Iran Liberation No. 392

N° 392

News Bulletin of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

7 May 2016

Iranian Regime Condemned At OIC Summit in Istanbul

The Iranian Resistance Welcomes the Condemnation as a Necessary Step in Confronting Fundamentalism & Terrorism that Has Drawn the Region into a Crisis.

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he Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit was held in Turkey on Thursday, April 14th and Friday, April 15th. In its final declaration, the OIC Summit condemned “Iran’s interference in internal affairs of the regional states and other Islamic countries” and “continued support for terrorism”. It also “condemned Hezbollah and its terrorist acts in the region and its support for terrorist groups and parties that has destabilized the security and tranquility of the OIC member states.”

The Iranian Resistance welcomes the condemnation and sees it as a necessary and positive step in confronting fundamentalism and terrorism that has plunged the region into a crisis. However, experience has shown that a firm and comprehensive approach is needed to push back this crisis-stricken anti-Islam regime from the pursuit of its aggressive policies. The OIC’s stance on April 15th needs to be complimented with the expulsion of this regime from the OIC,

granting Iran’s seat to the Iranian people and Resistance, and supporting their desire for the overthrow of this regime.

The declaration was issued at a time that Rouhani, the the mullah-led leadership president, Javad Zarif, foreign minister, and other officials of the mullahs’ regime had been doing their utmost to delete the above phrases from the OIC’s final declaration. But when they faced the firm response of other countries, Rouhani refused to take part in the OIC final meeting in disgrace.

The OIC’s stance is a clear indication of the abhorrence of the people and states in the region and the Islamic world against the religious fascism ruling Iran that relies on export of terrorism and fundamentalism for its survival. Following their forced withdrawal from the nuclear bomb and being engulfed by social and economic crises and domestic conflicts, the ruling mullahs are desperately trying to encroach upon regional states in order to delay their inevitable overthrow.

Editorial Iran Regime’s Habit of Recruiting Children for War

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he Iranian regime, faced with a crisis in recruiting fighters to defend Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, has embarked on a new propaganda campaign to encourage children to join the war in Syria.

Iran’s state media have in recent days been broadcasting a new promotional clip entitled ‘Martyrs who defend the sacred shrine’ to encourage young children to take part in the war.

The video has been produced by the official Bassij Music House, NEXT PAGE

Consequences of European Officials’ Trade Trips to Iran

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Maryam Rajavi’s Message on May Day

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Maryam Rajavi: Iran Regime Will Collapse When Assad is Toppled in Syria

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he mullahs' regime in Iran will collapse once Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is toppled, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, told the pan-Arab daily Asharq AlAwsat on Sunday.

In a major interview that took up a full page of the newspaper, Mrs. Rajavi said that the Iranian regime is founded on three main pillars: obtaining a nuclear bomb, absolute domestic suppression and the export of terrorism and extremism abroad.

Mrs. Rajavi pointed out that Tehran’s strategy is based on interference in the internal affairs of other countries, warmongering and the export of terrorism; however, the regime’s regional plots failed after the start of the Decisive Storm operation waged against its proxies.

“The Iranian regime can be defeated once and for all in Bahrain if it is confronted with a decisive alliance formed by regional countries,” Mrs. Rajavi said, adding that the Iranian regime is close to drowning in the quagmire of Syria’s civil war.

Editorial the propaganda arm of the regime’s paramilitary Bassij, a branch of the regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). It shows a group of boys in a courtyard with three of them singing to another boy they are trying to recruit as he watches from a window.

They sing: “Let’s rise up to save the sacred shrine. On my leader’s [Ali Khamenei] orders I am ready to give my life. The goal is not just to free Iraq and Syria; My path is through the sacred shrine [in Syria], but my goal is to reach Jerusalem...... In this just path I am wearing my martyrdom shroud; … From Mashhad [north-east Iran], I will walk on foot to Damascus.”

The slogans and images in this video are reminiscent of the regime’s recruitment effort during the Iran-Iraq war after it faced a public backlash in recruiting soldiers, which led the mullahs to instead use Iranian school boys as human sacrifices to clear the minefields. Now, once again it is doing the same thing as its Revolutionary Guards and military are suffering high casualties in the five-year war in Syria and need a morale boost. After having attempted to deploy its IRGC forces and foreign militias including Afghans, Lebanese and Iraqis, and even its regular army units, it has now no other choice but to recruit children to the war fronts.

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Mrs. Rajavi pointed out that the Iranian regime would collapse consequentially should al-Assad be toppled in Syria, which is why Iran's regime has been trying to keep Assad in power at any cost.

“If Assad falls out of power in Damascus, then the Iranian regime will evidently follow and collapse in Tehran,” Mrs. Rajavi said.

