Reporting by PMOI/MEK
Iran, August 22, 2020—On Friday, the U.S. Department of State announced visa restrictions for 14 Iranian individuals for their involvement in gross violations of human rights on behalf of the Iranian regime. The group included 13 officials involved in “a brutal and intricately planned assassination carried out in Switzerland in 1990 as part of Iran’s ongoing worldwide terrorism campaign,” according to a statement on the State Department’s website. “These 13 assassins, who posed as Iranian diplomats, were acting under the highest orders of their government to silence opposition and show that no one is safe from the Iranian regime, no matter where they live. The United States will not stand for the Iranian regime silencing its critics through violence and terror,” the statement reads in part.
These 13 terrorist-diplomats were responsible for the assassination of Dr. Kazem Rajavi, the representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Switzerland, on April 24, 1990, near his home in Geneva. Kazem Rajavi a renowned jurist and human rights activist, and the brother of Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi. He was had become known as the voice of human rights in Iran, loved by the people and hated by the mullahs for exposing the regime’s crimes against humanity, especially against political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
Previous investigations by Swiss authorities revealed the 13 men were involved in preparing and perpetrating the murder. They were carrying service passports stamped “on mission.”
“The U.S. will not stand for the Iranian regime’s terrorism at home and abroad,” Morgan Ortagus, the spokesperson for the State Department, said in a tweet.
Today @SecPompeo announced designations including 13 operatives involved in the brutal 1990 assassination carried out in Switzerland on behalf of the Iranian Regime. The U.S. will not stand for the Iranian regime’s terrorism at home and abroad. https://t.co/BcISbYVeAN
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) August 21, 2020
Kelly Craft, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, described the Iranian regime as the number one state-sponsor of terror. “We must hold those who spread terror and violence accountable for their actions.”
Today @StateDept announced visa restrictions on 14 Iranians for violating human rights on behalf of the Iranian regime, the world’s #1 state sponsor of terror. We must hold those who spread terror and violence accountable for their actions.
— Ambassador Kelly Craft (@USAmbUN) August 21, 2020
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI, welcomed the designation of 13 assassins of Dr. Kazem Rajavi and described it as an essential and effective step to combat terrorism and to safeguard the security of European countries.
The @StateDept blacklisting of 13 murderers of Prof. #KazemRajavi, the great martyr for #HumanRights, is an essential and effective step in the fight against #terrorism, contributing to European countries’ security.
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 21, 2020
Mrs. Rajavi reiterated that the designation should be complemented by blacklisting the orchestrators of the crime, which include regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei; then-ministers of Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Ali Fallahian and Ali Akbar Velayati, and Hassan Rouhani, the incumbent secretary of the Supreme Security Council.
Prosecution, punishment, and blacklisting of the murderers of Prof. Rajavi and the clerical regime’s leaders has been postponed for years by European countries, emboldening the regime to resort to further bloodshed and terrorism in Europe. #Iran
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 21, 2020
The designation, prosecution, and punishment of the assassins of Dr. Rajavi and other Iranian regime’s terrorists and leaders have been delayed by the European countries for many years, which has only emboldened the regime in shedding blood and engaging in terrorism in Europe, the NCRI President-elect underscored in a statement.
Since the assassination of Dr. Rajavi, his case has remained unsolved and has been subject to much politicization. In 1993, a political deal facilitated two of the arrested killers in France to escape justice.
