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Showing posts from November, 2021

The truth about the Iranian regime’s new president

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  By Sadegh Pashm-Foroush The day after the announcement of the results of Iran’s sham presidential election, Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei summoned the remaining members of the government of former regime president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19. In his remarks to them—indirectly addressing new regime president Massoud Pezeshkian—he warned him and reminded him of the “model” of the president in the regime. The supreme leader repeatedly mentioned Raisi and said, “He is truly a model; we must all learn from him.” He then reiterated the concept of “heartfelt belief and practical commitment” to the regime, which Pezeshkian, like all the election candidates, had committed to. Khamenei stated, “Dear Raisi demonstrated as a model that one can possess these mental, heartfelt, and practical qualities as the president of a country and follow them in practice.” Of course, before the sham election, Pezeshkian repeatedly stated that he would continue Raisi...
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Iran: Culture of Impunity To Blame for Noury’s Impudence in Sweden Trial

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 Written by Mansoureh Galestan In three days of testimony in a Stockholm courtroom that began on November 23, 2021,  Hamid Noury , a prison guard promoted to “assistant public prosecutor” in political prisons, who served as an interrogator, henchman, and executioner in some of the most notorious and terrifying prisons in Iran, inadvertently verified many truths in his trial for crimes against humanity. About 20 former political prisoners have testified as to his intimate involvement in the 1988 massacre since August, and hundreds of others took part in rallies and conferences coinciding with each trial session. Although Noury has verbally denied culpability, the subtext of the comments he made at court may easily be regarded as a tacit admission of guilt. The former official at Gohardasht Prison made desperate efforts to deny that that prison even exists, that he was on duty during the period in question, and that executions took place on the scale alleged. None of these claim...
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At Iran Nuclear Talks, European Negotiator’s Optimism Is Baseless

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   Written by Alejo Vidal Quadras Following the latest round of informal talks in Vienna, European negotiators expressed  optimism  about the prospect of coaxing Iran back into the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The coordinating envoy for the European Union told reporters on Wednesday that he anticipates the sixth round of talks will be the last. But American officials received that statement with skepticism and said that they, too, anticipate a resolution, but expect it to require much more back-and-forth among the seven parties to the agreement. Prospects for restoring the status quo seemed to emerge last January with the presidential transition in the US, but the US has so far resisted European pressure to simply withdraw all the conditions re-imposed or newly imposed by its predecessor, in absence of new concessions from the Iranian regime. That regime, meanwhile, has insisted upon precisely this outcome and has refused all appeals for a compromise agreement in which so...
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Iran: Protests in Isfahan and Regime’s Diversion Tactic

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Written by Shahriar Kia   Dictators have been using the “divide and conquer” strategy for centuries. But for Iran’s ruling theocracy with its deceitful essence, this strategy has been a fundamental pillar of policymaking. Following two weeks of farmers’ sit-ins in the dry riverbed of Zayandeh Rud in Isfahan, security forces  stormed  their makeshift camp in the early hours of Thursday and burned their tents. The farmers had already been calling on their fellow citizens for a large gathering on Friday and the crackdown only added to the public anger towards the regime and its security apparatus. Locals who had previously gathered peacefully and were protesting water shortages began chanting political slogans, such as “down with the dictator” and “down with Khamenei”. As the regime sensed the danger of an uprising, it resorted to the usual playbook: deceit and oppression. While the protesters were brutally beaten by anti-riot police and smeared as “thugs and hooligans” by t...
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Full Accounting of Iran’s Worst Crime against Humanity Is More Important than Ever

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   Written by Mahmoud Royaei After narrowly surviving Iran’s massacre of political prisoners in 1988, I spent years investigating the details of those crimes against humanity, and eventually published a series of  five books  detailing its planning, scale, and lasting impact. For all the specific information I acquired from fellow eyewitnesses and leaked documents, my research also revealed that there is a great deal that we do not yet know about the massacre, and might never know until after the regime responsible for it has been overthrown. Most current estimates for the death toll from the 1988 massacre stand at around 30,000. But this must be understood as the floor, not the ceiling of a possible final estimate. Activists arrived at that figure by carefully analyzing prisoner intake and transfer records from the era, and by speaking with survivors as well as with the relatives of many who went missing during the summer of 1988. However, regime authorities deliber...
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Letter of World Athletes to the UNSG Regarding the Massacre of Iranian Athletes in 1988

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  Written by Shamsi Saadati In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General, more than 100 Iranian athletes, including world champions, participants in the Olympics, and national teams in football, wrestling, karate, judo, kung fu, taekwondo, gymnastics, sailing, weightlifting Basketball, marathon, athletics, boxing, volleyball, fencing, shooting, tennis and ping pong, drew his attention to the massacre of over  30,000 political prisoners  in 1988. In their letter, they underlined how the regime targeted Iranian athletes. “Silence and inaction in the face of genocide and crimes against humanity that took place at the end of the twentieth century is an encouragement to continue and intensify the crime,” their letter reads, pointing to the systematic impunity in Iran and calls for an international inquiry into the 1988 massacre. Below is the full text of their letter:    Your Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Thirty-three ye...
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MEK Resistance Units support Isfahan protests across Iran

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  By Matin Karim As the farmers continued their  protests for rights to water , they have gained support across Iran.  Resistance Units , the network of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) carried out activities in support of the protesters in Isfahan and in condemnation of the regime’s violent suppression of their just demand. In Tehran, the Resistance Units installed posters in different parts of the city that read, “It is time to rise against the regime for the water crisis in Isfahan. Water and freedom are our undeniable rights.” In Mashhad, a banner posted by the Resistance Units read, “People of Isfahan! We are always supporting you.” Similar posters were installed in Karaj, Arak, Shiraz, Shahriar, and Ahvaz. For several months, the farmers of Isfahan have been protesting the regime’s destructive policies that have led to water shortages. In the past weeks, the farmers gathered in the dry basin of the Zayandeh Rud river to voice their protests. Th...
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