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National
Council of Resistance
of Iran (NCRI) in Tirana, Albania. Iran’s oppositional groups can be a very
powerful tool to counterbalance the Islamic Republic.”
This support
has not gone unnoticed by the regime, whose leadership has continued to try to
clamp down on the MEK/PMOI by blocking access to the internet and monitoring social media posts and
clips. They have also tried to block the MEK/PMOI Telegram website and
associated channels, only to be rejected each time.
In addition to
using blunt force on people, the regime invests heavily in the massive propaganda effort it
mobilizes through state-controlled media and via its lobbies and paid agents
abroad, in order to discourage more support for the MEK, which is the main
drive for regime change in Iran. The extent of the anti MEK propaganda has increased particularly after
the July 1, 2017 gathering in Paris, which had a clear message, “Regime change
in Iran is within reach.” Some 100,000 Iranian diaspora and supporters of MEK
gave energy to it.
This is why it
serves the regime’s
purposes to continually dangle the threat of war over the heads of its people.
It also helps the Iran lobby’s PR efforts to cast Iran like some poor,
defenseless nation under threat by the big bad U.S. and its allies, such as
Saudi Arabia or the Iranian resistance movement, the MEK/PMOI.
Trita Parsi,
the head of the National Iranian American Council and staunch advocate for the
Iranian regime, appeared on Bloomberg to beat the war drum again, as well as
attacking the Trump administration for not living up to the Iran nuclear deal, even though
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced the renewal of the compliance
certification for another 90 days.
But the Trump
administration also is asserting that Iranian regime’s development of ballistic
missiles; support of
terrorism and militancy; complicity in atrocities by the government of Syrian
dictator, Bashar Assad; cyberattacks on the U.S.; and other actions “severely
undermine the intent” of the nuclear accord and support additional sanctions as
a response to these
actions.
The real threat
to the Iranian regime though lies not within sanctions, but in the simple acts
of defiance that the Iranian people undertake themselves such as the hanging of
banners on Tehran’s overpasses bearing the image of MEK/PMOI leader Mrs. Maryam
Rajavi; an act
punishable by death if the perpetrators were caught.
The regime is
also threatened by every protest over low wages or unsafe working conditions.
In many ways large and small, the process of regime change can happen slowly,
methodically, and inexorably.
Mrs. Rajavi, in
a recent speech at the annual gathering of the Iranian resistance movement and
supporters of MEK/PMOI, opined that the movement did not require outside
assistance from governments, such as the U.S., to succeed. It only needed the recognition by such
governments to be empowered to bring about peaceful regime change and give
birth to a democratic Iran.
More about the
People’s Mojahdin Organization of Iran (PMOI/ MEK)
The People’s
Mojahedin Organization of Iran (Also known as MEK, or Mujahedin-e-Khalq / Mujahedeen-e-Khalq), was
founded on September 6, 1965, by Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen, and
Ali-Asghar Badizadgan. All engineers, they had earlier been members of the
Freedom Movement (also known as the Liberation Movement), created by Medhi Bazargan in
May 1961.1
The MEK’s quest
culminated in a true interpretation of Islam, which is inherently tolerant and
democratic, and fully compatible with the values of modern-day civilization. It
took six years for the MEK to formulate its view of Islam and develop a strategy to replace
Iran’s dictatorial monarchy with a democratic government.
MEK’s
interpretation of Islam
The theocratic
mullah regime in Iran believe interpreting Islam is their exclusive domain. The
MEK reject this view
and the cleric’s reactionary vision of Islam. The MEK’s comprehensive
interpretation of Islam proved to be more persuasive and appealing to the
Iranian youth.
MEK’s founders
and new members studied the various schools of thought, the Iranian history and
those of other
countries, enabling them to analyze other philosophies and ideologies with
considerable knowledge and to present their own ideology, based on Islam, as
the answer to Iran’s problems.
MEK’s
leadership’s arrest during the 70s.
The Shah’s notorious secret police,
SAVAK, arrested all MEK leaders and most of its member’s in1971. On May 1972,
the founders of the MEK, Mohammad Hanifnejad , Saeed Mohsen and Ali Asghar
Badizadegan, along with two members of the MEK leadership, Mahmoud Askarizadeh and Rasoul Meshkinfam, were
put before death squads and were executed after long months of imprisonment and
torture. They were the true vanguards, who stood against the dictatorial regime
of Shah. However, they are also recognized for their opposition to what is today known as Islamic
fundamentalism.
The death
sentence of Massoud Rajavi, a member of MEK’s central committee, was commuted
to life imprisonment as a result of an international campaign by his Geneva
based brother, Dr. Kazem Rajavi (assassinated in April 1990 in Geneva by mullahs’ agents) and the
personal intervention of the French President Georges Pompidou and Francois
Mitterrand. He was the only survivor of the MEK original leadership.
Massoud
Rajavi’s critical role in characterizing religious extremism
From 1975 to
1979, while incarcerated in different prisons, Massoud Rajavi led the MEK’s
struggle while constantly under torture for his leading position.
Massoud Rajavi
stressed the need to continue the struggle against the shah’s dictatorship. At
the same time, he characterized religious fanaticism as the primary internal
threat to the popular opposition, and warned against the emergence and growth
of religious
fanaticism and autocracy. He also played a crucial role when some splinter used
the vacuum in the MEK leadership who were all executed or imprisoned at the
time, to claim a change of ideology and policy. Massoud Rajavi as the MEK
leader condemn these
individual’s misuse of MEK’s name while continuing to stress the struggle
against dictatorship. His efforts while still in prison forced these
individuals to no longer operating under the name of MEK and adopting a
different name for their group. These positions remained the MEK’s manifesto until the
overthrow of the shah’s regime.
