The Persian Year 1401 has ended. The year was marked by the Iranian people’s nationwide uprising and their quest for freedom, but also the regime’s growing international isolation.
While dragging its feet with the negotiations with world powers to restore the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the clerical regime counted on Russia and China to help it overcome its international isolation. Tehran was quick to back Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and later supply it with drones. But this decision further put the regime at odds with world powers and resulted in more sanctions. And this was one of many failures for Tehran.
In March 2022, the clerical regime signed a prisoner-swap deal with Belgium to release the Iranian diplomat-terrorist Assadollah Assadi, who tried to bomb the annual “Free Iran Summit” held by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in July 2018 in Paris.
Thanks to the relentless political and legal campaign of the Iranian Resistance, the regime’s secret plan to send Assadi back to Tehran was thwarted. In March 2023, the Belgian Constitutional Court, after confirming the law on the exchange of prisoners approved by the Belgian Parliament, granted the Iranian Resistance the opportunity to present their case once again.
Another defeat for the regime and a landmark victory for the Iranian people and their Resistance happened on July 14, 2022, when a court in Stockholm condemned Hamid Noury, an ex-prison official, to life imprisonment for his role in the 1988 massacre of over 30,000 political prisoners.
Noury was arrested upon landing in Sweden in the context of the “universal jurisdiction.” He was convicted after over 90 court sessions, during which the survivors of the 1988 massacre testified against him and recounted harrowing accounts of what they witnessed prior, during, and after the mass killings. Noury’s conviction set a precedent for holding accountable the main perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, such as the regime president Ebrahim Raisi. A lawsuit was filed in the United States by several former political prisoners and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). It is worth noting that most of the victims of the 1988 mass killings were MEK supporters.
While Tehran was reeling from the heavy blows it received from the Iranian Resistance and the increasing international isolation, it was caught off-guard by a nationwide uprising that began in September. The protests continued despite the regime’s brutal crackdown. At the same time, MEK Resistance Units kept the flame of the revolution alive by organizing protests and anti-regime activities across Iran.
Through a formidable display of national unity and unwavering resolve, the Iranian people’s uprising and the Iranian Resistance’s campaigns abroad have further isolated the regime and inspired a global call to action for human rights and democracy in Iran.
The UN Human Rights Council convened an emergency session to address the regime’s brutal response to the recent uprising. A fact-finding mission has been established to investigate the crimes committed by the regime. The mission will be conducted at an international level.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council expelled the mullahs’ dictatorship from its Commission on the Status of Women. This decision was made in light of the oppression and brutal treatment of women and girls in Iran.
After decades of appeasement, the tide began to turn against the regime in the European countries. The European Parliament and several other parliaments in the European Union called for the terrorist designation of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
The Iranian Resistance delivered several other blows to the regime since the uprising began. This includes an international conference on March 4 in Belgium, the bi-partisan “Free Iran Summit” in Washington, D.C., on March 11, and a luncheon in the U.S. Senate attended by renowned figures from both sides of the aisle.
Moreover, the majority of the United States House of Representatives has cosponsored Resolution 100, representing a significant achievement for the Iranian people’s uprising and Resistance. In this resolution, the elected representatives of the American people make it clear that they stand with the Iranian people, who are fighting for their freedom against oppression. It acknowledges the Iranian people’s right to establish a free, democratic, and non-nuclear republic based on the separation of religion and state.
The efforts of the Iranian people and their resistance movement in 1401 brought the regime closer than ever to its downfall. The year 1402 will be marked by more victories for the people and defeat for the regime.
