Mike Pompeo condemns Iran regime violation of Human Rights, Terrorism and attempt to bomb an Iranian opposition convention in Paris

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

In his Remarks at supporting Iranian voices at Reagan Library in Los Angeles on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the violation of human rights in Iran, clausal stealing by the Iranian authorities, exporting terrorism and an attempt to bomb an Iranian opposition gathering in France.

The followings are excerpts from his speech at the Reagan Library.

Just earlier this month an Iranian “diplomat” based in Vienna was arrested and charged with supplying explosives for a terrorist bomb, scheduled to bomb a political rally in France. This tells you everything you need to know about the regime.

The regime and its allies in terror have left a trail of dissident blood across Europe and the Middle East. Indeed, our European allies are not immune to the threat of the regime by terrorism.

 At the same time they’re trying to convince Europe to stay in the nuclear deal, they are covertly plotting terrorist attacks in the heart of Europe.

The level of corruption and wealth among regime leaders shows that Iran is run by something that resembles the mafia more than a government.

We are asking every nation who is sick and tired of the Islamic Republic's destructive behavior to join our pressure campaign. This especially goes for our allies in the Middle East and Europe, people who have themselves been terrorized by the violent regime's activity for decades. 

40 years of fruit from Iran’s Islamic Revolution has been bitter. 40 years of kleptocracy. 40 years of the people’s wealth squandered on terrorism. 40 years of Iranians jailed for expressing their rights.

Despite the regime’s clear record of aggression, America and other countries have spent years straining to identify a political moderate; it’s like an Iranian unicorn!

The regime’s revolutionary goals and willingness to commit violent acts haven’t produced anyone to lead Iran that can be remotely called a moderate, or a statesman.

Some believe that President Rouhani and foreign minister Zarif are moderates. The truth is, they are merely polished front men for the Ayatollah’s international con-artistry. Their nuclear deal didn’t make them moderates, it made them wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The regime cannot endure any ideas in society that would contradict or undermine them. That is why the regime has for decades heartlessly repressed its own people’s human rights, dignity, and fundamental freedoms.

Since December Iranians have been taking to the streets in the most enduring and forceful protests since 1979. Some shout the slogan “the people are impoverished while the Mullahs live like Gods!” while others choose to shut down the Grand Bazaar in Tehran.

The specific grievances do differ but all those voicing dissatisfaction share one thing; they have been ill-treated by a revolutionary regime. Iranians want to be governed with dignity, accountability and respect

Last January the regime welcomed the New Year with the arrest of 5000 of its own people; they were peacefully calling for a better life. Hundreds reportedly remain behind bars and several are dead at the hands of its own government; the leaders cynically call it suicide.

UN advisory orgs issue statement on Iran’s 1988 massacre

Human Rights Council - Joint Statement by 3 Human Rights Organization - 1988 Massacre

 As the 38^th annual United Nations Human Rights Council session begins in Geneva, and on the verge of the 30^th anniversary of the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners in Iran based on the criminal order issued by Iranian regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini, three UN advisor organizations issued a statement officially recognizing this atrocity and calling for an international probe to place those responsible before justice.

France Liberte, the Movement Against Racism and For Friendship Amongst Nations (MRAP) and the International Women’s Human Rights Association issued their letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein.

“The human rights situation in Iran continues to deteriorate. The Iranian regime responded to May’s peaceful demonstration of Kazerun in the south by opening fire, leaving at least four dead and many others injured.

“The crackdown in Kazerun followed the use of similar inhumane methods to target January’s peaceful demonstrations when regime authorities arrested thousands and dozens, including many under torture, were murdered in prison.

“One of the reasons behind the Iranian regime’s appalling elimination of dissidents is the immunity they have enjoyed despite their inhumane crimes, the most important of which being the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988.”

Most of the 1988 massacre victims are members and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

The text continues:

“The perpetrators of this crime enjoy immunity as we speak and many of them are in key positions in the judiciary or the government. The current Iranian Justice Minister is among them.”

