Saturday, March 16, 2019

Iran Newsletter March 15, 2019 - Protests Continue in Iran












Iran, March 15, 2019


Iran Newsletter March 15, 2019

Protests Continue in Iran


On Friday, March 15, 2019, contracting workers in the 12th phase of the South Pars Gas Field (a super-giant gas field located in the Persian Gulf between Kangan and Assaluyeh), who are working at the 9th refinery, continued their strike and gathering. These workers, whose number was about 100 person, have not received the salaries of February, Persian New Year Compensation.

Committee of Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran supported workers strikes by calling on the UNSG

In a statement issued on the critical situation of varied sectors of the Iranian people, the CASDI responded to numerous acts of repressions and arrests adding: “Even as the regime violates the most basic rights of Iranian citizens, the people assert their right to protest and strike. The living conditions of the various strata, including workers, farmers and teachers, are now very hard, and millions are below the poverty line, on March12, 2019.

The people’s uprising and the political situation are on the verge of breakthroughs, and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and their resistance units are a factor sustaining the protests and the desire of the Iranian people to change the dictatorship.

It partially reads : “...Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran supports the resistance of the Iranian people who seek to change this dictatorship. We declare solidarity with the Iranian workers, students and teachers. We urge public authorities, human rights defenders, labor federations and trade unions to condemn the mullahs’ regime which denies the rights of Iranian citizens. We call on them to help the people of Iran in all possible ways in their claim for all their democratic and human rights.” 
The Association in Defense of Freedom in Iran (ADFI) uses Twitter to keep humanitarian communities up to date about the Iranians strikes-related news and
activities. You can check daily on our website to read new events in Iran.




Thursday, March 14, 2019

Iran News Letter - 13 March 2019 - People from various branches protesting across Iran










Iran, March 13, 2019

Tuesday became yet another day that people from all walks of life across Iran were expressing their demands in increasing protests.

Many workers in different sectors of the country’s economy are protesting long delays in receiving their paycheck. All the while, regime officials and their children are enriching themselves through embezzlement and corruption. Clients of the Caspian credit firm, known to be closely associated to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), rallied outside the offices of the Judiciary in Tehran, demanding
their stolen savings returned. Caspian is one of several state-backed credit institutions that have been at the heart of a government-run Ponzi scheme that has robbed billions of dollars out of the pockets of ordinary Iranians.

In Ahvaz, southwest Iran, a group of municipality workers rallied outside the town hall’s main entrance protesting their paychecks being delayed for the past six months.

In the city of Asaluyeh, southern Iran, employees of phase 12 in the South Pars gas field projects continued their strike for not receiving their paychecks for the past two months and pensions for the past two years.

In reports from Monday, students of the Khaje Nasiredeen University of Tehran held a rally on campus protesting  officials’ neglect and refusal to respect their rights.

“We the students of Khaje Nasiredeen University announce today that enough is enough and neglect must come to an end. The students’ basic rights must be respected and we demand all our rights to be acknowledged,” their statement read in part.

The students have been complaining about the bad conditions of the university's facilities. Similar protests have taken place at universities in other cities, including Razi University in Kermanshah and the Science University of Mazandaran.

Iran is ruled by a dictatorship that spends all its wealth on terrorism and a domestic crackdown machine. The fact is that Iran is ruled by a corrupt government that has looted Iranian people’s property to extend its rule.

Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Sentenced To 38 Years In Jail, Lashes - Husband | Reuters-Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, her husband Reza Khandan wrote in a post on Facebook on Monday, without specifying what charges she faced. Sotoudeh's lawyer, Payam Derafshan, told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) in December that Sotoudeh - arrested last June - had been charged with spreading  information against the state, insulting Iran's Supreme Leader and spying.

The Association in Defense of Freedom in Iran (ADFI) uses Twitter to keep humanitarian communities up to date about the Iranians strikes-related news and activities. You can check daily on our website to read new events in Iran.





Monday, March 11, 2019

Iran: Protest reports from Isfahan, Tehran and other cities















Iran: Protest reports from Isfahan, Tehran and other cities

Iran, March 11, 2019

Following a week of a variety of protests reported from dozens of cities across the country,
especially a three-day nationwide teachers strike, Sunday witnessed more such rallies in a number of major Iranian cities.

A large number of retired steel mill workers rallied in Isfahan, central Iran,
protesting not receiving their insurance pensions and New Year bonuses from
March 2018. Gathering outside the Isfahan Province governor’s office, a large
number of state police and plainclothes agents were also dispatched to the
scene to create a climate of fear and intimidate the protesters.

In Ahvaz, southwest Iran, part-time drivers of the National Drilling Company
rallied outside the company office, protesting a six-month delay in their
paychecks.

