Commemorating martyrs of 1988 Massacre in Iran-Tirana 19-8-2017

Why is Tehran terrified of US senators meeting with the Iranian opposition?

Maryam Rajavi

by Amir Basiri

Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., met with National Council of Resistance of Iran President Maryam Rajavi and members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. Rajavi thanked the senators for their firm position toward Iran, especially the adoption of new sanctions against the ruling regime and the Revolutionary Guards for their human rights abuses, Iran’s ballistic missile program, and the export of terrorism.

The Iranian regime has constantly tried to downplay the role and influence of the opposition coalition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and its main constituent, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), by portraying them as marginal and insignificant. Yet, its mainstream media and top officials are constantly betraying the regime’s real feelings and fear of the group.

The latest episode came after U.S. senators visited the organization’s headquarters in Tirana, Albania. Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., met with NCRI President Maryam Rajavi and members of the MEK, and discussed the latest developments in Iran and the Middle East as well as solutions to end the current crisis in that region.

Rajavi thanked the senators for their firm position toward Iran, especially the adoption of new sanctions against the ruling regime and the Revolutionary Guards for their human rights abuses, Iran’s ballistic missile program, and the export of terrorism.

Less than a day later, dozens of mainstream media outlets representing all factions and branches of the Iranian regime expressed concern about the lawmakers’ visit, calling it a provocative move meant to cause instability in Iran.

The visit comes as the Trump administration is reviewing its policy toward Iran’s nefarious activities, and cabinet officials have hinted at supporting regime change, a goal that the MEK and NCRI have been calling for since 1981.

The Iranian regime and its backers in the West try to portray support for regime change as a path that will lead to another military invasion in the region, and a possible repeat of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. However, the NCRI believes that the Iranian people and their resistance movement are fully capable of achieving regime change without the need for a foreign intervention.

In her meeting with the senators, Rajavi emphasized that contrary to the propaganda by the Iranian regime’s apologists, the ruling theocracy is rotten to the core and very fragile. Without foreign support, especially the policy of appeasement pursued in the U.S. and Europe, it would not have survived so long.

She added that regime change in Iran is necessary and within reach because a viable and democratic alternative exists.

The Iranian regime is increasingly extremely worried about the momentum that is building around the NCRI’s goal. In April, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., made a similar trip to Albania and met with the MEK and NCRI’s leadership. Other U.S. dignitaries and politicians attended the group’s annual rally in Paris last month, where they underlined the necessity for regime change in Iran.

The regime is also having trouble containing MEK’s increased activism inside Iran. In the run-up to the May’s presidential elections, despite the numerous threats issued by regime officials and Iran’s security apparatus, the group’s supporters carried out widespread campaigns across Iran, denouncing the undemocratic nature of the elections and exposing the criminal history of the candidates.

The trip of U.S. lawmakers to Tirana is one more problem the Iranian regime will have to deal with as it is faced with an opposition that is growing in influence and support, and it no longer has the advantage of a U.S. administration geared toward appeasement and concessions.

Originally published in the   washingtonexaminer

Iran Wary as Opposition Meets With US Senators

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi (L-center) meets with US senators in Albania (Photo: courtesy)

BY SHAHRIAR KIA 

How to deal with Iran has become a very controversial and complex matter for the Trump administration. Washington is currently weighing how to tackle Tehran’s belligerence through adopting a comprehensive Iran policy.

Delivering a significant blow to Tehran, a delegation of prominent United States senators were in the Balkans last weekend, visiting leaders and members of the Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), in Tirana, the capital of Albania.

The delegation consisted of

• Senators Roy Blunt vice president of the Republican Conference and member of the Appropriation, Select Intelligence, Rules and Administration, Commerce, Science and Transportation committees
• John Cornyn, the majority whip and a member of the Judiciary, Select Intelligence and Finance committees
• Thom Tillis, a member of the Armed Services, Judiciary, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs committees

Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) — the political coalition consisting of the PMOI/MEK and a slate of other Iranian dissident groups and individuals — hosted the American senators for a meeting to discuss recent developments regarding Iran and the entire Middle East.

“Led by Senator Blunt, the delegation congratulated the safe and secure relocation of all Camp Liberty residents outside of Iraq and wished them success in their struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran,” according to an NCRI statement.

Rajavi took advantage of the occasion to extend her gratitude to the actions taken by the U.S. Senate, especially by Senator Blunt, to safeguard and protect thousands of MEK members during their stay at the camp in Iraq.