The statement goes on to refer to human rights organizations reports on the Iranian regime’s measures aimed at destroying mass graves sites associated with the 1988 massacre victims in order to cover up this heinous crime.

“This tactic is destroying key evidence that can be used to discover the truth about the scope of the committed crimes, and seek justice and compensation for the victims and their families.

“These sites are under tight security surveillance and this shows judiciary, intelligence, and security entities were involved in the decision-making process of destroying these graves.

“Through the course of 2017 the Justice for the Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) conducted a separate and extensive probe into this massacre by interviewing the victims’ relatives and eyewitnesses, and analyzing witness reports, images, confessions and remarks of current and former Iranian regime officials who had a role in this mass killing.

“This association has issued two separate reports in 2017 publishing details of 59 mass graves in Iran where it is believed 1988 massacre victims were secretly buried.”

France Liberte, MRAP, and the International Women’s Human Rights Association went on to emphasize in their joint statement: “Now is the time for the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights to launch an international investigation into the 1988 massacre and justice to be served for the victims of this crime against humanity.”

Iran: Condemning the arrest of Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, lawyer and human rights activist

Woman's Committee of the National Council of the Resistance of Iran

On Wednesday, June 14, intelligence agents of the clerical regime arrested lawyer and human rights activist, Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, at her house in Tehran and transferred her to Evin Prison.

She was previously arrested for taking over the cases of political prisoners and spent three years in captivity at Evin prison from 2010 to 2013 on charges of "acting against national security." She was denied the right to practice law for three years. She was later arrested again for protesting acid attacks on young women.

The Women's Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, while expressing its disgust at this repressive action of the clerical regime, calls on the international human rights organizations to condemn the arbitrary arrests by the clerical regime and calls for urgent action for unconditional release of Ms. Sotoudeh.

Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

Significance of human rights sanctions against Iran

Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison

 In noteworthy measures imposed on May 30^th, the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, along with a number of other individuals and entities involved in the regimes’ crackdown machine.

The Iranian people and their organized resistance movement, symbolized in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), have long called for such action. Senior Iranian regime officials comprehend the importance of sanctioning Evin Prison more than all other parties.

The following is a list of those blacklisted alongside Evin Prison:

Hossein Alakaram, head of the repressive Ansar-e Hezbollah, joined the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) back in the early years of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s and promoted to a brigadier general.

Ansar-e Hezbollah was established in 1991 by Alakaram, a mullah by the name of Parvazi, IRGC members Naqadi, Zolqadr, Abdulhamid Mohtasham and others.

Alakaram played a significant role in a 1995 attack on a “Quds Cinema,” attempting to prevent a movie broadcast showing the regime’s repressive measures. The 1999 attack on college campuses to quell that years’ student uprising and other such quelling also saw Alakaram’s highly involved role.

In 2005 he was dispatched as a military advisor to a Balkan country and continued his activities in the Quds Force.

Ansar-e Hezbollah chief Hossein Alakaram

Abdulhamid Mohtasham is currently the Ansar-e Hezbollah Secretary General. Under orders issued by Iranian regime founder Khomeini, Mohtasham was dispatched to Iran’s Kurdistan region in 1979 and played an active role throughout the Iran-Iraq War and crimes committed against Iran’s Kurdish community.

He has time and again said with pride how he never takes any prisoners, executing anyone arrested on the spot and countless kill shots against prisoners.

Mohtasham was also involved in street protest crackdowns, especially against Tehran University students revolting in 1999, and specifically played a role in acid attacks targeting Iranian women.

Ansar-e Hezbollah Secretary General Abdulhamid Mohtasham

Hamid Ostad, head of Ansar-el Hezbollah in Mashhad, northeast Iran, is very close to former presidential candidate Ibrahim Raisi.