In the city of Shush, also in southwest Iran, employees of the renowned
“Choghazanbeel” heritage site protested not receiving their paychecks for the past four months and overtime pay for the past seven months.

In Tehran, the country’s capital, protesters were seen rallying outside the Ministry of Finance and Assets, demanding officials to force the company into keeping its word and delivering the cars that these individuals had pre-purchased.

In Karaj, west of Tehran, the country’s capital, personnel of the Khomeini Hospital held a gathering protesting delayed paychecks. They were heard chanting, “Governor Shahbazi, get off your chair and start thinking about us.”

Employees of the Azerbaijan Rail Company in the city of Marand, northwest Iran, went on strike, protesting the delay of their paychecks during the last few months.

In Ajabsheer, also in northwest Iran, employees of the Azerbaijan Rail Company were on strike, protesting delayed paychecks and demanding answers from company officials.

In Bandar Abbas, a major port city in southern Iran, employees of the local rail company also went on strike, protesting paychecks being delayed for the past few months. These protesting rail workers have pledged to continue their strike until their paychecks are fully provided.

A group of farmers from the city of Shadegan, southwest Iran, held a gathering protesting the intervention of a number of state institutions, including the village trade entity, in the election of the city’s Farmers Guild Association. This rally was held in Ahvaz, outside the Khuzestan Province
governor’s office.

The Association in Defense of Freedom in Iran (ADFI) uses Twitter to keep humanitarian communities up to date about the Iranians strikes-related news and
activities. (@A_D_F_I)

You can check daily on our website to read new events in Iran.

Association in Defense of Freedom in Iran



Saturday, March 9, 2019

THE AYATOLLAH SYSTEM OF IRAN – A THEOCRACY GONE ROGUE
















THE AYATOLLAH SYSTEM OF IRAN –

A THEOCRACY GONE ROGUE 


Stes de Necker




Establishment of the Ayatollah Theocracy

The current Iranian Theocracy or so-called “Khomeinism” is the founding ideology of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Impact of the religious and political ideas of the leader of the 1979 Iranian RevolutionGrand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, includes replacing Iran's millennia-old monarchy with a theocracy.

Khomeini declared Islamic jurists the true holders of not only religious authority but political authority, who must be obeyed as "an expression of obedience to God", and whose rule has "precedence over all secondary ordinances [in Islam] such as prayerfasting, and pilgrimage."

Since the death of Khomeini, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran have been largely defined by attempts to remain loyal and faithful to his ideology.  

In the West however Khomeini has become the “virtual face of Islam" who inculcated Western fear and distrust towards Islam.

As Supreme Leader of Iran (also called the Supreme Leadership Authority), the Ayatollah is the head of state as well as the ultimate political and religious authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The armed forcesjudiciarystate television, and other key government organizations are subject to the Supreme Leader. The current long-time officeholder, Ali Khamenei, has been issuing decrees and making the final decisions on economy, environment, foreign policy, education, national planning, and everything else in Iran.

The Supreme Leader directly chooses the ministers of Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs, as well as certain other ministers, such as the Science Minister.

Iran's regional policy is directly controlled by the office of the Supreme Leader with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' tasks limited to protocol and ceremonial occasions.

All of Iran's ambassadors to Arab countries are chosen by the Quds Corps, which directly reports to him.

In its history, Iran only had two Supreme Leaders: Ruhollah Khomeini, who held the position from 1979 until his death in 1989, and the current Ali Khamenei, who is holding the position since Khomeini's death.

In March 1979, shortly after Ruhollah Khomeini’s return from exile and the overthrow of Iran's monarchy, a national referendum was held throughout Iran with the question "Islamic Republic, yes or no?" 98% of those voting voted "yes".

Following this landslide victory, the constitution of Iran of 1906 was declared invalid and a new constitution for an Islamic state was created and ratified by referendum during the first week of December in 1979.

The new constitution was largely based on the philosophy of Khomeini as presented in his work “Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist” In this document Khomeini argued that government must be run in accordance with traditional Islamic sharia, and for this to happen a leading Islamic jurist (faqih) must provide political "guardianship" over the people.

The new Constitution stressed the importance of the clergy in government, with Article 4 stating that : “all civil, criminal, financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and all other statutes and regulations (must) be keeping with Islamic measures;…the Islamic legal scholars of the watch council (shura yi nigahban) will keep watch over this.”

As the constitution of the Islamic Republic states, it “intends to establish an ideal and model society on the basis of Islamic norms”.

The Constitution provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of the Revolution at home and abroad. In particular, in the development of international relations, the Constitution will strive with other Islamic and popular movements to prepare the way for the formation of a single world community.    

Maryam Rajavi (President elect of the NCRI) has maintained on many occasions that terrorism is a key instrument of advancing the regime’s foreign policy; the two cannot be separated.