The MEK also enjoyed senate support during their tumultuous campaign of relocating each and every member outside of Iraq to safety.

This high-profile visit comes only three months after a similar visit by Senator John McCain, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee, back in April when McCain met with NCRI President Rajavi and briefly visited the MEK members.

Especially since 2009 and onward, McCain has been a fierce critic of Tehran and strong supporter of the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy. He is especially known for his passionate tribute to the young Iranian woman Neda Agha Sultan who died “with her eyes open” on the streets of Tehran during the Green Revolution.

This significant meeting between a delegation of American senators and the Iranian opposition adds to Tehran’s long list of concerns.

New Congressional sanctions have placed Iran under extreme restrictions due to its ballistic missile drive, support for terrorism and proxy terror groups across the Middle East, and gross human rights abuses.

Iran, however, will not be reining in its belligerence any time soon.

“Iran’s parliament gave initial approval on Sunday to a bill to boost spending on Tehran’s missile program and the elite Revolutionary Guards in retaliation for new sanctions imposed by the United States,” according to Reuters.

This move would provide over $260 million to both Iran’s ballistic missile program and the terrorist-designated IRGC Quds Force.

Trump has signaled his intention of holding Iran in non-compliance with the pact aimed at curbing the regime’s nuclear program. Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations, has plans to meet with Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, prior to this organization’s set schedule to issue its September report on Iran’s nuclear program.

With such a move looming, Tehran received an important message from the meeting in Tirana. Senior congressional members are taking the lead in establishing an increasing consensus to take action in line with regime change policy in the face of the mullahs in Iran.

Shahriar Kia

Shahriar Kia is a political analyst and member of Iranian opposition (PMOI/MEK). He graduated from North Texas University.Twitter

Source: Iran Wary as Opposition Meets With US Senators | Clarion Project

 

New sanctions on Iran, now it’s time for a new US policy too

By Alireza Jafarzadeh

On the second anniversary of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal, some argue that the agreement succeeded in slowing Iran’s progress toward a nuclear weapon. However, the restrictions on the Iranian nuclear program are only limited, as is the international inspectors’ access to the country’s illicit facilities.In addition, in areas unrelated to the nuclear agreement,

the Iranian regime’s behavior has only gotten worse over the past two years. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has escalated its nefarious activities in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, has deliberately sought out close encounters with American warships, and has boasted of new Iranian military equipment.

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 The White House’s efforts to enforce a harder line on Iran policy is well justified and the president’s signing into law of H.R. 3364, which included a title, “Countering Iran’s Destabilizing Activities Act of 2017” is a step in the right direction.

In June, the National Council of Resistance of Iran revealed details of the escalation of the Iranian missile program, proving the nuclear threat to be real. The opposition coalition identified more than 40 sites for missile development, manufacturing, and testing, all of which were under the control of the IRGC. What’s more, at least one of those sites was known to be collaborating with the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, known by its Farsi acronym SPND, the institution tasked with weaponization activities related to the Iranian nuclear weapons program. SPND activities have continued since the JDPOA.

Such revelations clarified what should already be common knowledge: Iran’s nuclear weapons activities have continued. Even worse, myopic focus on the nuclear issues has distracted attention from the Iranian regime’s terrorism sponsorship, regional intervention, and human rights abuses.

If the IRGC continues to acquire more wealth through its large-scale control of the de-sanctioned Iranian economy, combined with continued lack of access to the nuclear sites of SPND, Iran will undoubtedly deliver a nuclear weapon.

To its credit, the US. has taken steps toward addressing the underlying problem of the IRGC’s expanding control over Iranian affairs. Soon after taking office, Mr. Trump urged the administration to review designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization. With the new Iran sanctions bill now signed into law, the administration should expand all anti-terror sanctions to the whole of the IRGC, including its affiliate entities and associated financial and economic arms.

This is a meaningful start to a new Iran policy that is comprehensive in its aims and in its enforcement. Toward that end, the US should work with the UN and EU to evict the IRCG from the combat zones in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. This will help protect the West and its allies, as well as empower the Iranian people, who are seeking regime change and are more than capable of bringing it about on their own.