Raisi, current head of the Astane Quds Razavi foundation in Mashhad, had a major role in the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners across the Iran. The victims were mostly members and supporters of the Iranian opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

Ostad receives his paycheck from the IRGC’s “Imam Reza Corps” in Mashhad.

Hamid Ostad

The Hanista Programming Group developed Mobogram, Mobogram One an Mogobrand Two, along with MoboPlus, and is closely linked to the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence.

Hanista played an important role in censoring, monitoring and identifying individuals active on social media.

Mobogram

Abdulali Ali Asgari currently heads the Iranian regime’s state-run radio and TV stations. Back in 1979 he took part in quelling the people of Iranian Kurdstan.

IRIB chief Abdulali Ali Asgari

Since 2015 Abolhasan Firuzabadi has served as Secretary of the Supreme Cyberspace Council, playing an important role in censoring various aspects of the internet.

Abolhasan Firuzabadi

Abdulsamad Khoramabadi, currently a judge in the Iranian regime’s so-called judiciary system, has been an effective figure in blocking the Iranian population’s access to information on the internet.

Abdulsamad Khoramabadi

The sanctions imposed on Tehran’s Evin Prison is of grave importance considering the fact that thousands of dissidents have been tortured and executed in this atrocious facility.

All the cells, wards and even the hills north of this site have witnessed countless crimes against the Iranian people. The tortures imposed in this facility are far beyond a human being’s tolerance.

What makes Evin different from other prisons across the globe is the scope of atrocities carried out inside its walls, many going unnoticed and unreported.

Sanctioning Evin Prison and other measuresimposed against the Iranian regime decreases the capability and capacity of its crackdown machine, and will lead to repents in its ranks and files.

Evin Prison in the 1980s

Iran: Jailed Rights Defender Ailing

On January 24, authorities transferred Iraee and Atena Daemi, another human rights defender, from Evin prison in Tehran to Qarchak prison

 Iranian authorities should immediately release Golrokh Iraee, a human rights defender hospitalized in Tehran, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraee was sentenced to six years in prison in April 2015 on charges solely related to her peaceful activism, after an unfair trial.
Iraee was transferred to a hospital from prison on April 3, apparently suffering medical complications from a hunger strike. The authorities allowed her family to visit on April 9.

“Iranian authorities are apparently so threatened by human rights defenders that they imprison them for years,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Instead of making prison conditions worse, Iran should start listening to defenders’ demands for more rights and freedom for all citizens.”

On January 24, authorities transferred Iraee and Atena Daemi, another human rights defender, from Evin prison in Tehran to Qarchak prison in the city of Varamin, which is reputed to have worse conditions than Evin. On February 3, Daemi and Iraee embarked on a hunger strike to protest their transfer from Evin, activists’ families reported. Daemi ended her hunger strike on February 26, but Iraee continued hers until she was transferred to the hospital on April 3.

On April 3, Iraee’s family had traveled to Varamin in the hopes of visiting her in prison. When they arrived, authorities told them that she had been transferred to a hospital in Tehran but refused to provide the family any information about her location or condition. On April 9, authorities finally allowed Iraee’s father to visit her at a hospital in Tehran. A source who wished to remain anonymous told Human Rights Watch on April 9 that the visit lasted about an hour, and it was apparent that Iraee had lost a significant amount of weight.

On September 6, 2014, authorities from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Service arrested Iraee along with her husband, Arash Sadeghi, also a human rights defender, and two other people, and sent them to Evin prison. In April 2015, Judge Abdolghassem Salavati, from Branch 15 of Tehran’s revolutionary court who has sentenced dozens of activists to unfair prison sentences, sentenced Iraee to six years in prison on charges of “insulting the sacred” and “propaganda against the state.” Authorities used an unpublished story Iraee had written about stoning that was confiscated at the time of her arrest as evidence to convict her.

Human Rights Watch had previously documented the couple’s lack of access to fair legal representation during their trial. Other human rights defenders have experienced similar conditions at their trials.

