After Her Election as PMOI/MEK Secretary General, Zahra Merrikhi Pledges to Bring Freedom to Iran

Zahra Merrikhi, the new PMOI Secretary General

Maryam Rajavi: This election will break the spell of repression and heralds the overthrow of the mullahs’ religious fascism

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, (PMOI/MEK) held its annual Congress simultaneously in Tirana and five other countries. On the PMOI’s 52nd founding anniversary, the Congress elected Ms. Zahra Merrikhi as its new Secretary General. Ms. Zohreh Akhyani, the Secretary General since 2011, chaired the Congress.

According to the PMOI’s bylaws, the Secretary General is elected to an extendable term of two years. The election is held in three phases. In the first phase, members of the PMOI Central Council, and in the second the organization’s officials and cadres in different departments, cast their votes in secret ballots. In the third phase, at the PMOI Congress, all members vote by raising their hands.

In the first phase, on August 20, 2017, Ms. Merrikhi was elected from among 12 candidates by a majority of the Central Council members. The four leading candidates were put on the ballot for the second phase, which was held on September 3, 2017. Ms. Merrikhi received a majority of the votes cast in ten different PMOI centers. In the final phase, during the PMOI Congress, Ms. Merrikhi was unanimously elected Secretary General.

 

 Ms. Zahra Merrikhi, the new PMOI/MEK Secretary General pledging oath to the Holly Qoran

Previously, Ms. Merrikhi was coordinator for the offices of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and Vice-President of the PMOI’s Central Council.

Born in 1959 in the city of Qa’emshahr in the northern Province of Mazandaran, Ms. Merrikhi became acquainted with the PMOI during the 1979 anti-Monarchic Revolution and joined the PMOI after the Shah’s overthrow. She was soon appointed head of the women’s section in Qa’emshahr, and later became a member of the editorial board of the PMOI publication in Mazandaran, called Talavang.

In 1981, she was transferred to Tehran and acted as liaison between the PMOI and its branches in the forests of northern Iran. In 1984, she moved to PMOI bases in the border region with Iraq, and a year later became a member of the Central Council.

Her younger brother, Ali Merrikhi, was murdered by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in 1988.

Ms. Merrikhi oversaw PMOI branches in Scandinavia and Germany for some time. In 1991, she became a member of the Executive Committee and was later appointed head of Radio Mojahed, Simay-e Moghavemat (the Iranian Resistance’s television network) and the publication Mojahed.

She became a member of the NCRI in 1992 and was appointed Chairwoman of the Public Affairs Committee.

Ms. Merrikhi had been the coordinator of the offices of Mrs. Rajavii since 2003 and the Vice-president of the PMOI’s Central Council since 2004.

Following her election as Secretary General, Mrs. Merrikhi was sworn in, placing her hand on the Holy Quran and paying her respects to the Iranian flag and PMOI emblem. She pledged to remain faithful to the enormous responsibilities with which she has been entrusted. Ms. Merrikhi vowed to devote all her abilities and those of the PMOI as a national treasure of the Iranian people, to establish freedom and democracy in Iran.

 

 Ms. Zahra Merrikhi paying respect to the PMOI Emblem and Iranian flag

The new Secretary General expressed her appreciation for the efforts of her predecessor, Ms. Akhyani, and Ms. Mojgan Parsai, the President of the PMOI’s Central Council. She lauded their efforts and those of other PMOI officials over the past 14 years, during one of the most dangerous and tortuous periods of the Organizations history in camps Ashraf and Liberty.

“Today, the PMOI, with the help of the Iranian people, is prepared as never before to overthrow the clerical regime,” Ms. Merrikhi said, adding that the PMOI has now 18 co-Secretaries General (including seven former Secretaries General). Mr. Merrikhi also introduced Narges Azodanlou, 36, Rabi’eh Mofidi, 35, and Nasrin Massih, 39, as new deputies to the Secretary General.

 

 The Grand Congress of the PMOI/MEK held in Albaian capital, Tiran on the 52nd founding anniversary of the organization

In congratulating the election of Ms. Merrikhi as the new PMOI Secretary General, Mrs. Rajavi described it as a brilliant election, embodying the height of democracy, cohesion, and growth in the PMOI. It heralds the breaking of the spell of repression which will lead to the overthrow of the religious fascism ruling Iran, she added.