Without serious sacrifice, Western powers must do their part. The Iranian regime must be more isolated and financially handicapped by the United States. It must also be subject to pressure not just over its nuclear program but also over a range of current and past crimes, including illicit missile testing, escalating regional and sectarian conflicts in the Middle East, and the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. The United States should subject all major human rights violators of the Iranian regime, including dozens involved in the horrific 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. Many of the perpetrators of this crime currently hold key positions in the Iranian regime.

These pressures will make a profound difference in the future of Iran, if coupled with reaching out to the people of Iran and their organized opposition. They will succeed in diminishing the power and influence of the IRGC; bolster the Iranian people and the prospect of the emergence of a truly democratic Iranian government.

Alireza Jafarzadeh, the deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, is credited with exposing Iranian nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak in 2002, triggering International Atomic Energy Agency inspections. He is the author of “The Iran Threat” (Palgrave MacMillan: 2008). His email is Jafarzadeh@ncrius.org , and is on twitter @A_Jafarzadeh.

Originally published in the   foxnews

Senior U.S. Senate Delegation, Maryam Rajavi Meet in Tirana, the Albanian Capital

Senior U.S. Senate Delegation, Maryam Rajavi meet in Tirana, the Albanian Capital

Senators also met MEK members relocated from Iraq

 

On Saturday, August 12, 2017, a senior delegation from the United States Senate meet with Maryam Rajavi, in the Albanian capital, Tirana, and discussed the situation of the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in Albania, the latest developments in Iran and the Middle East as well as solutions to end to current crisis in that region.

The Senate delegation was comprised of Senators Roy Blunt, Vice President of the Republican Conference, and member of the Appropriation, Select Intelligence, Rules and Administration, and Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committees; John Cornyn, the Majority Whip, and a member of the Judiciary, Select Intelligence, and Finance committees; and Thom Tillis, a member of the Armed Services, Judiciary, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs committees.

The meeting, at one of the centers of the MEK in Albania, was initiated by Senator Roy Blunt, as the delegation was on a visit to Albania.

Led by Senator Blunt, the delegation congratulated the safe and secure relocation of all Camp Liberty residents outside of Iraq and wished them success in their struggle for democracy and human rights in Iran. Having undertaken extensive efforts to ensure the security of MEK members in Camp Liberty, Iraq, and their transfer outside that country in previous years, Senator Blunt described the relocation as a major victory for the Iranian people and Resistance and lauded the efforts of Maryam Rajavi and the Iranian Resistance for the success of this major mission.

Maryam Rajavi thanked the Senators for their decisive position vis-à-vis the Iranian regime, especially the adoption of a new resolution which imposed sanctions on the clerical regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for human rights abuses, the ballistic missile program, and the export of terrorism. She expressed gratitude for the efforts of the U.S. Senate, particularly Senator Blunt, regarding the protection of thousands of MEK members in Camp Liberty, Iraq, and their safe relocation to Albania.

Maryam Rajavi emphasized that contrary to the propaganda by the Iranian regime’s apologists, the ruling theocracy was rotten to the core and very fragile. Without foreign support, especially the policy of appeasement pursued in the U.S. and Europe, it would not have survived so long. She added that regime change in Iran is necessary and within reach because a viable and democratic alternative exists. Maryam Rajavi said equating regime change by the Iranian people for democracy with war and instability in the region is a sheer lie, the source of which is the Iranian regime’s lobby in western capitals. They demagogically turn the truth on its head, she noted, adding that the overthrow of the Tehran regime was a prerequisite to ending crisis and war in the Middle East.

Maryam Rajavi underscored the need for imposing comprehensive sanctions on the Iranian regime’s banking and oil sector, expelling the IRGC and its affiliated militias from Syria, Iraq, and other regional countries, taking urgent steps to punish the regime for widespread political executions, especially the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate this major crime against humanity with the aim of bringing to justice the perpetrators, and recognizing the aspirations of the Iranian people and Resistance to overthrow the ruling religious tyranny and to establish freedom and democracy, and a republic based on the separation of religion and state, gender equality, and a non-nuclear Iran.

The Senate delegation also met with a number of MEK members as well as witnesses to, and victims of, the Iranian regime’s atrocities in Iran and camps Ashraf and Liberty.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
August 12, 2017

Is Regime Change Truly The Correct Iran Policy?