“There is nothing to suggest that Iraee has committed any genuine crime and keeping her one more day behind bars is illegal,” Whitson said. “She should be released immediately.”

UN-GENEVA- Speech on Human Rights in Iran by Struan Stevenson

In Iran, the mullahs’ policy of velayat-e faqih, or absolute clerical rule, allows them to justify every horror, every medieval torture, and every public execution

Can I thank you very much for inviting me here today and for giving me the opportunity to speak about the human rights situation in Iran and the nationwide protests and uprising earlier this year.

In Iran, the mullahs’ policy of velayat-e faqih, or absolute clerical rule, allows them to justify every horror, every medieval torture, every public execution, every act of terror, as the ‘will of God.’ For 39 years, since the Iranian revolution handed power to Ayatollah Khomeini, the clerical regime has ruled Iran with an iron fist, suppressing freedom and justice, abusing human rights and women’s rights and exporting terror.
On the 28th of December last year, Iran’s restless citizens finally signalled that they had had enough. The uprising, which began in the holy city of Mashhad, was initially sparked by protests against spiralling living costs, rising unemployment and increasing poverty. It quickly escalated into an angry confrontation with the government, spreading like wildfire to the capital Tehran and to some 140 cities across the country.
Demonstrators chanting: “Death to Khamenei”, “Death to Rouhani”, “Reformists, hardliners, it is game over now,” “Death to the Islamic Republic” and “Shame on you, mullahs,” have shown that this is an uprising against the regime itself. Their chants of: “No Gaza, No Lebanon, My Life for Iran ‘Death to Hezbollah” and “Leave Syria alone, think about us instead” have shown that they are sick of their wealth being looted to fund proxy wars and terrorists throughout the Middle East.
Top officials of the regime, including the Supreme Leader Khamenei himself, have admitted the role of the main opposition, PMOI, in leading and helping to spread the uprising.
Rouhani also called President Macron to take action against the PMOI, who have their headquarters in Paris. Such remarks and confessions are indicative of the regime’s deepening concern at the growing role of the PMOI, who have rightly said that there is no prospect of reform within the Islamic Republic and that the only solution is complete regime change.
Iran is the most repressive country in the Middle East. It executes more people, per capita, than any other country in the world. 90% of all executions in the Middle East are carried out in Iran. More than half the population of 80 million is under 30. Around a quarter of young people are jobless, more in some harder-hit regions. Yet Iran is one of the most pro-Western countries in the Middle East. But they are ruled by a clique of elderly, bearded, misogynistic, homophobic and deeply corrupt mullahs, who have drained the country’s rich oil resources to featherbed their own lavish lifestyles and to fund their policy of aggressive revolutionary expansionism.
Of course the mullahs reacted to the uprising in their usual, time-honoured fashion, sending in the regime’s Gestapo, the IRGC, who gunned down dozens in the streets and arrested over 8,000 protesters, 13 of whom have so far been tortured to death in prison. In blind panic, the regime severed connections with Instagram and Telegram, to stop the protesters using social media to spread their message of dissent. The IRGC even created apps such as Mobogram, an unofficial Telegram fork and used malware embedded in the app to spy on, identify, threaten and eventually arrest the protesters who used Mobogram during the uprising.
The malicious codes are undetected by the mobile users. If Mobogram is installed by an administrator of a Telegram channel on his or her phone, the hidden code allows the IRGC to gain full access to the entire list of that channel’s subscribers. Thousands of arrests have been triggered based on this malicious form of cyberwarfare. But the brutal crackdown has only served to deepen public hatred of the regime and to harden resolve for its ultimate overthrow.
On February 8th 2018, the regime announced the death by suicide in prison of a prominent and respected environmentalist, Dr Kavous Seyed Emami, who had been arrested on 24th January.
I do not see any way in which the current Iranian regime can survive. Millions of Iranians now live in poverty. There is rising inflation and massive unemployment, particularly amongst the young. Yet Tehran continues to pour billions into propping up Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the brutal Shi’ia militias in Iraq, the ruthless Houthi rebels in Yemen and the terrorist Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Iranian people are no longer prepared to stand aside as the mullahs plunder their national wealth and turn Iran into a pariah state. The latest uprising has revealed the emergence of a courageous new force from within the heart of Iran’s long-suffering cities; a new force, prepared to struggle for their rights and to fight for freedom and equality. This new force has, I believe, the capability of overthrowing the theocratic regime.