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran
September 6, 2017

 

Syrian Opposition: De Mistura's speech is in line with Moscow’s agenda

The head of the Syrian opposition delegation, Nasser al-Hariri, described the remarks of UN envoy to Syria, Stephane de Mistura, as shocking and disappointing

Al Arabiya, 7 September 2017 - The head of the Syrian opposition delegation, Nasser al-Hariri, described the remarks of UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, as “shocking and disappointing” on Thursday, stressing that de Mistura’s speech was in line with the Russian agenda.
Hariri said that de Mistura had given up on the United Nations resolution on Syria.
The head of the Syrian opposition delegation said that “any international deal for a solution will not succeed unless the demands of the Syrian people are implemented.”
He added that the victories of the Assad military regime were achieved by Russians, Iranians and mercenaries. “There are tens of thousands of mercenaries killing the Syrian people alongside Assad.”
Hariri stressed the need to deal with the perpetrators of violations in Syria as war criminals. He demanded that the Security Council punishes the regime for using of chemical weapons.
Hariri said several international reports confirmed that Assad had committed war crimes in Syria.
De Mistura said on Wednesday that the Syrian opposition should accept that it had not won the six-and-a-half-year-old war in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad.
The UN envoy hinted that the war in Syria was almost over. “For the opposition, the message is very clear: if you are planning to win the war, the facts prove that this is not the case, so now is the time to win the peace,” he told reporters.

Iran: Traders Are in Tremendous Trouble Due to Sanctions

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - Among the exporters' problems are the impracticality of transferring money, for example, from Russia to Iran, and receiving visas for economic agents to enter Qatar, and Iran is still having difficulty with transferring foreign exchange earned from its exports, according to the state-run Mehr news agency.

The source added, “First, you have to send a draft to Dubai, then to Malaysia and from Malaysia to other target countries, and this will cause a lot of problems.”

In a news conference on September 3, Mohammad Reza Farshchian, deputy of Iranian regime’s Association of Exporters, pointed out to another part of the exporters’ problem saying that the obstacles to transferring money did not allow Iranian exporters to take advantage of the ban on the import of fruits, vegetables and dried fruits from the EU and Turkey into Russia and enter the Russian market.

Mostafa Mousavi, another official of the association announced in the meeting the existence of a “goods clearance mafia in Iraq," saying that this would increase the costs for the exporters.

Following the imposition of banking and monetary sanctions four years ago by the United States and the European Union and the closure of the World Wide Transfer Network on the banks of the Iranian regime, the transfer of currencies from the sale of oil and goods from abroad to the regime’s Central Bank was almost stopped.

In the course of the year, the transfer of foreign exchange earnings from oil sales to China and India was particularly problematic for many years, and this issue is still not quite normal.

Foreign banks are concerned about the deal with Iran due to possible U.S. fines and, on the other hand, the non-alignment of the regime to the standards of the special financial action group on combating money laundering.

The Special Action Group for the International Financial Action Task Force is an international organization launched in 1989 with the support of the G-7, which aims to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in the world.

In March 2009, the group placed Iran on the blacklist along with Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, North Korea, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, although it announced in early summer 2016 that it was seeking to review Iran's progress in implementing the financial action plan thereby suspending the restrictions on Tehran for one year. Suspension of these restrictions was extended for another year in the summer of this year as well.

The implementation of the regulations related to financial action group would close the regime’s hands to sponsor terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, so they are not willing to enforce the rules of this group, and the regime leaders have repeatedly stated that helping these groups continue to be the “red line of the regime.”

Kamran Naderi, director of Islamic Monetary and Banking Research Group at the Central Bank of Iran, said on 20 May 2017 that “failure to comply with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations has put our banks in serious trouble.”

Iran: A regime with no future

Ali Khamenei

By: Shahriar Kia (Political analyst) 

Alriadh Daily, 04 September 2017 - The cabinet ministers of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani received a confidence vote recently in this regime’s parliament. 16 out of 17 ministers were approved after many reports indicated Rouhani reviewed the list extensively with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

However, an evaluation of this slate of names proves this cabinet will render no alternations and represents the very impasse the entire regime is facing. The next four years will, in fact, be worse than the previous.

Foreign Affairs

Mohammad Javad Zarif has retained his post as foreign minister, considering his role in negotiating the nuclear agreement with the P5+1, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Despite Iran’s threats of relaunching its nuclear drive in the case of US President Donald Trump finding the regime in non-compliance with the JCPOA, Rouhani himself has gone the limits to explain the importance of this pact for Tehran.

