Iranians to Protest Rouhani UN Visit

Thousands of Iranians joined by their supporters will gather in New York City to protest Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani’s presence at the United Nations General Assembly, and call for regime change in Iran.

Association of Iranian Americans in New York (AIAINY), a member of the Organization of Iranian American Communities-US (OIAC), said in a statement that the 3-day program includes a September 20, 2017 rally outside the U.N. headquarters as well as street acts and a photo exhibition to commemorate the anniversary of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran.

The rally will call on U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley to refer the 1988 massacre dossier to the U.N. Security Council, the statement by the group said.

Protesters will urge the international community to evaluate Rouhani on his deeds, not his deceptive demeanor or words. They will emphasize the ever-escalating discontent in Iran.

According to the regime’s own officials, some10 million Iranians struggle with addiction and around 18 million people live below the poverty line. Yet on December 31, 2015, Rouhani ordered his armed forces, “to quickly and significantly increase their missile capability.”

The statement by the group added: “Parallel to the regime’s ballistic weapons program and terrorism across the Middle East, the number of executions in Iran has skyrocketed during Rouhani’s presidency.”

“In July 2017 alone, at least 100 Iranians were executed. Individuals who served in his previous administration, and those now being picked as ministers, not only perpetrated the current barbarism, but also had a major role in the mass executions of 1988. His choice for Justice Minister for the last 4 years, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, was a member of Tehran’s infamous “death commission.” He was replaced this term by Alireza Avaie, who was directly involved in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran’s Khuzestan Province.”

“Rouhani’s deeds are indeed an affront to modern civilization and highlight the abject failure of Western appeasement policies vis-à-vis Iran. While applauding the growing international awareness of Rouhani’s contempt for democracy and human rights, and his unsavory role in the growing instability in the Middle East, Iranian Americans will emphasize that regime change in Iran is imperative and achievable, not by means of outside military interference, but from Iran’s own people and their organized Resistance, which is fully prepared to facilitate that change.”

Iran Regime Ignores the Demands of the Pensioners

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - The Coordinating Council of Iranian Educational Organizations referred to the rough treatment of Iranian authorities towards the retirees, announcing that the retirees did not achieve favorable results through constant negotiations with government and Parliament. The authorities have only given them nothing but false promises.

The Coordinating Council on Tuesday, August 29 released a statement in support of the retirees, stating that they have no other choice rather than protesting against their situation so that their demands to be fulfilled. This Council also regretted to announce that the authorities did not treat the retired people quite well especially by giving them false promises although the retirees spend their life on raising awareness and training people in the society.

The statement also reads, "The pensioners have been persuing their rights through various means such as consultation, signing petitions, and rallies for many years. They expect a quiet life without any preoccupation as well as the most basic rights any citizen shall have."

The Coordinating Council in the statement raised demands concerning the increase of salary and receivables of the pensioners. The reports indicate that the retirees are more dissatisfied with their welfare and livelihood conditions in recent years.

Meanwhile, the government officials have been giving false promises to increase the pensions. On August 22, hundreds of Educational retirees and other government organizations staged protest in front of the Parliament of Iran. The protesters called for the law enforcement on the equality and promotion of insurance services.

The protesters were holding placards on which was written, "The poverty line is 4 million Tomans ($1200) , our Salary is 1 million Tomans ($300)", "Fighting against corruption and embezzlement, legal security, and welfare of retirees" , "We will keep on demanding as long as we are below the poverty line, until the realization of our rights".

The protester also chanted slogans of "Never seen the nation to bear this much of injustice", “The imprisoned teacher shall be released, Esmail Abdi shall be released." It is noteworthy that Esmail Abdi was the member of the board of Teacher's Association who was charged with endangering security. He is currently serving time in prison.

What Can Be Done to Stop Iran Regime's Belligerence?

By NCRI Staff

NCRI - President Trump has greatly criticised the Iran nuclear deal and it is easy to understand why. When we look at what has happened in the past two years, it is clear that nothing positive has come from it. Some say that it has slowed Iran’s progress towards being nuclear armed, but we do not know if this is true or not because inspections to nuclear sites are limited.

Over the past two years, human rights abuses inside Iran have worsened. As has the regime’s rhetoric against the West. There have been many incidents in which Iran is trying to provoke Western nations, such as approaching US Navy vessels.

It is because of the threats and provocations made by the Iranian regime that we can see why President Trump is not following in President Obama’s footsteps regarding appeasement and concessions.
Officials in Iran have tried to discourage Trump’s crackdown (such as the recent bill named “Countering Iran's Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017”). They claim that such acts are a violations of the 2015 nuclear deal.

The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has said that Iran will not hesitate to restart, and then escalate, its enrichment of nuclear materials. This has been echoed by other officials of the regime too, showing that the country’s nuclear plans never halted.

The Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), revealed two months ago that Iran’s missile program is escalating, therefore showing the nuclear threat is indeed real. They provided many details about missile sites they had identified. They also were able to show that the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research is in charge of weaponisation with regards to the nuclear program.

