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Iranian political prisoners call for boycott of parliamentary election

Reporting by PMOI/MEK

Iran, February 20, 2020—As the Iranian regime tries to rally all its resources, officials, and media to create the impression of a high voter turnout in the upcoming parliamentary elections, the Iranian people of all walks of life continue to express their intention to boycott the elections. As has been shown time and again in the past couple of years, the real vote of the people is regime change, which is why they reject the regime’s sham elections and all its candidates.

In this regard, Iranian political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have issued open letters in which they have called for the overthrow of the regime and the boycott of the elections. The letters of Assadi and Fouladvand are the latest in a series of calls by political prisoners who, despite the great risks to their lives, are making their voices and by extension, the voices of their people heard.

Majid Assadi: our vote is the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime

“Forty years ago, as the people’s revolution was on the verge of being robbed and the stage was being set to impose the rule of the mullahs on the people of Iran, [distinguished Iranian cleric Mahmoud] Taleghani said, ‘Religious dictatorship is the worst kind of dictatorship,’” Majid Assadi wrote in his letter.

“A while later, the presidential elections of 1980 proved the truthfulness of those warnings. The supreme leader ordered the disqualification of Massoud Rajavi from the elections. The following parliamentary elections ended with the widespread purge of many candidates. This was the process that has been ongoing in the regime, even after all those who oppose the rule of the mullahs were eliminated from Iran’s political scene in 1981,” Assadi continued, reiterating historical cases that have proven elections have no credibility in Iran.

Elsewhere in his letter, Assadi concludes, “Therefore, in this regime, the vote of the people has no meaning, and it is the whims of the supreme leader that make decisions. The supreme leader takes advantage of the people’s religion and beliefs to justify his rule and the farce of the elections is meant to extend his rule at the expense of the people. Therefore, in this regime, neither reformists nor principalists, and neither the green [a reference to the so-called reformist movement of 2009] nor the purple [a reference to regime president Hassan Rouhani] represent the Iranian society and do not respond to the demands of any class or segment of the society.

“The real measure is the right to national sovereignty. The real measure is the cries of the rebellious generation who during the 2018 and 2019 uprisings chanted, ‘Death to the tyrant, be he the Shah or the supreme leader’ and ‘death to the rule of the mullahs’ in the cities of our country and shook the foundations of this regime. If the real value of every choice is the price that we are willing to pay for that choice, then the resistance units are the vanguard of Iran’s political scene. Their choices are keeping alive the memories of dozens of martyrs in the 2018 uprisings and more than 1,500 martyrs in the 2019 uprising.

“Indeed, the real vote of our generation and our rebellious youth is the overthrow of the mullahs’ regime and the establishment of freedom, democracy, national sovereignty.”

Majid Assadi, who is currently in Gohardasht (Raja’i Shahr) prison, Karaj, is a graduate from Alameh Tabatabaei University. He was arrested in 2017 in his home on charges of “propaganda and conspiracy against the establishment.” He was sentenced to six years in prison and two years in exile. He also spent four years in prison between 2011 and 2015. During his incarceration, Assadi has been subjected to severe torture.

Political prisoner Majid Asadi

Iranian political prisoner Majid Asadi

 

Abolghassem Fouladvand: Participating in the elections justifies the regime’s crimes

“I see it my duty to follow the call of [Maryam Rajavi] the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),” Iranian political prisoner Abolghassem Fouladvand, who is also incarcerated in Gohardasht prison, wrote in his letter. “The uprisings of 2018 and 2019 proved that we can overthrow the criminal rule of the mullahs and their repressive arm, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), because the people of Iran are supported by the resistance units.”

In his letter, Fouladvand reminded the words of Iranian resistance leader Massoud Rajavi, who said that the regime will continue its repression until the last day of its rule, even though with every martyr that falls to the ground, the foundations of the mullahs’ regime become increasingly shakier.

“Our national duty and our duty to the 1,500 martyrs who lost their lives in the November uprisings is to boycott the sham parliamentary elections and take another important step toward overthrowing the most criminal regime. By boycotting the elections, we will also push the international community to support the Iranian resistance and people,” Fouladvand wrote.

“Any person who takes part in this sham elections is worse than those who directly killed our youth. The candidates and the voters are directly justifying the crimes of this regime and will be responsible for the death of our martyrs and the suffering of our prisoners,” Fouladvand concluded.

Abolghassem Fouladvand was arrested by Iranian security forces in June 2013 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of “waging war against god and supporting the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).” He is currently in Gohardasht (Raja’i Shahr) prison.

Political prisoner Abolghassem Fouladvand

Iranian political prisoner Abolghassem Fouladvand

 

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