“My first priority is to safeguard the JCPOA. The main role of our foreign minister is to stand alongside this deal,” he explained.

Although the deal is rightfully criticized for its loopholes and shortages, Iran understands very well how the current circumstances would be far worse.

While claiming the ability to kick-start 20% uranium enrichment in a matter of days, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi made a complete U-turn in emphasizing Tehran’s willingness to stick to the deal in the case of Washington deciding to leave come October.

Such desperate remarks from Iran are made despite the US increasing the heat with new comprehensive sanctions specifically targeting the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). Further measures are seen following the Vienna visit by Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, demanding Iran open its military sites to inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Pressures escalated on Iran as international experts such as former IAEA deputy Olli Heinonen and former IAEA inspector David Albright, alongside three other specialists issued a report explaining how the UN nuclear watchdog lacks the necessary tools to probe possible JCPOA violations by Iran.

These experts specifically referred to the highly controversial Parchin military complex located 30 kilometers southeast of Tehran. Iran only agreed to provide samples extracted by its own experts and continues to refuse access to foreign individuals.

Defense

The new Iranian defense minister is Amir Hatami. Rumors indicate Rouhani and Khamenei have chosen this member of Iran’s classic army due to their fear the IRGC being blacklisted as a terrorist entity.

It is worth noting, however, that Hatami joined the IRGC Basij paramilitary force at the age of 13 and has announced his utter loyalty to the IRGC Quds Force and its ringleader, Qassem Suleimani.

The solution Hatami provides to confront the regime’s slate of crises is focused mainly on developing Iran’s ballistic missile program.

“During this period we will expand our missile capabilities, especially ballistic and cruise missiles,” he explained recently.

This is another indication of a policy based on developing missile power, dispatching IRGC and Basij members abroad, and fueling foreign wars. This is a continuation of Tehran’s four-decade long policy of spilling its own turmoil abroad through lethal meddling.

Hatami also enjoys Rouhani’s complete blessing in providing full support for the IRGC.

“He is fully informed of the Defense Ministry and its agenda. My particular request is for an increase in developing particular weapons, especially missiles, considering their importance,” Rouhani explained in recent remarks.

Again, more of the same.

Economics

Iran’s regime is heavily dependent on oil exports revenues. Bijan Namdar Zangeneh has been called upon to continue his role as oil minister, remaining the longest running individual in this post.

A minister for 26 years there are questions over any meaningful development and changes for the better in the country’s oil and gas sector. Iran is now riddled with mismanaged oil wells, uncontrolled extractions and contracts with foreign companies that literally sell-off the Iranian people’s interests.

According to Rouhani’s own remarks, this regime is in desperate need of $200 billion of foreign investment for its oil and gas industry. Two years into the JCPOA, Iran has received only $12 billion in such deals.

The deal signed with France’s Total, valued at $4.8 billion, comes with numerous strings attached and is under the continued risk of US sanctions.

What needs comprehension is the fact that investing in Iran is an economic issue at a first glance, with countless political reservations. No foreign investor is willing to risk money in a country ruled by a regime known for its ongoing warmongering, exporting terrorism, and provoking confrontations throughout the Middle East and across the globe, such as its nuclear/ballistic missile collaboration with North Korea.

Conclusion

All those having their fingers crossed in Rouhani, being provided a second term by Khamenei, are already being disappointed. July witnessed over 100 executions and over 50 others have been sent to the gallows in August. This includes a 20-year-old man arrested at the age of 15 for his alleged crime. Another recent case involved a hanging on August 28th in a prison west of Tehran.

All foreign correspondents are realizing no change is foreseeable from within this regime. The main message of Rouhani’s new cabinet is this regime’s lack of any capacity for any meaningful modification or amendment.

Any entity lacking the ability to change and adapt has no future.

Merkel, Trump call for tougher U.N. sanctions against North Korea

U.S. President Donald Trump, front right, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, arrive for a working session at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017

BERLIN, Reuters, Sept. 4, 2017 - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump condemned North Korea’s nuclear test during on Monday and urged the United Nations to quickly agree on tougher sanctions against Pyongyang, a German government spokesman said.

“Both agreed that the test of a hydrogen bomb means a new and unacceptable escalation by the North Korean regime,” Steffen Seibert said in a statement after they spoke by telephone.