(FILES) A picture dated September 21, 2012, shows a Raad air defense system carrying Taer missiles being displayed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, during an annual military parade which marks Iran’s eight-year war with Iraq, in the capital Tehran. Iranian forces have carried out what they called cyber warfare tactics for the first time as the Islamic republic’s naval units staged manoeuvres in the key Strait of Hormuz, media reports said on December 31, 2012. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

By Heshmat Alavi

Following the recertification of Iran’s compliance with a nuclear deal aimed at curbing its controversial nuclear program, there is quite a stir over the Trump administration possibly adopting a regime change policy in the face of Tehran’s belligerence.

There are those who favor such a trajectory, while Iran lobbyists and apologists have promptly argued otherwise, saying war should not be an option and citing ongoing campaigns in countries across the region to back their opinions.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s strong position of supporting regime change in a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee sent shockwaves in Tehran and beyond.

“Our policy towards Iran is to push back on (its regional) hegemony, contain their ability to develop, obviously, nuclear weapons and to work towards support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government,” he said.

 Secretary of Defense James Mattis, known for his “Iran, Iran, Iran” description of the source of Middle East dilemmas, followed suit.

“Until the Iranian people can get rid of this theocracy, these guys who think they can tell the people even which candidates they get a choice of. It’s going to be very, very difficult,” Mattis said in a special interview.

It is broadly assumed that the diplomatic pressure and sanctions initiative embarked upon by the White House and Congress are aimed at serving a regime change objective in Iran. The next necessary step would be to make this policy crystal clear to Tehran and all relevant parties

Such strong statements made by Tillerson and Mattis dig deep into the Iran dossier and realize one stark, and very positive, difference between Iran and its neighbors. In contrast to others, the Iran regime change enterprise enjoys a long-term plan presented by a grass-rooted opposition movement, symbolized in the Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

Unfortunately, the campaigns launched in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and even Syria, after former US president Barack Obama said the dictator Bashar Assad must go, all lacked this very necessary element, and the world remains witness in horror of the drastic consequences. Millions left killed and injured, scores more displaced, trillions of dollars literally wasted and entire cities and countries leveled. And the only benefactor has been the mullahs’ regime…, being an entirely different topic of discussion.

Tehran lobbyists stationed in Washington are heard saying Iran also lacks any such organized opposition capable of delivering anything different from what we have witnessed in other countries. For years they have been inaccurately mischaracterizing the NCRI as lacking adequate organization, support and resources.

To spare time, one needs only refer to this coalition’s recent July 1^stconvention in Paris, held annually, for a glimpse of its social base and international backing. Over 100,000 members of the Iranian Diaspora, joined by hundreds of international dignitaries from all walks of life representing a conglomerate of political trends, shows how the NCRI, and its President Maryam Rajavi, have garnered growing support both inside Iran and abroad to bring about regime change and establish freedom and democracy in their homeland.

Advocates of the appeasement approach vis-à-vis Iran will further continue quarreling over how the West must continue its effort of seeking internal Iranian elements of moderation.

Ever since the 1980s a slate of senior Iranian regime officials, including former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, former presidents Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, and now Hassan Rouhanihave been naively dubbed as “moderates” or “reformists.”

What deserves comprehension after 35 years of deception is the fact that Iran’s “moderate/reformist” pretext has long surpassed its expiration date. While the Iranian people are yearning for change, there is no such appetite, capacity or potential in Tehran’s ruling mullahs’ apparatus.

• Mousavi supported the regime’s unnecessary continuation of the war against Iraq, devastating the lives of millions,
• Rafsanjani supervised a domestic cleansing of dissident voices, and a string of assassinations and terrorist plots abroad,
• Khatami presided over the 1999 student uprising crackdown and advanced Tehran’s clandestine nuclear weapons drive,
• and Rouhani’s first term as president rendered the execution of over 3,000 individuals, and the trend continues as we speak with over 100 executions in July alone. Rouhani has also blessed a dangerous spike in ballistic missile advancements by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

As a result, any form of moderation or reform is nothing but a hoax misused by Tehran to continue misleading and deceiving the international community, while threatening the rise of hardliners if the likes of Rouhani are deserted.

Returning to the decidedly significant statements made by Tillerson and Mattis, it is high time such game-changing rhetoric receives deserved backing from President Donald Trump himself.

Iran must feel the heat from Washington’s policies, especially as Tehran prolongs its Middle East belligerence plaguing Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, and endures its harassing of the US Navy in Persian Gulf waters.

America must take the lead in facing Iran over its fundamentalist nature both inside the country and abroad. The Trump administration should begin architecting an international coalition to back the NCRI’s drive for regime change and peaceful democratization of Iran.