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign affairs – Federica Mogherini – has been a leading appeaser of the mullahs, often visiting Tehran to pay homage to the theocratic dictatorship. She has always remained silent on the question of human rights and the repression of women, however. It took her 5 days to issue a statement about the uprising, which was not even critical of the regime and as such was counter productive.
Mogherini has successfully peddled the idea that is widely accepted in the West that Rouhani is some sort of moderate; a reformist, despite the fact that around 3,500 people, including 80 women, have been executed during his first four years in office. 700 people were executed last year alone, including women and teenagers.
The EU should understand the true nature of the so-called justice system in Iran, where the current Justice Minister – Alireza Avaie - has been listed on EU and UK terrorist lists since 2011 for human rights violations. Indeed Avaie, only appointed in July last year as Justice Minister by Rouhani, is notorious for his well known role as public prosecutor in the city of Dezful in Iran’s Khuzestan Province in the late 1980’s, where he was personally responsible for ordering the hanging of countless political prisoners, including many teenagers and students, for alleged opposition to the oppressive rule of the mullahs.
These hangings were an orchestrated part of the massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners in the summer of 1988, in one of the worst atrocities since the Second World War, a crime against humanity now being actively investigated by the UN. It was shameful to allow this criminal to address the UN Human Rights Council last week.

As the arrests and violent repression continue, the international community must not remain silent. The United Nations Security Council must adopt punitive measures against the regime. They must hold to account the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre. Many of these murderers are still in positions of power in Iran today. The international community must demand the release of the thousands of protesters arrested during the recent uprising and issue strong warnings against any torture or execution of these prisoners.

I call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mr Zeid al-Hussein and the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, together with other relevant special rapporteurs in the UN to speak out strongly and publicly against the torture and killing under torture of the detainees in Iran. The UN must raise its voice against human rights violations in Iran and put maximum pressure on the Iranian regime to release these detainees. 
Thank you.

STRUAN STEVENSON
Coordinator
Campaign for Iran Change (CIC)
Struan Stevenson was a member of the European Parliament representing Scotland (1999-2014), president of the Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq (2009-14) and chairman of Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (2004-14). He is an international lecturer on the Middle East and is also president of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA)

 

Nikki Haley: The Human Rights Council should be ashamed to allow Avaei to address its membership

Ambassador Haley on Iran Human Rights Violator Speaking at UN Human Rights Council

Press Release: Ambassador Haley on Iran Human Rights Violator Speaking at UN Human Rights Council

February 25, 2018

This week, Iran’s Minister of Justice, Seyyed Alireza Avaei, is set to address the UN Human Rights Council. Mr. Avaei is responsible for some of the worst human rights violations in Iran, including preventing political freedoms and promoting repression, violence, and extrajudicial killings of political prisoners.
“The Human Rights Council should be ashamed to allow Mr. Avaei to address its membership. Yet again the Council discredits itself by allowing serial human rights abusers to highjack its work and make a mockery of its mandate to promote universal human rights. This does nothing but reinforce the United States’ call for much needed reforms at the Council for it to be viewed as a good investment of our time and money,” said Ambassador Haley.

Iran: Continuing Executions, even on the International Human Rights Day

National Council of Resistance of Iran

Last week coinciding with International Human Rights day, the cycle of lashings, torture and executions continued in Iran under the religious fascism, taking more victims.