However, this information is just confirming what many have said for years.

Nevertheless, this should not take attention away from the other abuses carried out by the Iranian regime. It is involved in extensive terrorist activities across the Middle East and is continuing to supress the people at home. Human rights abuses are escalating and executions are still taking place at an alarming rate.

The situation will not improve until some concrete action is taken by the international community. The IRGC needs to be removed from all the countries where it is involved so that the West, and its allies in the region, are safe.

The people of Iran also need to be supported. It is an international responsibility to ensure that every human being has at least the most basic of human rights. They have suffered for decades and deserve support.

WHY DID I JOIN A HUNGER STRIKE IN EUROPE IN SUPPORT OF IRAN’S POLITICAL PRISONERS?

• Iran
• NCRI
• PMOI/MEK
• Human rights

On Saturday, I joined a one-day symbolic hunger strike in Stockholm alongside dozens of other Iranians living in European countries.Our aim was to draw urgent international attention to the plight of numerous Iranian political prisoners who have been on hunger strike now for over three weeks over the appalling abuses they are facing at the hands of the religious dictatorship.

Mohammad Gharaee is a former political prisoner and joins one-day symbolic hunger strike in Stockholm.

On July 30, wardens in Iran’s notorious Rajai-Shahr Prison raided the ward for political prisoners, beating dozens of defenceless opposition activists and confiscating their belongings. The inmates, some of whom are vocal supporters of the main democratic opposition People’s Mojahedin (PMOI or MEK), were subsequently transferred to an isolated high-security section of this prison which is equipped with CCTV. More than 60 surveillance devices and 40 closed-circuit cameras have been installed there to prevent any leakage of reports to the outside. All openings and windows have been covered and sealed with metal sheets.

To its shame, European Union officials have remained silent on the political prisoners’ brutal treatment. Indeed, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini went to Tehran on August 5 to attend the inauguration ceremony for Hassan Rouhani’s second term as President. Mogherini failed to utter a word of condemnation over the mullahs’ human rights abuses, even though at least 18 political prisoners were on hunger strike while she was in Tehran.

Iran has a history of mistreating political prisoners. But the grizzliest case of all took place in the summer of 1988. Days after Ruhollah Khomeini reluctantly accepted a ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war, he attempted to strengthen his grip on power by eliminating all political opponents who were languishing in prison.

Thousands of dissidents, the vast majority MEK affiliates who were already serving prison sentences, were taken before three-man ‘Death Commissions’ and asked if they continued to support the group. Those who said yes were immediately taken away for execution.

At least 30,000 political prisoners were killed in a massacre that lasted all of August and most of September of that year.

In 2016 an audio tape surfaced of Deputy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Montazeri chastising members of the ‘Death Commission’ as the executions were being carried out. Montazeri told the ‘Death Commission’: “The greatest crime in the Islamic Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed by you.” Montazeri was subsequently cast aside by Khomeini.

For nearly three decades the 1988 massacre has been a taboo subject. But since the summer of 2016, Iranian civil society has defied the government by breaking the taboo on openly discussing the massacre and demanding justice.

The Iranian people used the campaign period prior to the regime’s sham ‘election’ to highlight the call for justice.

On August 2, Amnesty International pointed to a campaign by a generation of young Iranians who seek an inquiry into the mass killings of political prisoners in 1988.

Amnesty’s report said: “Human rights defenders targeted for seeking truth and justice include younger human rights defenders born after the 1979 Revolution who have taken to social media and other platforms to discuss the past atrocities, and attended memorial gatherings held at Khavaran.”

It added that there has been “a chain of unprecedented reactions from high-level officials, leading them to admit for the first time that the mass killings of 1988 were planned at the highest levels of government.”

One consequence of Western silence over the brutal killings in Iran has been to fuel a culture of impunity for Iran’s theocratic rulers who continue to violate international law and human rights.

On Sunday, Alireza Avaie officially took office as Iran’s new Justice Minister. Avaie sat on the ‘Death Commission’ in Dezful, south-west Iran, which sent large numbers of political prisoners, including those who were minors when they were first arrested, to their deaths.

By appointing Avaie as Justice Minister, Rouhani has proven the fallacy of his claim to moderation. Since he first took office in 2013, more than 3,000 people, including women and juvenile offenders, have been executed by the regime. Iran currently is the global record holder for executions per capita.

The issue of the 1988 massacre and the consequential impunity enjoyed by Iranian officials affects the collective conscience of the Iranian people, and this cannot be set aside until the perpetrators are brought to justice.

According to international law there is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity. It is high time for the European Union to support a commission of inquiry led by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) into the 1988 massacre in Iran to end the impunity for Iranian officials and to send a message to the people of Iran that as they stand up to a regime that has denied them their basic rights, the international community will side with the millions who cry freedom, and not with the mullahs who have stolen that freedom.