U.S. Congress Sponsors Resolution Seeking Justice for MEK Members Massacred by Iran Regime in 1988

Last year, the Iranian Resistance, which includes the MEK as its largest group, revealed the names of 59 current Regime officials who were involved in the massacre of the MEK, including “Justice” Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi. Head of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, and Ebrahim Raisi, a member of the Assembly of Experts and 2017 presidential candidate.

Some of the co-sponsors include:

• Michael McCaul (Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee)

• Ed Royce (Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee)

• Eliot Engel (ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee)

• Pete Sessions (the Chair of House Rules Committee)

• Barbara Comstock

• Tom MacClintock

• Bill Keating

• Brad Sherman

• Donald Young

• Judy Chu

Massacre of MEK

Then-Supreme Leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini ordered a Fatwa to slaughter MEK members and supporters, even if they had already been sentenced to jail for their beliefs or already served their sentence in full.

The MEK supporters were put through a mock trial which lasted all of five minutes, where they were asked ‘What is your political affiliation?’ before being sentenced to death. They were then buried in secret mass graves and their families were given no information on them.

This move was criticised by then-heir to the supreme leader Hossein Ali Montazeri, who wanted the Death Commissions against executing pregnant women as it violated Shiite law and called the massacre "the greatest crime that the Islamic Republic of Iran has committed and the history will condemn us".

He was then stripped of his power and sentenced to house arrest until his death in 2009. His comments came to light last year, after his son, Ahmad, released the audio of the conversation online. Ahmad was then sentenced to 21 years in prison.

In February, a political science professor at Tehran State University, who supported President Rouhani admitted to the massacre on his website.

This time the West ought to back Iranians who seek regime change

As the international community watched to see who would be pulled out of the ballot box in Iran’s Presidential election last month, many Iranians refused to participate in the process, seeing no real prospect for change in their country and not wanting to encourage the perception of legitimacy for the existing government.

Despite state media propaganda of a high turnout (which the regime has claimed at each of its sham polls), this time the online social sphere was full of images of empty voting stations and posters on walls calling for a boycott. The organized boycott was led by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), the principle opposition group to the Ayatollahs’ regime.

Rouhani’s contender was Ebrahim Raisi, another member of this panel. Thus the choice for Iranians was between a faction that directly participated in notorious political killings and a faction that merely stood idly by, as well as justifying the killings after the fact. This barely significant difference was reflected in the slogans disseminated by the PMOI in the run-up to the election. Banners and flyers which sprung up throughout the country dismissed Raisi as a “murderer” and Rouhani as an “imposter.” Some of these accompany pictures of PMOI leader Maryam Rajavi, and the messages went on to explicitly advocate regime change instead of acceptance of the extremely limited alternatives that are imposed upon the people.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST SUPPORT MEK/PMOI IN THE HEART OF THE IRANIAN RESISTANCE

INU - There are many around the world who are pondering what the correct diplomatic response to the Iranian Regime should be and even those at those in charge of foreign policy aren’t entirely sure, given Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson’s recent comment that the US’s Iran policy is “under development.”However, Iran has an organised democratic resistance (MEK) which has been around for nearly 40 years, despite constant attempts to exterminate them by the Regime.

Katiraie wrote: “Since June 20, 1981 Iranian regime has executed over 120000, mostly members and supporters of the MEK. Only in summer of 1988 over 30000 political prisoners, the majority of them from the MEK, were massacred. During this massacre the death committee was going to the prisons and asking the prisoners if they are still supporting the MEK, and if the answer was yes, they would immediately be hanged.”