“The German chancellor and the American president expressed the view that the international community must continue to exert pressure on the regime in North Korea and that the United Nations Security Council has to quickly adopt further and stricter sanctions,” Seibert added.

For her part, Merkel told Trump that Germany would push for tougher sanctions against North Korea by the European Union , Seibert said, adding: “The aim is to dissuade North Korea from its violations of international law and to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.”

Iranians in exile demonstrate in the German city of Berlin

Iranian demonstrators wave flag of Iran in front of the Brandenburg Gate

The Associated Press reported on Monday, Aug. 28 from the German city of Berlin that dozens of Iranian nationals demonstrated in front of the Brandenburg Gate. They were waving the national Iranian flags other than what is represented by the Islamic Republic at current time.

Iranians demonstrate in support of hunger striking pol. Prisoners in Iran

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Germany has called for protests against the wave of imprisonment of political dissidents in Iran. They are also appealing to Germany and the EU to declare the execution of 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988 as a crime against humanity and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The demonstrators pose in a mock execution scene

Demonstrators also posed in a mock execution in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany on August 26, 2017.

OPINION: NO WAR NEEDED FOR IRAN REGIME CHANGE

• Iran
• Maryam Rajavi
• NCRI
• IRGC

By: Shahriar Kia

2017-08-25 14:17:43

    The objective of Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the religious dictatorship under the pretext of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in establishing the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) on May 5th, 1979, was to form a military force completely loyal to the mullahs’ Velayat-e faqih system.

This entity, set to be equipped with modern and heavy weaponry, would be tasked to protect the ruling institution.

This is exactly why the IRGC is this regime’s Achilles Heel and weak point. If comprehensive and immediate sanctions truly disarm the regime of this lever and expel the IRGC from the Middle East, the pillar protecting Iran’s religious dictatorship in the face of popular uprisings and international crises will crumble.

As the Ayatollahs began to establish their rule, the IRGC was tasked to oppress and eliminate dissidents, pursue Tehran’s warmongering and export terrorism. The IRGC has played a very active role in the execution of over 120,000 political prisoners during the past four decades.

The IRGC was behind the crackdown campaigns of Iran’s 1999 and 2009 uprisings, and the oppression of Iran’s religious and ethnic minorities, including the Kurds, Iranian Arabs in Ahvaz and Baluchistan.

A decade later, the IRGC was also placed in charge of the regime’s nuclear projects, ballistic missile drive, and the country’s economy.

To this end, the IRGC has become this dictatorship’s political, strategic and economic guardian.

Despite all this, warmongering and exporting terrorism is of the utmost importance for Tehran and the IRGC has monopolized such a role.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, relying on the IRGC, is on the verge of establishing a fundamentalist empire stretching from Tehran to Beirut and the Mediterranean, continuing to extend to Yemen and the Red Sea.

This empire is the necessity in safeguarding the religious dictatorship ruling Iran, which is utterly loathed by Iran’s people.

IRGC in the Middle East

The IRGC is missioned to fuel sectarians and exporting terrorism across the region.

However, these measures are not a sign of Iran’s upper hand and stability. It is quite the opposite, resonating from Tehran’s weakness and terrified of its rule being toppled.

If Iran actually enjoyed stability and power there would never be any need to resort to terrorism.

Exporting terrorism and instigating sectarian wars, considering the heavy political price on the international stage and isolations, would never be in Tehran’s interest if it enjoyed stability at home.

Meddling in other countries is aimed at cloaking the crises that currently endanger the mullahs’ entire existence.

“If the IRGC had not fought the wars in Syria and Iraq, we would now have been fighting in Isfahan, Kermanshah, and Khorasan,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is known to have said.

He recently took one step further and added, “If the IRGC were not present in the region who knows Tehran’s and streets nearby would be in whose hands.”

If this designation and comprehensive sanctions were imposed against the IRGC prior to this, and not delayed due to the West’s appeasement policy, we would not be witness to such humanitarian catastrophes, so many innocent lives lost in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and the harsh oppression of the Iranian people.

Necessity of regime change in Iran

During the past three decades, the Iranian regime has profited immensely from the West’s appeasement policy, especially when faced with the 2009 uprising that, according to the regime’s own senior officials, shackled the very pillars of their rule. However, the Iranian people were abandoned by the West.