In 1970 Khomeini broke from the traditional form of Islamic Governance and developed a new approach to state rule; A revolutionary change in Shia Islam proclaiming that a monarchy was inherently unjust, and that religious legal scholars should not just become involved in politics but rule.

Ayatollah Khomeini was a senior Islamic jurist cleric of Shia (Twelvers) Islam. Shia theology holds that Wilayah or Islamic leadership belongs to divinely-appointed line of Shia Imams descended from the Prophet Muhammad, the last of which is the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi.

The God-given (Infallible) knowledge and sense of justice of the Imams makes them the definitive reference for (Shia) Muslims in every aspect of life, religious or otherwise, including governance.

However, the twelfth Imam disappeared into what Shia believe is "occultation" (ghaybat) in 939 AD and so has not been present to rule over the Muslim community for over thousand years.

In the absence of the Imam, Shia scholars/religious leaders accepted the idea of non-religious leaders (typically a sultan, king, or shah) managing political affairs, defending Shia Muslims and their territory, but no consensus emerged among the scholars as to how Muslims should relate to those leaders.

Shia jurists have tended to stick to one of three approaches to the state: cooperating with it, becoming active in politics to influence its policies, or most commonly, remaining aloof from it.

For some years, Khomeini opted for the second of these three, believing Islam should encompass all aspects of life, especially the state, and disapproving of Iran's weak Qajar dynasty, the western concepts and language borrowed in the 1906 constitution, and especially the authoritarian secularism and modernization of the Pahlavi Shahs.

Khomeini's decrees, sermons, interviews, and political pronouncements have outlasted his theological works because it is the former and not the latter that the Islamic Republic of Iran constantly “reprints."

Without the decrees, sermons, interviews, and political pronouncements there would have been no Khomeinism [ideology]; without Khomeinism there would have been no revolution; and without the Islamic Revolution, Khomeini would have been no more than a footnote to Iranian history.

Even the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 is seen as an attempt by Khomeini   to forge unity among his disparate followers, raise formidable (if not insurmountable) obstacles in the way of any future leader hoping to initiate any cooperation with the West, and most importantly to weed out his non- supporters from the his true supporters.  
 
Before the Revolution, Khomeini is on record that he expressed the following:

‘In an Islamic order, women enjoy the same rights as men - rights to education, work, ownership, to vote in elections and to be voted in. Women are free, just like men to decide their own destinies and activities.’

After the Revolution however, Khomeini made a 180˚ turnaround opposing women to serve in parliament, likening it to prostitution!

“We are against this prostitution. We object to such wrongdoings....... Is progress achieved by sending women to the majlis? Sending women to these centers is nothing but corruption.”

Under Ayatollah rule, woman’s rights in Iran have been severely restricted; from what they are allowed to wear in public to the jobs they hold, to not being allowed to watch men’s sports in stadiums.

Restrictions on women’s rights in Iran include amongst others:

Compulsory “veiling” (hijab) laws. 
The laws violate a woman’s right to equality, privacy, and freedoms of expression, belief and religion, and empower police and paramilitary forces to target women for harassment, violence and imprisonment.

Limited political involvement. 
Women’s rights activists who had campaigned for greater representation of women in the February 2016 parliamentary elections, were subjected by the Revolutionary Guards to lengthy, oppressive interrogations and threats of imprisonment on national security charges.

Pervasive discrimination. 
Women remain subject to discriminatory laws, including in gaining access to divorce, employment, equal inheritance, politics and in the area of criminal law.

Sexual and reproductive health. 
Several draft laws that remain pending would further erode a woman’s right to sexual and reproductive health. Women continue to have reduced access to affordable modern contraception as the authorities have failed to restore the budget of the state family planning program cut in 2012.

National family policies. 
In September 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued national family policies promoting early marriage, repeated childbearing, fewer divorces, and greater compliance to “traditional” roles of women as housewives and men as breadwinners. The policies raised concern that female victims of domestic violence may face further marginalization and increased pressure to “reconcile” with abusers and remain in abusive marital relationships.

Gender-based violence. 
Women and girls remain inadequately protected against sexual and other gender-based violence, including early and forced marriage. The authorities failed to adopt laws criminalizing these and other abuses, including marital rape and domestic violence.

Of all legal systems in the world today, Iran’s Sharia based laws are of the most intrusive and draconic laws on earth, especially against women.