Release of
Political Prisoners on the last days of the Shah
A month before
the 1979 revolution in Iran, the Shah was forced to flee Iran, never to return.
All democratic opposition
leaders had by then either been executed by the Shah’s SAVAK or imprisoned, and
could exert little influence on the trend of events. Khomeini and his network
of mullahs across the country, who had by and large been spared the wrath of
SAVAK, were the only
force that remained unharmed and could take advantage of the political vacuum.
In France, Khomeini received maximum exposure to the world media. With the aid
of his clerical followers, he hijacked a revolution that began with calls for
democracy and freedom
and diverted it towards his fundamentalist goals. Through an exceptional
combination of historical events, Shiite clerics assumed power in Iran.
Khomeini’s
gradual crackdown on MEK in fear of their popular support
In internal
discourses, Rajavi the
remaining leader of the MEK, argued that Khomeini represented the reactionary
sector of society and preached religious fascism. Later, in the early days
after the 1979 revolution, the mullahs, specifically Rafsanjani, pointed to
these statements in inciting the hezbollahi club-wielders to attack the MEK.
Following the
revolution, the MEK became Iran’s largest organized political party. It had
hundreds of thousands of members who operated from MEK offices all over the
country. MEK publication, ‘Mojahed’ was circulated in 500,000 copies.
Khomeini set up
an Assembly of Experts comprised of sixty of his closest mullahs and loyalists
to ratify the principle of velayat-e faqih (absolute supremacy of clerical
rule) as a pillar of the Constitution. The MEK launched a nationwide campaign in opposition to this
move, which enjoyed enormous popular support. Subsequently, the MEK refused to
approve the new constitution based on the concept of velayat-e faqih, while
stressing its observance of the law of the country to deny the mullahs any excuse for further
suppression of MEK supporters who were regularly targeted by the regime’s
official and unofficial thugs.
Khomeini
sanctioned the occupation of the United States embassy in 1979 in order to
create an anti-American frenzy, which facilitated the holding of a referendum to approve his
Constitution, which the MEK rejected.
MEK’s endeavors
to participate in the political process avoiding an unwanted conflict with
government repressive forces
The MEK
actively participated
in the political process, fielding candidates for the parliamentary and
presidential elections. The MEK also entered avidly into the national debate on
the structure of the new Islamic regime, though was unsuccessful in seeking an
elected constituent assembly
to draft a constitution.
The MEK
similarly made an attempt at political participation when [then] Massoud Rajavi
ran for the presidency in January 1980. MEK’s leader was forced to withdraw
when Khomeini ruled that only candidates who had supported the constitution in the
December referendum – which the MEK had boycotted- were eligible. Rajavi’s
withdrawal statement emphasized the MEK’s efforts to conform to election
regulations and reiterated the MEK’s intention to advance its political aims
within the new legal
system”. (Unclassified report on the People’s Mojahedin Organization of
Iran(PMOI/ MEK) by the Department of State to the United States House of
Representatives, December 1984.)
However, the
MEK soon found itself in a direct struggle against the forces of the regime’s Supreme leader. The
MEK’s differences with Khomeini dated back to the 1970s, and stem from its
opposition to what is known today as Islamic extremism. Angry at the position
taken by the MEK against his regime and worried about the MEK’s growing popularity, Khomeini ordered a
brutal crackdown against the MEK and its supporters. Between 1979 and 1981,
some 70 MEK members and sympathizers were killed and several thousand more were
imprisoned by the Iranian regime.
June 20, 1981-
Khomeini’s order to
open fire on peaceful demonstration of half-a-million supporters of MEK
The turning
point came on 20th June 1981, when the MEK called a demonstration to protest at
the regime’s crackdown, and to call for political freedom which half-a-million supporters
participated at. Khomeini ordered the Revolutionary Guards to open fire on the
swelling crowd, fearing that without absolute repression the democratic
opposition (MEK) would force him to engage in serious reforms – an anathema as
far as he was
concerned; he ordered the mass and summary executions of those arrested.
Since then, MEK
activists have been the prime victims of human rights violations in Iran. Over
120,000 of its members and supporters have been executed by the Iranian regime,
30,000 of which, were executed in a few months in the summer of 1988, on a direct fatwa by Khomeini, which
stated any prisoners who remain loyal to the MEK must be executed.
Having been
denied its fundamental rights and having come under extensive attack at the
time that millions of its members, supporters and sympathizers had no protection against the brutal
onslaught of the Iranian regime, the MEK had no choice but to resist against
the mullahs’ reign of terror.
“Towards the end of 1981, many of the members of the MEK
and supporters went into exile. Their principal refuge was in France. But in 1986, after
negotiations between the French and the Iranian authorities, the French
government effectively treated them as undesirable aliens, and the leadership
of the MEK with several thousand followers relocated to Iraq.” (Judgment of the
Proscribed
Organizations Appeal Commission, November 30, 2007.)
MEK Today
The MEK today
is the oldest and largest anti-fundamentalist Muslim group in the Middle East.
It has been active for more than a half century, battling two dictatorships and
a wide range of
issues. The MEK supports:
• Universal suffrage as the sole criterion for legitimacy
• Pluralistic system of governance
• Respect for individual freedoms
• Ban on the death penalty
• Separation of religion and state
• Full gender equality
• Equal participation of women in political leadership. MEK is actually led
by its central committee consist of 1000 women.
• Modern judicial system that emphasizes the principle of
innocence, a right to a defense, and due process
• Free markets
• Relations with all countries in the world
• Commitment to a non-nuclear Iran
Source:MEK/PMOIPopularity Threat to Iranian Regime's Existance
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