Despite all these concessions and engagement with the mullahs, despite all the neglect in the face of their terrorism and crimes, Tehran was not only never contained, but left to further its savagery.

During the past few months based an initiative launched by regional states, seen very vividly in the historic Riyadh conference back in May, and the new US government vis-à-vis Iran has brought to life new hopes.

Following the adoption of a new Congress sanctions bill – signed into law by President Donald Trump – targeting the IRGC and designating this entity as a global terrorist, all the articles of this initiative must be implemented immediately and without any loopholes.

The IRGC should subsequently be evicted from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon.

Such actions will significantly weaken the IRGC. Only in such a scenario can Iran’s destructive meddling in the region be confronted, and Middle East peace and security guaranteed.

NCRI President Maryam Rajavi in a speech last month at the annual Iranian opposition convention in Paris emphasized on a very important matter.

“From the outset, the regime was at war with the people of Iran. All the other wars waged against foreign countries have been designed to cover up this main conflict.

But these wars are not an indication of the regime’s strength. They are an indication of the fact that no government in the region has ever attempted to prevent the regime’s belligerence,” she said.

For regime change in Iran, there is no need for war or military intervention by a foreign state. The international community needs only to end its appeasement, economic deals, and concessions to Tehran, which is literally maintaining this dictatorship in power.

The Iranian people and their organized opposition are fully capable of realizing this change.

IRAN PLANNED TO REVIVE ‘HEZBOLLAH AL-HEJAZ’ UNDER AL-MUGHASSIL’S COMMAND

• Iran
• NCRI

by TURKI AL-SUHAIL

Riyadh- Almost 20 years after Riyadh dismantled the “Hezbollah al-Hejaz” movement, a group responsible for the 1996 attack on a housing complex in Khobar, judicial documents revealed that Iran persisted throughout those years in reviving the movement under the command of head of its military wing, Ahmed al-Mughassil, who was hidden by Tehran for two decades before the Saudi security apparatus arrested him in 2015.

The Saudi General Prosecution uncovered the way Iran planned to revive “Hezbollah al-Hejaz” through a case filed against five Saudis it accused of being trained on weapons inside the Iranian Revolutionary Guards camps.

The five Saudis, who can be described as “Iran’s powerful men in Saudi Arabia,” were also trained on the use of RPGs, which were also used lately by terrorists in the Awamiya town.

In addition, the five suspects are accused of receiving trainings on the use of other explosives, including TNT, RDX, C4 and others.

The Awamiya in Al-Qatif governorate is a town in the east of the kingdom that has been rocked in recent months by deadly clashes between security forces and Shi’ite militants that were triggered by the demolition of its old quarter.

The five Saudi suspects also face accusations of providing Iran with information, and of forming a terrorist cell that operates under Al-Mughassil’s command to train Saudi youths in military camps.

Official documents reveal that Iran was basically betting on igniting a revolution that kicks off from Al-Qatif governorate by training youths on what they called “soft war trainings.” However, Tehran failed in its attempt to ignite strife in the governorate and to trigger disputes between the residents and Saudi security officials.

Iran shifted its policy to another level by sending a number of its trained youths to execute armed attacks against police and security forces stations inside the governorate.

Iran Sentences Prisoner Mohammad Ali Taheri to Death

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - The Iranian regime’s judiciary has sentenced to death political prisoner Mohammad Ali Tehari, his attorney told news agencies on Sunday.

Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei told The Associated Press that the court has sentenced his client to death on charges of “founding a cult.”

The 61-year-old Taheri has been held in solitary confinement for over six years in Tehran’s Evin prison.

In an Urgent Action issued in July, Amnesty International had warned about Mr. Taheri facing death Penalty.

Amnesty International statement said: “Prisoner of conscience Mohammad Ali Taheri is accused of ‘spreading corruption on earth’ (efsad-e fel arz) through the establishment of the spiritual group Erfan-e Halgheh and its related teachings. His trial started on 6 March before Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.”

“This is the third time that Mohammad Ali Taheri is standing trial on the charge of ‘spreading corruption on earth’. The first time was in 2011 when a Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment for ‘insulting Islamic sanctities’ but said further investigations were necessary before it could rule on the charge of “spreading corruption on earth”

“For the next four years, the authorities kept him in solitary confinement in Section 2A of Evin prison, where he remains imprisoned, under the pretext of conducting investigations. This time counted toward his five-year sentence, which was deemed complete in February 2016. He was ultimately tried again on the charge of ‘spreading corruption on earth’ in 2015 and sentenced to death, but he was acquitted in June 2016. Despite this, he was not released and in late 2016, the authorities charged him again with ‘spreading corruption on earth’ based on the same activities that had formed the basis of his 2011 conviction.”