After four decades of utter atrocities, it is the Iranian people’s right to live in peace and prosperity.

Heshmat Alavi : I am a political/rights activist focusing on Iran & the Middle East. I also write in Al Arabiya English, and contributed to The Hill, Algemeiner and Raddington Report. I tweet @HeshmatAlavi

Source: Is Regime Change Truly The Correct Iran Policy?

MEK supporters in Iran step up campaigning for justice over 1988 massacre

Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) inside Iran have filmed themselves carrying out brave acts of openly demanding justice over the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners in Iran.
The scenes filmed in various Iranian cities in July 2017 show brave Iranians hoisting banners and distributing fliers about the massacre and calling on the United Nations to launch an independent inquiry and to prosecute the perpetrators of this great crime against humanity.
On the basis of a fatwa by the regime’s Supreme Leader Khomeini in the summer of 1988, more than 30,000 political prisoners were mass executed for refusing to renounce their political beliefs. The overwhelming majority were member of the main Iranian opposition group, the PMOI (MEK).
Young Iranian activists across the country have in recent weeks stepped up their defiant public campaigning for justice over the 1988 massacre.

 

Political prisoner, Maryam Akbari Monfared, seeks justice over Iran’s 1988 Massacre

In October 2016, Iranian political prisoner Maryam Akbari Monfared took the unprecedented bold move of filing an official complaint with the Prosecutor General of Tehran over the arbitrary execution of her brother and sister during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran. She did so on 15 October 2016 from the Women’s Ward of Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

Ms. Akbari Monfared’s 15 October 2016 complaint read in part: “My brother Abdolreza and my sister Roqieh were executed on an unknown date during the summer of 1988. They were both tried by the Revolutionary Court and sentenced to prison terms. They were deprived of their right to have a lawyer to represent them. Abdolreza was arrested when he was only 17 for selling Mojahed publication (affiliated to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – PMOI or MEK). He was sentenced to three years imprisonment in 1980, but the authorities refused to release him after he completed his prison term until he was finally executed in 1988.

Just a day later, on 16 October 2016, Ms. Akbari-Monfared published an open letter stating her demands in her quest to obtain justice for her loved ones who perished during the 1988 massacre.

On 30 October 2016, Ms. Akbari-Monfared filed a follow up complaint with the Judiciary demanding an investigation to discover the identities of the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre.

UN must launch Commission of Inquiry into #Iran's #1988Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners https://t.co/Sinf41pELN #HumanRights pic.twitter.com/0jyA604JiU

— JVMI (@jvmifoundation) August 9, 2017

 On 3 November 2016, a group of political prisoners in Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj issued a statement in support of Ms. Akbari-Monfared.

Also on 3 November 2016, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action appeal stating that prisoner of conscience Maryam Akbari Monfared, who is serving a 15-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison, is being denied access to medical treatment and is facing reprisals after filing a formal complaint that seeks an official investigation into the mass killings of political prisoners, including her siblings, in the summer of 1988.

On 10 November 2016, Sara Jafari-Hatam, the daughter of Maryam Akbari-Monfared, wrote to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran Ms. Asma Jahangir over the plight of her imprisoned mother.

Ms. Akbari-Monfared’s case continues to draw domestic and international attention.

Source: Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran (JVMI) website 

via Political prisoner, Maryam Akbari Monfared, seeks justice over #Iran’s #1988Massacre — iranarabspring

Selection of six speeches by Maryam Rajavi, from 2015 to 2017

No to Compulsory Veil: No to Compulsory Religion, No to Compulsory Government

Amazon website: https://www.amazon.com/No-Compulsory-Veil-Religion-Government/dp/2955429554

This is a selection of six speeches by Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran from 2015 to 2017 in various conferences on the topic of Islam, compulsory veil, compulsory religion and compulsory government and why anything that is forced under any pretexts is contrary to the teachings of Islam.

https://twitter.com/Maryam_Rajavi/status/894836822811054080

Maryam Rajavi argues that mysogeny is the core of Islamic fundamentalism. In the case of iran, she argues that misogyny under the cloak of religion has become systematic and persistent because it is a lever to maintain the monopolistic domination of the velayat-e faqih. Misogyny is the purpose  for dozens of the regime’s suppressive agencies. It justifies the permanent surveillance operations in the streets, the actions of street patrols and the conduct of such agencies as the “Office to Combat Vice,” or the “Morality Police Force” and 20 other police entities.

