The Iranian regime’s security forces have committed another cold-blooded murder, gunning down Ali Zamani in the village of Haft Cheshmeh, Ilam province. The unprovoked attack exposes the unchanging, brutal nature of the theocracy. The regime’s forces had originally descended on the village to arrest Ali’s brother, Mohsen. When Mohsen resisted the unlawful arrest, he was shot and wounded but managed to escape. In a vicious act of collective punishment, the forces then turned their fire on Ali, killing him on the spot. This heinous crime immediately sparked outrage among the local residents, who rose up in protest against the regime’s savagery.
This was not a random act of violence. It was the latest chapter in the regime’s long-standing vendetta against the Zamani family, targeted for their affiliation with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). Ali and Mohsen are the cousins of the celebrated PMOI martyr, Hojat Zamani, whose story is a testament to the spirit of Iranian resistance. On February 7, 2006, Hojat Zamani was executed in Gohardasht prison after being accused of aiding the PMOI. According to a statement by Amnesty International issued just days later, he had been severely tortured throughout his detention following his forcible return from Turkey in November 2003.
Hojat Zamani faced his executioners with extraordinary courage. When presented with his death sentence on April 7, 2005, he defiantly wrote beneath the court’s ruling, “I have no objection to the issued verdict.” His murder was just one in a series of attacks aimed at annihilating his family. Hojat was the third brother from the renowned Zamani family to be martyred by the regime. His older brother, PMOI member Khazal Zamani, was killed in 1999. His other brother, PMOI member Fallah Zamani, was martyred in March 2001 in Haft Cheshmeh. Their uncle, Abdollah Naderi, was tortured to death by the regime’s henchmen in 1989.
The systematic extermination campaign against the Zamani family over multiple decades reveals the regime’s deepest fear: the unwavering support for the PMOI among the Iranian people. The murder of Ali Zamani is a desperate act by a cornered and insecure dictatorship, led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, that sees its own demise in the courage of families like the Zamanis. Instead of instilling fear, it is fueling the flames of popular dissent and strengthening the people’s resolve to achieve a free and democratic Iran.