On Sunday, a group of Mr Taheri’s followers gathered outside “Revolutionary Court” in Tehran to protest the death penalty.

In recent weeks, authorities have detained dozens of his followers protesting ill treatment of Mr. Taheri.

Gatherings in Solidarity With Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike in Iran

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - The Iranian diaspora mobilized this Saturday for prisoners of conscience who are on hunger strike for nearly a month in Iran.

In the forecourt of the ‘Les Invalides in Paris’ and in several cities around the world, human rights defenders sought to alert the deteriorating state of health and the intransigence of the authorities to respond to their basic demands.

Political prisoners are protesting against the violence and intimidation of Gohardacht prison guards (Tehran) and all the measures to deprive them of a decent condition of incarceration.

This unprecedented movement has garnered widespread support from other political prisoners in other prisons in Iran. Notably those of the prison of Ardebil, announced to undertake a seven-day hunger strike in solidarity with their comrades in Gohardacht. In their message, secretly transmitted from the prison, they call on the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, Asma Jahangir, to intervene urgently and put pressure on the authorities.

Several human rights activists have sent messages of support. The courageous Professor Mohammad Maleki issued a statement calling for the mobilization of Iranian public opinion, underscoring the need to bring to justice the Iranian authorities involved in the 1988 massacre in Iran.

For his part, Tehran's Attorney General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi reacted to the initiative of the strikers. "We say to the prisoners who go on hunger strike and make threats, their action is doomed to failure, because the judiciary will never give up," he told the Iranian media. This mullah is on the list of sanctions of the European Union for gross violations of human rights.

Iran: The Prominent Political Prisoner Goes on Hunger Strike

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - The political prisoner, Arzhang Davoudi has gone on hunger and medicine strike since August 20, 2017, in Zabul Prison located in Southeastern Iran to express solidarity with the prisoners of Gohardasht Prison. He is suffering from diabetes and heart disease. As soon as he heard about the strike of political prisoners in Gohardasht Prison, he also started his strike to support them and to also protest against the poor condition of Zabul Prison. Arzhang Davoudi has also announced that he is not going to stop his strike unless his demands are fulfilled. This political prisoner has been kept in solitary confinement and is under pressure for more than 10 days.

The cell he is imprisoned in is very small and lacks any basic human facilities. The interrogators of the IRGC ordered Zabul Prison's warden to transfer him to solitary confinement in order to put pressure on him. The interrogators of the IRGC are struggling not to release any news about the situation of Arzhang Davoudi. They have even threatened the prison guards as well.

The warden of Gohardasht Prison told the Political Prisoners on Strike, "I do not Allow Any Medical Examination."

The Warden of Gohardasht Prison, Mohammad Mardani addressed the political prisoners on strike stating that he will not allow them to undergo a medical examination since he does not recognize their protest.

Mohammad Mardani obeys the orders of the IRGC's interrogators in Gohardasht Prison.

Many political prisoners transferred to Hall 10 of Ward 4 have been going on hunger strike for 26 days in Gohardasht Prison. Their health condition is acute and worrisome. They have started their strike to protest against the brutal attacks of the prison guards as well as their unwanted transfer to the isolated Hall 10.

Following the domestic and international concern about the status of these prisoners, Tehran's prosecutor-general, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi on Wednesday, August 23, 2017, stated, "We announce to all prisoners on strike that these actions have been failed."'

On Wednesday, August 23, 2017, as the families of political prisoners of Gohardasht Prison visited the Prosecutor's Office, the security guard treated them with violence and insult.

The families of these prisoners wanted to hand over letters to the State Prisons Organization about the illegal treatments towards the prisoners. Nevertheless, the security guard treated them with violence.

Iran: The Firm & Courageous Position of the Political Prisoners on Hunger Strike

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - A group of political prisoners in Gohardasht prison located in the city of Karaj, West of Tehran, wrote a letter to the human rights organizations and associations on the 26th day of their strike seeking the recognition of their rights. The political prisoners called on the human rights organizations to pay a visit to prisons in Iran in order to see the poor condition of political prisoners. In their letter, the political prisoners also refer to the 4 decades of repression and violation of human rights, writing that," a person does not achieve self-esteem and freedom easily. We and some of our brothers, who have been imprisoned by the age of 70, are witnessing a blatant violation of human rights against the prisoners of conscience and the political prisoners by the authorities of the Judiciary, the Intelligence Organization, and the guardsmen.

