Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, May 26, 2021—Anti-regime campaigns calling for regime change continues across Iran. This is while in coming weeks due to the upcoming sham presidential elections the regime has intensified repression. On walls of various cities, young and courageous Iranians are writing slogans such as “My vote is regime change, yes to a democratic republic,” “Under mullahs’ regime there is no such thing as an ‘election’,” “A Free vote for every Iranian is a No to the mullahs’ regime and yes to freedom and democracy,” and “Down with Khamenei.”
These activities are carried out by the internal network of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), known as the Resistance Units. They held these campaigns in cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Karaj, Anzali, Semnan, Shahsavar, Jahrom, Ilam, Najafabad, Kermanshah, Nishabur, Lahijan, Aligoudarz, Qom, Behbahan, Arak, and Shahr Quds.
In major cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad, the Resistance Units installed, posters of the Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi and the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Maryam Rajavi with the slogans “A strong no to the religious dictatorship, yes to a democratic republic,” “Down with Khamenei, hail to Rajavi” and “Iranian people’s vote is regime change.”
This is while the MEK is the most forbidden name in Iran. Supporting the MEK is heavily punished. On May 24, the NCRI said in a statement that the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) has recently informed the family of political prisoner Mehran Gharabaghi in Behbahan that he had been sentenced to death.
It demanded that Mehran’s family pressure him to recant, collaborate with the MOIS, and denounce the MEK. This, they said, must happen before a formal court ruling is issued. Mehran Gharabaghi, 29, a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, was arrested on January 18, 2020, along with a friend, Majid Khademi, 29, and transferred to Behbahan Prison after a month-long interrogation.
In weeks of elections, the regime fears social protests, and therefore its tries to impose an atmosphere of repression and fear. Especially as in the current circumstances people have widely called to boycott the upcoming elections which lacks legitimacy. The regime carried out a bloody crackdown on three major anti-regime protests in Iran. Only in November 2019, more than 1500 people were gunned down in the street by security forces.
Therefore, the continued activities of the MEK inside Iran and the call for the boycott of the so-called elections is a boost of hope for millions of Iranians who desire regime change.
Also, on May 24, the Iranian Resistance also commemorated the executed MEK founders Mohammad Hanif Nejad, Saeid Mohsen, and Ali Asghar Badizadegan on May 25, 1972, by the Shah dictatorship.
In 1971, the Savak arrested and incarcerated more than 80 percent of MEK’s members, including all of its leaders. This was a very hard strike against the nascent organization, but it also leads to the recognition and popularity of the MEK among the Iranian people. The defenses of the MEK’s leaders in the Shah’s military courts, in which they defied the regime’s power and exposed its corruption, became especially popular among the Iranian masses, who were directly feeling the oppression of the Shah regime in their daily lives.
The stories of the MEK’s resistance in Shah’s prisons and courts circulated among Iranians by word of mouth, and soon the organization managed to garner a solid and widespread base of support in the Iranian society, among all walks of life.
Hoping to defuse the growing threat of the MEK for its regime, the Savak proposed to Mohammad Hanifnejad, who had been sentenced to death, to publicly repent his struggle against the regime to avoid execution. Hanifnejad and the other leaders of the MEK refused to turn their back on their ideals and their dreams for freedom and democracy, for which they made the ultimate sacrifice.