According to the Sharia law:

·         A non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman is punishable by death.
·         A man can marry an infant girl and consummate the marriage when she is 9 years old.
·         Girls' clitoris should be cut (per Muhammad's words in Book 41, Kitab Al-Adab, Hadith 5251).
·         A woman can have 1 husband, but a man can have up to 4 wives; only Muhammad can have more.
·         A man can unilaterally divorce his wife but a woman needs her husband's consent to divorce.
·         A man can beat his wife for insubordination.
·         Testimonies of four male witnesses are required to prove rape against a woman.
·         A woman or girl who alleges rape without producing 4 male witnesses is guilty of adultery.
·         A woman or girl found guilty of adultery is punishable by death
·         A woman who has been raped cannot testify in court against her rapist(s).
·         A male convicted of rape can have his conviction dismissed by marrying his victim.
·         A woman's testimony in court, allowed only in property cases, carries half the weight of a man's.
·         A female heir inherits half of what a male heir inherits.
·         A divorced wife loses custody of all children over 6 years of age or when they exceed it.
·         A woman cannot drive a car, as it leads to fitnah (upheaval).
·         A woman cannot speak alone to a man who is not her husband or relative.

Nowhere in the world is so much cruelty and barbaric punishment dispensed in the name of religion as in Iran.

Crimes punishable by death in Iran include murder; rape; child molestation; sodomy; drug trafficking; armedrobbery; kidnapping; terrorism; burglary; pedophilia; homosexuality; incestuous relations; fornication; prohibited sexual relations; sexual misconduct; prostitution; plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime; political dissidence; sabotage; arson; rebellion; apostasy; adultery; blasphemy; extortion; counterfeiting; smuggling; speculating; disrupting production; recidivist consumption of alcohol; producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics or sanitary items that lead to death when consumed or used; producing and publishing pornography; using pornographic materials to solicit sex; recidivist false accusation of capital sexual offenses causing execution of an innocent person; recidivist theft; certain military offenses (e.g. cowardice, assisting the enemy); "waging war against God"; "spreading corruption on Earth"; espionage and treason.

This almost ‘sadistic-psychoses’, or fanaticism, is what we are witnessing daily taking place Iran.

This theocratic regime has become fanatics who thrive on terror and has survived primarily by instilling it in others. The religious dictatorship uses executions methods in the most barbaric way, such as public hangings and stoning alongside other cruel measures, including amputating hands and feet, or even gouging out eyes, to create a climate of fear and terror across the Iranian society, to utterly quell all voices of dissents who are the true subject of their wrath.

Since the beginning of the mullahs regime, their brain-washed subordinates – Hezbollah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Qods Force, the Basij militia, and its notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) - have slaughtered countless numbers of innocent people under the guise of Islamic faith; even sending out death squads to track down dissidents living abroad.

The regime of the Supreme Leader has used religion as a justification for repression.

A distortion of Islamic prescripts has over the past four decades served as alibi for the corrupt regime to justify their horrors.

The regime for instance gave the name "rehabilitation” to torture and “call for modesty” to a merciless repression of women in all their social behaviour, to disguise their unholy theocracy.

In its war against Iraq in the 1980s, this regime offered so-called ‘keys to paradise’ to schoolchildren and high school students whom it recruited to wipe minefields in order to facilitate the passage of its troops. 

The Constitution openly denies national sovereignty and gives absolute powers to the Supreme Leader.


These are the features of a regime that is not a Republic and has nothing to do with Islam, but calls itself the Islamic Republic.

Over the last four decades, the peace-loving people of Iran became the enemy of their rulers. Many have awakened to the fact that these fanatics own them, and that their world, as they knew it, didn’t exist anymore. 

Since the end of 2017/beginning of 2018, many innocent Iranians opposed to the regime and/or taking part in peaceful demonstrations against the injustices in that country, ended up facing severe punishment, some rounded up by the attack dogs of the regime, the Basij militia, who waded into protesters on motorbikes, dragging many of the ringleaders off to prison, while others were beaten with batons or picked off by regime snipers using live ammunition, many arrests ending in execution.

Iran became the perfect example of the truth that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolute.

Thankfully there is a limit to how much stress can be put on people before open revolt and revolution becomes their only option. Iranians have had enough and the imminent overthrow of the draconic mullah regime is in sight.     

Over the last four decades, two resistance organisations have played a major role in the creation of the critical mass necessary for this revolution. (For more about critical mass, see my article ‘CRITILCAL MASS  -  CRITICAL MASS AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS’ (https://stesdeneckerfoundation.blogspot.com/2016/08/critilcal-mass-critical-mass-and-social.html) - 29 August 2016.


1. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK)

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) was founded by Mohammad Hanifnejad, Said Mohsen, and Ali-Ashgar Badizadgan on September 6, 1965.

The Freedom Movement advocated for the “democratic principles enshrined in the fundamental laws of 1905-09 [Iranian] Constitution.”  

By September 1971, SAVAK had infiltrated and captured and imprisoned about 150 MEK members, which included the group’s founders and members of the Central Committee. 

Sixty-nine Mojahedin were brought before military tribunals and charged with attempting to overthrow the monarchy, among other offenses.