From December 11 to 14, Iran witnessed 11 executions in the cities of Sari, Kermanshah, Ardebil, Isfahan, Khuy and Shiraz. These included three public hangings. In this period at least 14 inmates of Karaj prison, west of Tehran, were sentenced to death.

On December 11, five prisoners were mass executed in Diesel Abad prison of Kermanshah, and a prisoner was hanged in Sari prison - Northern Iran.

Aimed at raising the atmosphere of fear across the country, the regime publicly hanged two inmates accused of killing Asghar Ghezavati, a member of Iran regime’s police force. These executions were carried out in the city of Isfahan on December 13..

One of the individuals, Abdul-Majeed Hassan Zehi, was hanged without any prior information of the timing of his execution. Two days before his hanging he was suddenly transferred to solitary confinement. This criminal measure sparked anger among the public.

On December 14 an inmate in the city of Khuy was hanged in public. Another inmate was hanged on the same day in the city of Shiraz.

The relentless continuation of ruthless hangings are aimed at intensifying a climate of fear and preventing social unrest. On December 10 Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Yazdi, commander of the so-called Mohammad Rasulollah Division, missioned to maintain security in Tehran, warned of a social earthquake.

Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of Iran’s parliament, expressed concern of “super challenges” that await this regime.

The Iranian Resistance calls on the entire Iranian populace, especially the youth, to protest these ruthless punishments and express their solidarity with the victims’ families. The international community should hinge its trade and agreements with this regime on the immediate halt of executions and torture.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

Iran based on pillars of human rights violations, meddling

Khamenei and Rouhani

 From day one the regime of Iran has been based on the pillars of domestic crackdown, and exporting terrorism and a reactionary, religious mentality, an Al-Arabiya report revealed Tuesday.
As we speak, spreading terrorism and fundamentalism remains a cornerstone policy of Iran’s state-run strategy, all hacked into this regime’s constitution. 

The real image

Earlier this year Amnesty International’s 94-page report, “Caught in a web of repression: Iran’s human rights defenders under attack,” detailed this regime’s drastic human rights violations, with a specific focus on its extensive overdose of executions.
As witnessed for years running, Iran is the world’s leading executioner per capita, with many hangings continuously and horrendously carried out in public. All the while, secret executions are ongoing in dungeons across the country, including Tehran’s infamous Evin Prison.
Iran lacks anything even remotely comparable to a justice system and the current Justice Minister, Alireza Avaie, has been on numerous terrorist lists since 2011 for human rights violations.

 

 Revolutionary Guards members 

Nursing home

Iran is the godfather of human rights violations and terrorism, known as the main source of systematic human rights violations and expanding conflicts across the region.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), and the Quds Force, responsible for the IRGC’s extraterritorial operations, led by Qassem Suleimani, famed for his ruthlessness, are the main parties responsible for Iran’s internal repression, and mainly, aggressively expanding Iran’s influence throughout the Middle East.
For decades the IRGC has been responsible for terrorist attacks in this flashpoint corner of the globe, including the countries of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. In this regard, Tehran’s continuing practice of being the nursing home of proxy terrorist groups is no matter of dispute or questioning. 

Game-changing revelations

Newly released documents obtained by US special forces in their raid on the residence of the now dead al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan prove what many scholars have argued for years.
Iran’s regime has never considered sectarian differences an obstacle to cooperate with terrorists. Tehran seeks to strengthen its resolve in the objective of furthering influence and global support for fundamentalism and terrorism.
These documents prove how the Iranian regime was working closely with al-Qaeda, including bin Laden himself, which could have subsequently led to Tehran’s inevitable cooperation with ISIS.

