Analysis by PMOI/MEK
Iran, June 23, 2021—The network of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) commemorated across Iran the 40th anniversary of the beginning of resistance against the Iranian regime on June 20, 1981.
The MEK’s internal network, known as the Resistance Units, organized a vast campaign across the country hailing the June 20 anniversary which is also known as the day of martyrs and political prisoners.
Following the 1979 revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini’s regime continued to sink the country into a merciless religious dictatorship that spared neither women, nor students, nor minorities. In the same period, Khomeini’s henchmen murdered 70 members and supporters of the MEK during peaceful rallies, meetings, and protests.
On June 20, 1981, the MEK tested the democratic environment a final time by launching a demonstration to remind the Khomeini regime of its responsibilities to respect the fundamental freedoms of the Iranian people. In Tehran, more than 500,000 people attended the demonstration, which hadn’t been publicly declared in advance.
In response, Khomeini ordered the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), his personal army, to open fire on the unarmed and peaceful protesters.
Therefore, June 20 is known in Iran as a turning point of the Iranian people’s struggle for freedom that proved the regime is unable to reform and needs to be overthrown.
On June 20, 2021, in a large online event held in Ashraf 3, MEK’s headquarters in Albania, and many other locations across the world, Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said, “June 20 is the momentous day of holding fast to the historical red lines that set apart freedom from despotism and dictatorship, brightening and illuminating our 40-year history. Forty years of steadfast perseverance despite repression, massacre, and demonization; Forty years of Resistance to establish and advance the democratic alternative; Forty years of relentless struggle while constantly keeping aloft the flag of regime change and the overthrow of religious fascism.”
In recent days, in honor of MEK’s struggle for freedom, the Resistance Units installed anti-regime banners and slogans in over hundred areas in many cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz, Qom, Mashhad, Kermanshah, Yazd, Shahriar, Dehdasht, Khorramabad, Qazvin, Semnan, Karaj, Najafabad, Rasht, Behbahan, Saveh, Esfarayen, Ahvaz, Shushtar, Behbahan, Saravan, Chalus, and Babol.
Their slogans read, “On June 20 we preserved the dignity of resistance against the mullahs,” “Our vote is regime change, yes to a democratic republic,” and “Overthrowing of the regime needs an organized resistance.”
In the heart of Tehran, the Resistance Units installed a huge banner of the Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi on a bridge that read, “Overthrowing of the regime needs an organized resistance.”
Also, in major cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Mashhad, the Resistance Units installed posters of Maryam Rajavi with the slogan, “Democracy and freedom with Maryam Rajavi.”
These activities were carried out while the regime’s new president, Ebrahim Raisi, is notoriously renowned for his role in the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, most of whom were members and supporters of the MEK.
Back in 2009, as the first deputy of the judiciary, Raisi insisted on the crackdown on opposition members and said, “Since the MEK is an organized group and its leadership is still alive, anybody with any links to the MEK is considered mohareb (enemy of God) and should be executed.”
Also, with regard to Raisi’s presidency, Maryam Rajavi emphasized, “Installing a mass murderer and a criminal against humanity as the regime’s president, is a sign of desperation that the regime has reached the end of the line and faces overthrow. Ebrahim Raisi must be brought to justice in an international tribunal. This is the Iranian people’s demand.”