The MEK was relatively unknown at this time, but the resistance organization rapidly became a household name, which was lauded for its efforts to bring democracy and freedom to Iran. 

The regime executed or imprisoned all of the MEK’s leadership, including its founders and members of the Central Committee. Massoud Rajavi received a death penalty but Massoud Rajavi’s brother, Dr. Kazem Rajavi, organized an international campaign from his home in Geneva to commute Massoud’s death sentence to life imprisonment.

Massoud Rajavi was freed from prison after serving seven years of his sentence. His release occurred on January 20, 1979, four days after the Shah fled Iran. 

Mr. Rajavi was among the last group of 162 political prisoners to be released.

Four days after leaving prison, Mr. Rajavi gave a speech at Tehran University where he discussed the MEK’s history, his reverence for freedom, and bringing democracy to Iran. His speech was attended by thousands of people.  This event marked the new beginning of the Mojahedin National Movement.
Mr. Rajavi announced the MEK’s political platform for a new Iranian government in a speech on February 23, 1980. In his speech, Mr. Rajavi established the MEK as the main opposition party to Khomeini and the fundamentalist clerics.

Rajavi’s speech in Tehran University was, in fact, the Mojahedin’s anti-fundamentalist manifesto.

Though the MEK is a political organization, its orientation, operation, and support derives from its interpretation of Islam, which was conceived in its early years.  The MEK believes that Islam is an inherently tolerant and democratic religion and is fully compatible with the values of modern-day civilization.

The Mojahedin believe that freedom, gender, ethnic and religious equality, human rights, and peace are more than just political commitments; they are ideological principles based on their view of the Quran and the traditions and teachings of Prophet Muhammad, Shiite Imams, and other leaders.
The MEK’s political platform and interpretation of Islam are one and the same. 

This combination makes the MEK unique amongst political groups, and it is a major reason the organization continues today to amass broad public support.

“The Islam we want is nationalistic, democratic, progressive, and not opposed to science or civilization.  We believe there is no contradiction between modern science and true Islam, and we believe that in Islam there must be no compulsion or dictatorship.” (Mr. Rajavi – 1982)

“Freedom is a divine blessing. Anyone trying to restrict human freedom has neither understood Islam nor mankind and the [anti-monarchist] revolution.  Freedom is indispensable to the survival of mankind as human beings.” (Rajavi – 1980)

In 2009, the U.S. government transferred the protection and security of over 3,000 PMOI members in Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government. On the orders of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attacked Camp Ashraf in July 2009, April 2011, and again in September 2013, killing over 100 residents and injuring more than 1,000 in the process.

Subsequent to these attacks, the residents of Ashraf were transferred to Camp Liberty under the auspices of the United Nations. They were attacked several more times by missiles and rockets, as a result of which dozens were killed and many more were wounded.

The objective of the clerical regime and its puppet government in Iraq was to completely eradicate the Iranian Resistance through these attacks.

The PMOI has attained significant victories in support of regime change and establishment of freedom and democracy in Iran.  

As a result of their relentless international political campaigns and efforts, the safe relocation of almost 3000 residents of Camp Liberty to Albania and other European countries was successfully completed on September 6, 2016.

The PMOI’s relocation as an organization completely foiled the Iranian regime's schemes to destroy and annihilate the Mojahedin at Camp Liberty, Iraq

2. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

On July 21, 1981, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, then leader of the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, announced in Tehran the formation of a coalition of democratic opposition forces seeking to overthrow the mullahs' Velayat-e Faqih regime and establish a pluralistic democracy in the country.

In autumn 1981, the NCRI began a series of intense and lengthy meetings in which its members drafted and adopted the Council's constitution, its platform, and the immediate tasks of a provisional government as well as the NCRI's internal modus operandi.

The NCRI has also adopted a number of plans for Iran's future, including: The NCRI's Peace Plan, the Plan for the Autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan, the Declaration on the Relations of the Provisional Government with Religion and Denominations, and the Plan on Rights and Freedoms of Women.
In 1993, upon the NCRI President's proposal, the National Council of Resistance of Iran adopted the ancient Persian Lion and Sun as the NCRI's official emblem, and placed it on the tri-colored flag of Iran.

Maryam Rajavi was born into a middle-class family in Tehran. One of her brothers, Mahmoud Rajavi was a veteran member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and was a political prisoner during the Shah’s regime.

Her older sister Narges was killed by the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, in 1975. Her other sister, Massoumeh, an industrial engineering student, was arrested by the clerical regime in 1982. Pregnant at the time, she was ultimately hanged after undergoing brutal torture.
In 1993, during its plenary session, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition whose members include a number of Iranian opposition organizations and prominent personalities, elected Maryam Rajavi as the President-elect for the period of transitioning power to the Iranian people.
Maryam Rajavi has mounted an extraordinary political, social, cultural and ideological challenge to the ruling mullahs in Iran.

