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
The
MEK remains a strong and cohesive organization, with a broad reach both
worldwide and deep within Iran. MEK is the leading voice for democracy in Iran,
supported by its interpretation of Islam that discredits the fundamentalist
mullahs’ regime.
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