On Sunday, May 10, supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, staged a despicable display in the city of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany, parading with banners and t-shirts bearing the emblem of the Shah’s notorious secret police, the SAVAK. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) strongly condemns this criminal act, which shamelessly endorses the historic torture of Iranian citizens.
Eighty years after World War II, displaying Nazi symbols such as the swastika is a recognized crime in Germany; similarly, parading the SAVAK emblem must be recognized as complicity in and defense of atrocities.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) representation in Germany has formally submitted its strongest protests regarding this criminal act to the German police, the Interior Ministry, and the Foreign Ministry. This act is not isolated and comes against the backdrop of other similar activities by Pahlavi’s entourage and closest advisors.
Founded in 1957, SAVAK was the Shah’s primary tool for spying on, arresting, and torturing dissidents, particularly targeting PMOI members. Amnesty International has extensively documented its horrific methods, including whipping with cables, beatings, electric shocks, pulling out nails, and forcing political prisoners onto hot metal plates and electric stoves, as well as using the infamous “Apollo” torture device. On April 19, 1975, SAVAK executioners notoriously gunned down handcuffed and blindfolded political prisoners in the hills of Evin Prison.
The promotion of SAVAK is not an isolated incident. During the 2022 uprising, Pahlavi proponents held placards of Parviz Sabeti, a top SAVAK official, explicitly promising to murder their opponents.
Currently facing trial in the United States, Sabeti personally controlled these torture teams. PMOI member and former political prisoner Abolghassem Rezai testified that Sabeti directly ordered the brutal torture of his 19-year-old brother, Mehdi, who was burned with an electric iron to break his spirit. Bahman Naderipour, an Evin prison guard under the Shah, admitted Sabeti knowingly approved operations to murder PMOI members inside the prison.
In tandem with the glorification of SAVAK and its crimes, the supporters of Pahlavi are directly calling for the death of supporters of the PMOI.
This top-down promotion of royalist fascism is directly fueled by Pahlavi’s closest advisors.
Despite cultivating a “democratic” image for years, Pahlavi’s remarks in Sweden in April 2026 stripped away that illusion. On April 12, in an interview on the Swedish state television program Agenda, he explicitly stated, “Regarding my family background, I am proud of my heritage and I support their actions.” At an April 13 press conference in Stockholm, he evaded accountability for his father’s wrongdoings, dismissing the inquiries as an obsession with decades-old events. He demonstrated unmistakably that his movement is based on an admiration for political repression and rule from above.
The clerical regime has never regarded the remnants of the Shah’s regime as a genuine threat. In fact, regime theorists argue that promoting this fabricated alternative actively helps sustain the mullahs’ rule. Driven by media and digital engineering, falsehoods, and fabricated astronomical figures, this project occasionally fools Western circles.
These theatrical displays serve only to prolong the life of the current regime and create obstacles to its overthrow. The actions of the Shah’s remnants have deadly consequences. During the 2022 and 2026 nationwide uprisings, their actions intentionally caused division within the ranks of the people, paving the way for the large-scale killings of protesters that took place last January. Pahlavi takes pride in his father’s record, and his so-called Emergency Phase plan is nothing more than a reconstruction of his father’s fascist dictatorship.
The hysterical actions of royalist fascism are simply the flip side of the ruling religious fascism and Khomeini’s thugs currently brutalizing Iran. No honorable Iranian accepts this dark stain, and the Iranian people will absolutely not trade one dictator for another.
This reality highlights the importance of having a well-defined platform. A genuine opposition cannot advocate for freedom while glorifying hereditary power and wearing the emblem of a torturous secret police. In a future, free Iran with an independent judiciary, SAVAK torturers will face justice and answer for their crimes. The only real solution for Iran is a democratic republic that permanently rejects the tyranny of both the Shah and the mullahs.