Under her leadership, women have risen to hold key positions in the Iranian Resistance. Over half of NCRI members are women. They occupy various political, diplomatic, social and cultural positions in the Resistance.

Maryam Rajavi has made numerous speeches regarding the real message of Islam, which revolves around tolerance and democracy, in direct contradiction of the reactionary and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. She believes that one of the most important differentiators between these two entirely contradictory views of Islam focuses on attitudes toward the status of women.

Among her published works are: “Islam, Women, and Equality,” “Women, the Force for Change,” and “Women against Fundamentalism.”

In 2002, the NCRI adopted a plan to form the National Solidarity Front for the overthrow of Iran's ruling religious tyranny. Within the framework of this front, the NCRI declared that it is prepared to cooperate with other political forces. The National Solidarity Front embraces all Iranians who totally reject the Velayat-e Faqih regime and all its internal factions, and seek to establish a democratic and independent republic based on separation of religion and state.

In 2005, Maryam Rajavi declared: "In the free Iran of tomorrow, we will be committed to and defend the abolition of the death penalty and elimination of all forms of cruel punishments. We once again reiterate our commitment to the Convention against Torture, international humanitarian laws, and the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women."

The NCRI acts as the Iranian people's “Parliament-in-Exile”.  

Both the NCRI and the PMOI are the only true resistance movements who have stood bravely and unafraid of the clerical regime. Since their formation the NCRI and the PMOI has remained steadfast in their opposition to the mullah’s dictatorial government.

In 1994, during a speech delivered at the Oslo city hall, Mrs. Rajavi warned about the octopus of religious tyranny and Islamic fundamentalism whose heart beats in Tehran. She said: “Fundamentalism has turned into the greatest threat to peace in the region and the world,” adding, “The mullahs ruling Iran are pursuing their expansionist agenda and exporting crises and tensions by exploiting the religious beliefs of over a billion Muslims.”

In December 2004, during a speech at the European Parliament, Maryam Rajavi proposed the Third Option, a clear prospect to resolve the Iranian crisis, which had caused anxiety on a global scale. 

“In the face of this challenge, two options have been raised: The make-a-deal approach to the clerical regime with the aim of containing it or including gradual change. For the past two decades, Western countries have subscribed to this approach. The other option is to overthrow the clerical regime by way of an external war, similar to what occurred in Iraq. No one would want to see this repeated in Iran. But I have come here today to say that there is a third option: Change brought about by the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance. If foreign obstacles are removed, the Iranian people and their Resistance are prepared and have the power to bring about change. And this is the only way to prevent external wars. No concession is going to dissuade the mullahs from continuing their ominous objectives.”

In a call in August 2016 to the people of Iran and members and supporters of the Iranian Resistance, Maryam Rajavi announced the movement calling for justice for victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran. 
The movement's demands included prosecution of all masterminds and perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, publication of the names, specifics and places of burial of all victims of the massacre, and announcement of the identities of everyone involved in making decisions and executing the slaughter.

The ‘Call for Justice’ rapidly grew both inside Iran and abroad and now, after 28 years, turned the massacre of political prisoners into a top issue of debate in Iranian society.

After more than a year of civil protest and demonstrations against the brutality and total disregard of basic human rights and freedoms in Iran, the immanent overthrow of the deceptive mullah regime and prosecution of those responsible for the decades of suffering of the Iranian people has arrived.

The rest of the free world carries full responsibility to support and promote the judicial prosecution and punishment of all those responsible for their heinous crimes. 

 In modern civilised society there is no place for such a barbaric antiquated ideology.

May God bless Iran and her people abundantly.     







  

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

THE CLERICAL REGIME OF IRAN – A FALSE THEOCRACY

















THE CLERICAL REGIME OF IRAN –

A FALSE THEOCRACY


Stes de Necker





The word theocracy originates from the Greek θεοκρατία meaning "the rule of God". This in turn derives from θεός (theos), meaning "god", and κρατέω (krateo), meaning "to rule".

By definition a true THEOCRACY is therefore the most perfect and idealistic form of government imaginable because it is (by definition) a government by the direction or administration of God himself. 

It is written that: “the tabernacle of God” shall be “with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

This can mean nothing less than a divine government of willing subjects.

In today’s terms, Theocracy means primarily a government under the direction and faith in God and that also applied to the exercise of political authority and justice by religious leaders. It is not enough to constitute a true theocracy when rulers merely profess to the Word of God; it must be seen and applied in everyday practice to be so.

Two things are necessary for the existence of a theocracy: (1) God himself must be the ultimate ‘governor’ and (2) the subjects of the government must consent to be governed by those elected representatives who must govern in accordance with His (God’s), prescripts and ordinances.

