URGENT: Iran regime planning to execute 20 Sunni prisoners imminently

NCRI - According to information from Iran's notorious Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, the mullahs' regime is planning to execute some 20 Sunni prisoners imminently.

Their families have been informed to go to the prison to visit them for a final time.

Among the death-row prisoners at urgent risk of execution is Shahram Ahmadi.

UPDATE - 14.00 (CET): The relatives of one of the prisoners were informed on the way to the prison that instead of meeting their loved one for a final time in prison, they should collect the body of their loved one from the morgue. It is feared that the 20 prisoners may have already been executed, but this is being investigated.

UPDATE - 14.15 (CET): Another report from families of victims said the families were told to visit their loved ones for a final time in the prison before 15.00 (local time) on Tuesday. When the family arrived at the prison, they were told to go instead to the coroner's office to collect the body of their loved one who had already been executed..........http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/20809-urgent-iran-regime-planning-to-execute-20-sunni-prisoners-imminently

Tehran’s paranoia over opposition Free Iran rally in Paris

NCRI - For years, the Iranian regime has been peddling the notion that no viable opposition exists in Iran. In its relations with foreign governments, Tehran downplays the existence of a viable opposition, in particular suggesting that the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI (MEK), has no major standing among Iranians and poses no serious threat. As such, for a long time Tehran opted the line of trying to ignore the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

This argument intended to convince its interlocutors that the only realistic policy options are either appeasing Tehran or waging a full-fledged external war. And given the tragic experiences of recent history in the Middle East, Iran’s mullahs remain confident that appeasement looks like the more attractive option.

The Free Iran gathering in Paris on July 9 punctured Tehran’s long held narrative. According to scores of media outlets, some 100,000 Iranians and their international supporters participated in the event........http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/20784-tehran-s-paranoia-over-opposition-free-iran-rally-in-paris

Recommended read: Michael Totten's account of the MEK

A recommended read for anyone wanting to know a little more about the main Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), is Michael J. Totten's account of the MEK in his article 'Hanging with the People's Mujahadeen of Iran', published in World Affairs.

Totten, a contributing editor for World Affairs, writes: "In 1997, US President Bill Clinton added Iran’s People’s Mujahadeen (Mujahideen Khalq in Persian, or MEK) to the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, and in 2012 his wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took them off."

"One of them erred and erred badly."

In addition to giving a bit of background on the MEK, Totten writes about his personal experience of attending an MEK rally in Paris just this month. The rally was called "Free Iran."

It included speeches from the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia), former Vermont Governor Howard Dean (Democrat), former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (Democrat), former Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island.), former Senator Robert Torricelli (D-New Jersey), and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (Republican). Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Republican) was also scheduled to be there, but couldn’t make it.

The keynote speaker was Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the main opposition coalition which includes the MEK. Rajavi, Totten says, is Iran’s Daenerys Targaryen, an exiled woman who wishes to overthrow an illegitimate government by rallying forces around her from abroad.

The account in World Affairs goes on to point out the Iranian opposition's 10-point political platform for a future Iran which includes:

1.                  A republic based on universal suffrage.

2.                  Individual freedoms, including free expression and a free press.

3.                  The abolition of the death penalty.

4.                  Separation of mosque and state.

5.                  Gender equality.

6.                  The rule of law.

7.                  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

8.                  Private property and a market economy.

9.                  A foreign policy based on peaceful coexistence.

10.              A non-nuclear Iran.

Anniversary of Khomeini’s fatwa which led to 1988 massacre in Iran

NCRI - In the summer of 1988, the Iranian regime summarily and extra-judicially executed tens of thousands of political prisoners held in jails across Iran. This massacre was carried out on the basis of a fatwa by the regime’s then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini.

There are strong indications that Khomeini’s fatwa, which led to the massacre of some 30,000 political prisoners in Iran, was issued on July 26, 1988.

The Iranian regime has never acknowledged these executions, or provided any information as to how many prisoners were killed.

The majority of those executed were either serving prison sentences for their political activities or had already finished their sentences but were still kept in prison.

Some of them had previously been imprisoned and released, but were again arrested and executed during the massacre.

The wave of massacre of political prisoners began in late July and continued unabated for several months.

By the time it ended in the autumn of 1988, some 30,000 political prisoners, the overwhelming majority activists of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), were slaughtered.....http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/20768-anniversary-of-khomeini-s-fatwa-which-led-to-1988-massacre-in-iran

Maryam Rajavi strongly condemns the terrorist attack on a church in France and the barbaric murder of an elderly priest

The Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi strongly condemned the cowardly, terrorist attack on a church in northern France and the barbaric murder of its elderly priest. She described this heinous atrocity as being in diametric contrast to the teachings of all major religions and humane values.

Maryam Rajavi sent her condolences to the people, government and Church of France, reiterating that this atrocious crime is a reminder of the crimes of the clerical regime over the past 37 years against the people of Iran, their Christian and Sunni religious leaders and even the Shiite clergy who did not bow down to the Iranian regime.

She added: The people of Iran who have been engaged in a fierce battle with the Godfather of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) for the past 37 years, are united in the grief of and feel enormous solidarity with the people of France in these truly painful moments.......http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/terrorism-fundamentalism/20769-maryam-rajavi-strongly-condemns-the-terrorist-attack-on-a-church-in-france-and-the-barbaric-murder-of-an-elderly-priest