 

Houthis Fighters

Flashpoint Yemen

Iran’s support for the Houthis in Yemen has escalated and gained much attention recently. For example, a missile launched by the Houthis on November 4 was strikingly similar to an Iranian-made Qiam-1 short-range ballistic missile, added to its collection by Iran in 2010, and yet never before seen in Yemen’s missile arsenal, according to a confidential report prepared by a UN panel of experts commissioned to monitor a 2015 arms embargo imposed on Yemen.
The Houthis “obtained access to missile technology more advanced” than what they had prior to the conflict’s birth in 2015, according to the panel report.
“The design, characteristics and dimensions of the components inspected by the panel are consistent with those reported for the Iranian manufactured Qiam-1 missile,” the text adds.

Paris: Demonstration and rally to mark the World Day for Human Rights + Photos

Paris demonstration on the occasion of Human Rights Day of Human Rights

To mark the International Day of Human Rights and on the occasion of the 70th year of the Declaration of Human Rights, Iranians and the supporters of the Resistance gathered in Paris to be to voice of millions of voiceless Iranians to protest the human right violations in the mullahs' ruled Iran.
The demonstrators projected the anger and disgust of the Iranian people from across the country, people whom due to severe suppression are unable to express their hatred toward the vicious regime that is the record holder in the number of execution per capita.
The mullahs' regime ruling Iran has executed more than 120,000 freedom loving activists, including 30,000 political prisoners in just a few short month in the summer of 1988.
The Paris demonstration started at 1400hr on Monday Dec. 11, 2017 local time and featured half dozen European and French distinguished political figures. A number of Paris mayors also spoke at the rally which condemned the violation of human rights in Iran and emphasized on the crimes perpetrated by the mullahs regime in Iran. They also expressed support for the Resistance and the demonstrators.

 

 

 

Human Rights Day and Iran's Suppression

Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, addresses the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters, September 20, 2017, in New York City

 Today is Human Rights Day! Is this a day for celebration or mourning? Ordinarily, such a day would be for festivity; but, this day is not a usual moment in time. Why? The Iranian regime is the source of human rights abuses. Iran is not a typical state. It has the trappings of being normal, when, in fact, the regime is anything but ordinary. Iran specializes in detaining of political prisoners.

Consider a book  by the National Council of Resistance of Iran called 'Iran: Where Mass Murderers Rule: The 1988 Massacre of 30,000 Political Prisoners and the Continuing Atrocities.' This volume uses one case — 1988 massacres of dissident political prisoners by Iran — as a point of departure to discuss general policy themes, which are threefold: Bring those responsible for these atrocities to an international tribunal; have the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights  set up a commission of inquiry; focus Team Trump on human rights in Iran, in addition to ballistic missiles, sponsorship of terrorism, and armed intervention in Syria.

Human Rights Day prompted the Commissioner to state the values enshrined in the Universal  Declaration of Human Rights are under assault and must be defended.

The Iranian regime regularly responds to disobedience — both when the offense occurs in public or “citizens” are in government detention — with amputations, blinding, eye-gouging, and public executions. This cruel method of death is one of the most inhumane ways to end someone’s life. Publicizing executions is intended to intimidate the masses, making them afraid of expressing their views and their opposition to the regime.

The so-called moderate, President Hassan Rouhani, is on record as saying  people should be hanged in public to make examples out of them for other citizens. Iran alone accounted for 66 percent of all recorded executions in the region. The overall number of executions carried out in Iran, however, dropped by 42 percent (from at least 977 to at least 567) in contrast to the previous year, per  Amnesty International Report of Facts & Figures for 2016.

Regarding moderation, consider another NCRIUS book, 'Presidential Elections in Iran: Changing Faces; Status Quo Policies.'  The “selections,” by the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader are not really elections, in the Western sense of the term. Although faces change, terrorism abroad and at home, ballistic missile tests, and covert arms transfers between partners in proliferation — Pyongyang and Tehran — continue unabated.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) also takes note of December 10, and how the United Nations celebrates Human Rights Day. It commemorates the time the UN General Assembly, in 1948, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This milestone provides Trump an opportunity to address a longstanding human rights problem with our main allies, based on U.S. national security implications: Iran’s continuing repression of its own people.