God himself having made man a free moral agent — being endowed with the power of choice —recognizes the great truth that in all things civil, governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

The Theocratic (religious) leader himself exercises civil power only so long as he represents the will of God and it is the choice of the people that he should continue to exercise that power.   

Looking at the developments in Iran over the past 15 months, it is glaringly obvious that the Theocratic regime in Iran is no longer the choice of the people.

Anyone still thinking that the corrupt theocratic regime in Iran still represents the religious will and aspirations of the Iranian people are sadly mistaken.

No part of the ruling system has been immune from corruption, which has contaminated all sectors, from the judiciary to the parliament and the government.

Economic grievances have fused with corruption complaints to fuel a wave of street protests across Iran which started on 28 December 2017. Since then more than 3,700 people were arrested and 23 were killed in the sometimes violent nationwide marches which took place all over Iran.

 A powerful system of political patronagenepotism and cronyism pervade all sectors of the government. Irregular payments and bribes are often exchanged to obtain services, permits and contracts. 

Judicial System

Bribes and irregular payments are often exchanged in return for obtaining favourable court decisions while donations to influential persons by those accused of corruption or embezzlement effectively curtail the judiciary’s willingness to prosecute.

It is alleged that the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had an off-the-books hedge fund, Setad, worth $95bn, and that Iran's previous head of the judiciary was in possession of 63 personal bank accounts worth $300m after wiring public funds to his own accounts.

Police

A systems of patronage and cronyism is pervasive in overall law enforcement – police, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij militia.

The police operates highly inefficiently, and companies are doubtful in the reliability of Iranian police forces to protect them from crime or to uphold law and order.  The IRGC owns a considerable part of the economy and financial systems, and influences the media, making it a powerful institution that’s loyal to the supreme leader.

In 2015, allegations of embezzlement of funds worth 350 million US dollars within the police force surfaced, but the supreme leader Khamenei forbade probes into the Police Service. 

Public Service

Companies must contend with corruption when acquiring licenses, utilities or other public services. Bribes and other irregular payments are exchanged in return for obtaining public utilities, while officials regularly expect bribes for providing routine services.

Mismanagement and rampant corruption limits the administration of state services while religious affiliation and systems of political patronage rather than technical skills determine hiring and firing of public servants

Land Administration

Individuals routinely bribe officials in order to obtain permits for illegal construction.
In addition, when companies set-up mid-sized industrial facilities, they commonly obtain financial support through connections and corruption.

The National Inspection Organization reportedly found that government officials including senior municipal officials, City Council members, Members of Parliament, and police officers were involved in mishandling public land and properties worth 702 million US dollars

Tax Administration

Companies report that bribes and irregular payments are widespread in meetings with tax officials.
Due to its oil-wealth, Iran is not very dependent on taxation; around forty percent of its economy is exempt from taxes; including the many bodies linked to the IRGC as well as the enterprise-like religious foundations.

Customs Administration

The border administration lacks transparency, procedures are perceived to be burdensome, and irregular payments in relation to imports and exports frequently. 

When goods such as cigarettes are imported to Iran from Oman across the Strait of Hormuz into Bandar Abbas, Omani officials levy about 5 US dollars in export duties per package and Iranian officials demand bribes of up to 60 US dollars to allow the cargo to be unloaded. Allegations exist that the IRGC plays a significant role in smuggling both weapons and illicit substances using its control over ports, airports and roads.  

Public Procurement

Business executives report that bribery is widespread in the process of awarding contracts and licences (GCR 2015-2016). Favouritism is often shown to well-connected firms and individuals The IRGC in particular enjoys access to lucrative government contracts that are not subject to tender. Much of the IRGC’s business is done through front companies that are not formally owned by the IRGC but by individuals and firms linked to it

Under the Rouhani administration, cases of embezzlement carried out by figures of the regime are continuously disclosed but without the perpetrators being named.

Even though it is rarely prosecuted, embezzlement constitutes a serious offense in Iran as it involves breaking the Islamic banking law.

Natural Resources

Iran’s natural resource potential is underutilized due to government mismanagement and prevalent corruption in the sector. Iran is estimated to hold around 22 percent of global oil reserves, and the industry accounts for a major share of the country’s revenue. As it is Iran’s most lucrative sector, it is either controlled by the state or by those with close ties to the state.

Legislation

Iran’s laws provide for various penalties for corruption, but in practice, the law is not applied and cases of corruption remain unprosecuted. 

Iran’s anti-corruption legal framework is diffuse and spread across a number of laws, including the Act on Public and Revolutionary Courts’ Rules of Procedures in Criminal Matters and the Aggravating the Punishment for Perpetrators of Bribery, Embezzlement and Fraud Act.

