The barbarism of the Iranian regime appears to know no bounds. A total of 562 prisoners, including 20 women, have been executed since the so-called ‘moderate’ Masoud Pezeshkian became president in August this year. The death toll at the hands of the mullahs’ hangmen rises daily. Now, the theocratic regime has sentenced six political prisoners—Abolhassan Montazer (65), Pouya Ghobadi (32), Vahid Bani-Amrian (32), Babak Alipour (33), Ali Akbar Daneshvarkar (57), and Mohammad Taghavi (58) —to execution following months of interrogation and torture. The fictitious charges against them include “membership of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK),” “collusion and conspiracy against national security,” “armed rebellion against the government,” “forming a group to disrupt national security,” and “destruction of public property using a (rocket) launcher.”
The PMOI/MEK is the main democratic opposition movement, loathed and feared by the mullahs due to its burgeoning Resistance Units, which have spread across Iran and threaten to topple the theocratic regime and restore freedom, democracy, and justice to the Iranian people. Membership in, or support for, the PMOI, farcically described as ‘moharebeh’ or ‘waging war against God,’ carries an automatic death sentence under the terms of the fascist regime’s constitution. Following the 1979 revolution, which overthrew the brutal monarchy of the Shah, the psychotic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa commanding the secret massacre of over 30,000 supporters of the PMOI, in the latter half of 1988, in one of the worst crimes against humanity of the late twentieth century. The massacre is now under active investigation by the UN.
Startling as these figures are, they are only a fraction of the estimated 120,000 political prisoners executed so far during the clerical dictatorship in Iran, often with the direct involvement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – the regime’s Gestapo. The IRGC and its extra-territorial and warmongering Quds Force have been designated as terrorist organizations in the United States and Canada. However, still, the EU and UK are dithering over their blacklisting. With the arrival of Kaja Kallas, the former Prime Minister of Estonia, as the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, there are high hopes that Europe may abandon its lamentable appeasement policy. Ms. Kallas has replaced the hopeless Josep Borrell, the Spanish socialist who groveled to the mullahs in a vain effort to reinstate Barack Obama’s deeply flawed nuclear deal, unilaterally abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018. Kaja Kallas must quickly reassert the EU’s contempt for the mullahs’ savagery and demand a halt to the current frenzy of executions.
In the wake of repeated nationwide uprisings that saw a vicious crackdown by the IRGC, with thousands of unarmed protesters killed and tens of thousands arrested, Iran is now a bubbling cauldron, ready to explode. Eighty-five million beleaguered Iranians have suffered enough. The subsequent uprising will sweep the mullahs from power. However, the rebellious Iranian people need assurance that they have the backing of the West. They do not want military intervention; they simply want moral support as they risk their lives daily to restore freedom and peace to their nation and to the Middle East. The elderly and sociopathic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is futilely attempting to prevent a further uprising and the overthrow of his despised Velayat-e Faqih, or guardianship of the Islamic jurist regime policy, through the mass of executions designed to terrify the public. Western nations cannot afford to stand aside and witness this carnage.
The United Nations Security Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, and other relevant UN bodies, as well as the UK and the European Union and its member states, must take immediate action to save the lives of prisoners on death row and secure the release of all political detainees. The Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) has escalated the arrests of PMOI supporters and their families as a measure to suppress social movements and uprisings. Simultaneously, the judiciary’s revolutionary court has started issuing death sentences and lengthy prison terms to intimidate dissent.
The wave of executions comes in the wake of a renewed clampdown on women in Iran, with the introduction of a new 'Chastity and Hijab' law. There are approximately 40 million women in Iran, over half under the age of thirty. At a time when women in the West have achieved political, economic, personal, and social equality, Iranian women are amongst the most repressed in the world, ruled by a regime dominated by elderly, bearded misogynists. It is little wonder that the repeated nationwide protests, which continued in almost every town and city in Iran for many months, have often been led by or involved the participation of thousands of women, chanting, “With hijab or without hijab, we march to revolution.” The chants of the protesters openly call for regime change.
Many of these courageous women have been inspired by the PMOI and its charismatic leader, Mrs Maryam Rajavi. Indeed, many of the key leadership positions within the PMOI are held by powerful and resilient women. The implementation of the 'Chastity and Hijab' law comes amid widespread defiance of the hijab rules by Iranian women. For many, the compulsory hijab has become a symbol of the regime's oppression. Public disobedience, especially by women and youth, rejects the regime's authority. The Chastity and Hijab Law is critical in Iran's struggle for freedom and equality. By doubling down on repressive measures, the regime hopes to silence dissent and maintain control. However, the widespread opposition it faces, particularly from women, shows that the Iranian people are far from subdued.
The call to resist this law under the banner of "Woman, Resistance, Freedom" reflects Iranian women and society's enduring spirit of defiance. The global community must stand in solidarity with them, amplify their voices, and condemn the regime's actions. This law is not just an attack on women's rights; it is an attack on universal principles of freedom and human dignity. It must be opposed at every level, both inside Iran and internationally. The overthrow of the mullahs’ brutal regime will end oppression, end the death penalty, end the nuclear threat, end the spread of global terrorism, and restore peace and stability to the Middle East and worldwide. This must surely now become the focus of Western strategies.