Political Prisoners and Detainees

Statistics  regarding the number of citizens imprisoned for their political beliefs are not available, per  the Department of State Human Rights Report for 2016. The human rights NGO United for Iran estimates  there are 905 prisoners of conscience in Iran, including those jailed for religious beliefs. But such information is available via the NCRI in its reports on human rights abuses in Iran, as verified by Amnesty International, and as stated above for 2016.

The Department of State website, for years since the 2015 nuclear deal,  shows how Iran’s pervasive violations of human rights have proceeded unabated. The regime’s conduct stems from its radical Islamist ideology, which views Iran as the vanguard of Shiite Islam in a Middle East dominated by Sunni states and their U.S. patron. In this sense, Iran regards internal dissent as a form of Western cultural infiltration to undermine the regime’s legitimacy from within.

And there is some truth to this allegation. This conspiratorial worldview also guides Tehran’s campaign of aggression throughout the Middle East, which seeks to reshape the largely Sunni region in accordance with Shiite doctrine. So, Iran engages in proxy wars against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, seeks to make Baghdad a virtual satrap of Tehran, and sends teens from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran to their deaths in Syria.

And there is 'How Iran Fuels Syria War.' This NCRIUS book  shows how the Iranian regime engages its forces in Syria by marshaling others and paying very low wages, dividing Syria, and establishing military zones. As a result, by challenging Iran’s human rights abuses, Trump can advance U.S. interests, by discrediting the ideology that animates Tehran’s malign conduct in other arenas.

To mark Human Rights Day, FDD presented key publications from 2017 evaluating how Iran’s Islamist ideology impacts its domestic repression. These writings demonstrate that a robust effort by Trump to combat Iran’s human rights abuses fulfills not only a humanitarian imperative, but also a vital national security interest. 

The Way Forward

In conjunction with Human Rights Day and Trump’s review of Iran policy, on Dec. 7, the Organization for Iranian-American Communities (OIACUS) sponsored a briefing in the prestigious Kennedy Caucus Room in the Russell Building of the U.S. Capitol, an event yours truly attended.

Consider welcoming remarks in a video message from President-Elect Madame Maryam Rajavi from Paris. One of her themes was the need for regime change from within, a recurring idea championed by such scholars as Ivan Sascha Sheehan, per  his Dec. 8 article in the Baltimore Sun, 'Trump is right to focus on Iran’s support of terrorism.'

There were presentations by a distinguished group for former U.S. officials, as well as remarks from two present Members of the U.S. Congress — Sen. Ben Cardin Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (D-MD) and a senior member of the Committee on Appropriations, Sen. John Bozeman (R-AR). They both gave strong support to the people of Iran and were critical of the regime.

Other statements were by former Speaker of the U.S. House, Newt Gingrich. He emphasized growing capabilities of the main opposition group in Iran, a coalition — the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Its largest unit is the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, (PMOI), commonly known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK. Gingrich highlighted lack of moderation anticipated by President Obama and how President Trump needed to accelerate his pressure on the Iranian regime with new sanctions on Tehran.

Former Chief of Staff to President Obama, General Jim Jones echoed the remarks of others, in focusing on regime change from within and enhanced capabilities of the NCRI family of organizations. Jones lamented the fact Obama did not authorize attacks against Bashar Assad in Syria and thereby helped moderate Syrian oppositionists before they could be defeated by Assad.

Finally, Amb. (Ret.) Lincoln Bloomfield, Jr. closed the program with a strong defense of regime change from within, new sanctions on Iran, and growing capabilities of the NCRI to effect regime change.

 Prof. Raymond Tanter (@AmericanCHR) served as a senior member on the Middle East Desk of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush administration, Personal Representative of the Secretary of Defense to international security and arms control talks in Europe, and is now Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan. Tanter is on the comprehensive list of conservative writers and columnists who appear in The Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, National Review, The Weekly Standard, Human Events, The American Spectator, and now in Newsmax