Civil Society

Iran’s media environment is one of the world’s most repressive environments. Freedom of expression is guaranteed in the constitution but is severely limited both online and offline. Government officials regularly intimidate journalists into self-censorship. Access to information is limited and not protected by law. In 2016 six media outlets were blocked and/or punished for reporting on corruption in Tehran’s property developments.

Freedoms of assembly and association are also strongly limited, both by law and in practice. Many people are currently imprisoned for their affiliation with opposition parties, labour unions and student or other activist groups. Activists are routinely arrested without formal charges and sometimes without access to legal counsel.

In the Biblical Old Testament Book of Ezekiel (Chapter 21 verse 25 to 27) we read:

“25. And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
26. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”


Note:

Ezekiel in Arabic is “Hizkeel” which means 'God will strengthen' or literally 'to fasten upon'.
Ezekiel is recognized as a prophet in Islamic tradition. Although not mentioned in the Quran by name, all Muslim scholars, both classical and modern have included Ezekiel in lists of the prophets of Islam.

Ezekiel is a major prophet in the Biblical Old Testament, the author of the Book of Ezekiel. The Book of Ezekiel describes his vivid symbolic visions that predict the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. 

Translated into Arabic(Google Translator), verses 25 to 27 of Chapter 21 of the Book Ezekiel would read:

"25. وانت يا امير اسرائيل الشرير الذي يأتي يوم يكون عنده نهاية للظلم
26. هكذا قال السيد الرب. إزالة الإكليل ، وخلع التاج: هذا لا يجوز أن يكون هو نفسه: تمجده منخفضة ، ويمتلئ به عالية.
27. أنا سأقلب ، قلب ، قلب ، هو: وهو لن يكون أكثر ، حتى يأتي هو الذي يكون هو ؛ وسأمنحه له


In the same manner as these prophetic words of the prophet Ezekiel applied to Israel, it applies to the whole world.

The Day of Judgement for the draconic mullah regime in Iran has arrived.

For four decades the people of Iran had to endure the false theocracy of the mullah regime, but they have now reached the point where they no longer believe the false and baseless statements and promises of the clerics.

The best guarantee of religious freedom is a secular society where people of all faiths – Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, even those with no faith  – are free to practice their beliefs in the privacy of their homes, churches, temples, mosques and synagogues, and don't get to tell anyone else what to believe or how to live.

The best guarantee of religious freedom is keeping religion out of politics. 
Under the capable leadership of President elect, Miryam Rajavi, the situation in Iran is rapidly changing in favour of a secular society.
Iran will soon be given back to “those who’s right it is.”

Under her leadership, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has put forth a 10-point plan that is a concrete outline, based on universal democratic values,  of what a free Iran will look like and how it would support the Iranian people.

This plan includes holding free elections and giving the Iranian people back their voice in how they are governed. The 10-point plan is focused on the Iranian people and giving them back the freedoms and rights they are currently denied by the regime.

Other goals of the 10-point plan focus on eliminating human rights abuses, including the abolishing of the death penalty and giving individuals the right to freedom of expression.


Maryam Rajavi’s Ten Point Plan for a free and democratic Iran:

1. In our view, the ballot box is the only criterion for legitimacy. Accordingly, we seek a republic based on universal suffrage.
2. We want a pluralist system, freedom of parties and assembly. We respect all individual freedoms. We underscore complete freedom of expression and of the media and unconditional access by all to the internet.
3. We support and are committed to the abolition of death penalty.
4. We are committed to the separation of Church and State. Any form of discrimination against the followers of any religion and denomination will be prohibited.
5. We believe in complete gender equality in political, social and economic arenas. We are also committed to equal participation of women in political leadership. Any form of discrimination against women will be abolished. They will enjoy the right to freely choose their clothing. They are free in marriage, divorce, education and employment.
6. We believe in the rule of law and justice. We want to set up a modern legal system based on the principles of presumption of innocence, the right to defense, effective judicial protection and the right to be tried in a public court. We also seek the total independence of judges. The mullahs’ Sharia law will be abolished.
7. We are committed to the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights, and international covenants and conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. We are committed to the equality of all nationalities. We underscore the plan for the autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan, adopted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The language and culture of our compatriots from whatever nationality, are among our nation’s human resources and must spread and be promulgated in tomorrow’s Iran.
8. We recognize private property, private investment and the market economy. All Iranian people must enjoy equal opportunity in employment and in business ventures. We will protect and revitalize the environment.
9. Our foreign policy will be based on peaceful coexistence, international and regional peace and cooperation, as well as respect for the United Nations Charter.
10. We want a non-nuclear Iran, free of weapons of mass destruction.



See also - THE AYATOLLAH SYSTEM OF IRAN – A THEOCRACY GONE ROGUE