The protesters also stressed on their demands and resistance, "We the oppressed prisoners endure the hunger strike against the tortures and atrocities of prison guards. Not only will we resist, but we also go on hunger strike unanimously. Today is the 26th day of our strike and we expect our right-seeking compatriots, especially both legal and natural persons, and human rights activists to support us against the abuses and oppressions in such sensitive and dangerous situation. We ask you not to gain alliance with the suppressors, not to be indifferent to all this cruelty and crime, and to pray for us as well."

"We are calling on all international human rights organizations to recognize our rights, asking them to pay a visit to the prisons in Iran in order to witness the poor conditions of political prisoners.", added the resistant prisoners.

Having addressed the Iranian people, the prisoners also wrote in the letter," You the compatriots! Be aware that the mercenaries have robbed and plundered the prisoners' minimum requirements and properties. And one day, they have to be held accountable for such crimes publicly by international tribunals.

The political prisoner, Shahin Zoghitabar who is on hunger strike in hall 10, ward 4 of Gohardasht Prison also wrote a letter stressing on the resistance of prisoners. The letter reads, "The Mongols destroyed Iran as the history shows. The posterity will also name the Mullahs' regime as the criminal sovereignty in the history; the regime that massacred thousands in 1988.It has been years that they repress the people and torture the prisoners in order to survive. Me and other political prisoners continue our strike to the last drop of blood so that our demands will be addressed

Regime Change in Iran Will Not Need War

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - Regime Change in Iran does not require foreign military intervention, according to a human rights activist.

Shahriar Kia, a member of the Iranian opposition (PMOI /MEK), wrote an op-ed for Riyadh Daily in which he explained why international sanctions against the Regime would be much more effective than a costly war.

He wrote: “The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is this regime’s Achilles Heel and weak point. If comprehensive and immediate sanctions truly disarm the regime of this lever and expel the IRGC from the Middle East, the pillar protecting Iran’s religious dictatorship in the face of popular uprisings and international crises will crumble.”

The IRGC is the Regime’s personal terror squad and is responsible for quelling political opposition, oppressing the Iranian people and eliminating dissidents. They played the active role in the execution of over 120,000 political prisoners since 1979.

They are also the key figures in Tehran’s warmongering and the export of terrorism.

Kia wrote: “The IRGC was behind the crackdown campaigns of Iran’s 1999 and 2009 uprisings, and the oppression of Iran’s religious and ethnic minorities, including the Kurds, Iranian Arabs in Ahvaz and Baluchistan.”

They are also in charge of the Iranian Regime’s nuclear programme, ballistic missile drive, and the country’s economy.

Kia wrote: “To this end, the IRGC has become this dictatorship’s political, strategic and economic guardian.

Despite all this, warmongering and exporting terrorism is of the utmost importance for Tehran and the IRGC has monopolized such a role.”

The IRGC is a destructive force in the Middle East, fuelling sectarian strife and exporting terrorism. They do this because the Iranian Regime is so scared of being overthrown that they have to weaken the countries around them.

Kia wrote: “If Iran actually enjoyed stability and power there would never be any need to resort to terrorism.

Exporting terrorism and instigating sectarian wars, considering the heavy political price on the international stage and isolations, would never be in Tehran’s interest if it enjoyed stability at home. Meddling in other countries is aimed at cloaking the crises that currently endanger the mullahs’ entire existence.”

The Regime is unstable, dislike by its people, and is essentially on the edge of a cliff. That is why regime change is necessary but Kia stresses that sanctions against the IRGC who control so much of Iran, will prove fatal to the mullah’s Regime.

He wrote: “Following the adoption of a new Congress sanctions bill – signed into law by President Donald Trump – targeting the IRGC and designating this entity as a global terrorist, all the articles of this initiative must be implemented immediately and without any loopholes.”

He continued: “For regime change in Iran, there is no need for war or military intervention by a foreign state. The international community needs only to end its appeasement, economic deals, and concessions to Tehran, which is literally maintaining this dictatorship in power. The Iranian people and their organized opposition are fully capable of realizing this change.”