https://twitter.com/Maryam_Rajavi/status/887203950407159809

 

Maryam Rajavi in the grand gathering of Free Iran- paris, July 1,2017

Also read A glimpse at the life of Maryam Rajavi:  http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/maryam-rajavi

 Reading more…

 

via Selection of six speeches by Maryam Rajavi, from 2015 to 2017 #FreeIran — iranarabspring

Women lead the force for change in Iran

Maryam Rajavi with PMOI’s Central Council on the stage, IWD Conference 2017

August 5, 1993, marks a milestone in the struggles of Iranian women, and the Iranian opposition, the PMOI/MEK which forms the backbone of the democratic alternative to the clerical regime, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

On this day, 24 women were unanimously voted to the PMOI’s all-female Leadership Council to hold the helms of affairs in the organization.

Twelve years after the beginning of the Iranian Resistance when Iranian women remained steadfast despite enduring tremendous suffering and torture in their struggle for freedom and democracy; and four years after Maryam Rajavi became the PMOI’s Secretary General in 1989, this long line of battle-tested women were recognized as best qualified to rise to the movement’s leadership.

The landmark event drew a clear distinction between the Iranian opposition and its foe; the former striving for gender equality and women’s participation in leadership and the latter thriving on subjugation of women as a main pillar of its rule.

The PMOI was convinced that if it were to overcome Tehran’s religious dictatorship, it would have to cast aside all remnants of fundamentalist ideology and culture, including male-domination.

Thus, women’s leadership in the PMOI/MEK was not about some women replacing men to continue in their footsteps with the same values and methods. Rather, women’s participation in the leadership inspired a major cultural transformation in the ranks of the Resistance and among women all across the country who faced gender apartheid in all realms of their lives.

As a result of the struggle of these pioneering women and their valuable achievements, the world witnessed the hegemonic role of Iranian women in the course of the 2009 uprising. In fact, three major elements steered women in that path: years of struggle for freedom and equality; the misogynist nature of the ruling regime; and the presence of an organized resistance with gender equality as its ideal.

The impact of women’s leadership and equal participation could also be seen in the 14-year steadfast perseverance of the PMOI/MEK in Iraq, beginning in 2003 when US invaded Iraq.

Unarmed, blockaded by an inhuman siege, and subjected to numerous military and rocket attacks by Iraqi troops at the behest of Tehran’s regime, the PMOI’s leading women had the task of defeating the Iranian regime’s conspiracies on the one hand and tapping into the strengths of the organization while avoiding any deviation from the movement’s sole focus on the mullahs’ regime in Iran.

This was a time when the prospects for victory looked grim. The balance of power in Iraq and the region was clearly not in their favor. Still, they led the movement at such volatile times with no past lessons or precedents to draw on. Through their own vigilance, correct decision-making, risk taking and self-sacrifice, they led the movement at every turn.

Women’s leadership, put to test 14 years in camps Ashraf and Liberty, succeeded in the face of great adversity with courage, endurance and respect for moral values. The men in this movement, who in their struggle against the male-dominated culture have reached great peaks of their own, also played a significant role in the campaign of perseverance owing to their progress in the realm of humanity.

The Leadership Council has now grown to become a 1,000-strong Central Council.

Indeed, women’s leadership could not become a lasting institution and tradition without the support of PMOI/MEK men who have faith in, and are committed to, the ideal of equality.

Today, as the social conditions in our homeland, Iran, is simmering with strong discontent, the message to Iran’s valiant young men is to rise up in defense of freedom and equality if they want to realize the Iranian people’s freedom.

The fact that women bear the brunt of repression in Iran, reveals the regime’s defensive tactic against the existential threat it feels from women. The imposition of the mandatory veil on women and flagrant discriminations against them in educational and vocational arenas are only efforts to enchain women.

Iranian women have proven their effective and growing role in the struggle against the mullahs’ religious tyranny, in the scenes of confrontation with the Revolutionary Guards, in their unprecedented resistance in the regime’s torture chambers and dungeons, through their presence in the first ranks of anti-government demonstrations, in organizing the teachers and workers’ protests and protests by other social strata, in organizing and leading an international social and political movement against the religious fascism ruling Iran, and in their active assumption of responsibilities in the organized movement of the Iranian Resistance.