“It’s dying,” Mrs. Rajavi said, expressing the current state of affairs of the Iranian regime. “It has faced defeat in Yemen. The fronts in Syria and Iraq are in effective escalation, and the regime has sent 60,000 Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) soldiers and affiliated militias to fight in Syria,” Mrs. Rajavi added.

When asked about the Iranian regime's nuclear danger, Mrs. Rajavi explained that the regime has only “temporarily” lost its ability to manufacture a nuclear arsenal and will soon resume what it had long planned for.

“The Iranian regime is skilled with the art of deception and keeping its activities secret. It hasn’t revealed all of its cards, and one must say that the international community has not been firm enough, because foreign powers had the ability to take away everything from the regime.” Mrs. Rajavi said.

On the topic of the regime's recent ballistic missile activities and violations, Mrs. Rajavi clarified that all factions of the regime pursue the same policy, seeking internal oppression of the people and terrorizing regional nations.

The missile program, according to Mrs. Rajavi, is an attempt for establishing missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, as a part of a plan to spread fear in the region and raise the morale of its supporters.

The full text of the interview was published in Arabic on Page 10 of the Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday, April 17th, 2016: http://aawsat.com/ node/618191 . A shorter version, carrying highlights of the interview in English was also published on the website of the English edition of the Asharq Al-Awsat: http://english.aawsat.com/2016/04/article55349689/maryam-rajaviiranian-regime-will-collapse-following-assads-leave-power In the Iranian regime’s lexicon, “defending the sacred shrine” is the equivalent of deploying all its forces to Syria to defend the Assad regime as he massacres the people of Syria. This is while the majority of the Iranian regime’s casualties are near Aleppo and need a moral boost. which is several hundred kilometres away from the holy Shiite shrines near Damascus. In the 80s, Khomeini used exactly the same wording to motivate his soldiers to prolong the Iran-Iraq war. They shouted “We will conquer Jerusalem through Karbala in Iraq”!

But the mullahs should be reminded that none of their efforts at IranIraq war bore fruit, and eventually the regime’s founder Khomeini was forced to accept a ceasefire, which he described as a “chalice of poison.” Now, 36 years later, it seems that another “chalice of poison” is waiting for the mullahs in Syria and history is as this, and similar measures by them, indicate a strategy of deadlock them another lesson as this and similar measures by them indicate a strategy deadlock for the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Syria which is Tehran’s main hub for exporting terrorism and fundamentalism to the region.

The disgraceful and inhumane act of sending Iranian out of this deadlock school boys to the war in Syria will not bring the regime out of a deadlock, just as it failed to do so during the Iran-Iraq war.

The difference is that this time the regime has already used up all of its strategic resources, and it is in a far more fragile state faced with deep international and regional isolation.

IRAN LIBERATION - www.ncr-iran.org/May 7, 2016

OIC Position, A Slap in the Face for Khamenei

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n April 25th, the NCRI’s online conference on the “Islamic world’s unanimity against Iran’s clerical regime” hosted Allama Mohammad Ali Al-Hosseini, Secretary General of the Lebanese Arab-Islamic Council, to discuss the statement adopted at the OIC Summit in Istanbul with items against the Iranian regime.

Commenting on the righteousness of the position taken by the OIC Summit against the Iranian regime’s meddling in Islamic countries, Mr. Ali Al-Hosseini said: “The Summit in Istanbul touched on the main subject; we have long warned about the damage caused by Iran, that although a regime of religious jurisprudence that has been preaching about Islam since its establishment, it is as a matter of fact a shame for the religion.

“This regime had deceived us all and I was myself one of those deceived by it. We were misled as it held the banner of Islam from the beginning claiming positive view of it with goodwill, but soon it proved to be the opposite that it represented Muslims. Many of us in the world held a positive view over it with goodwill but soon it proved to be the opposite. We said why are you not practicing what you preach? They acted in opposition to what they acted in opposition to what they said and this was at the core of the issue.

“They misused the sentiments of Muslims, projecting highfalutin Islamic slogans right from the beginning but soon the Muslims witnessed how it treated its own people; they saw that it suppressed them, arrested and executed them and by plundering their wealth made them poor. There is much more to say about how the regime treats people inside Iran.

“Now let me go through the Iranian regime’s meddling in Kuwait when it attempted to interfere in their internal affairs through sending terrorists, weapons and explosives to Kuwait and forming terrorist units to cause insecurity and instability. It did the same thing in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain and went as far as sending these units to Saudi Arabia to damage the country’s security and stability; add to this its meddling in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Today, it claims that it works for the liberation of Palestine and

helping the Islamic nations but we see that it has damaged mostly the Islamic nations; all its plans have worked against the unity of Muslims and towards their aggression. This has now become all obvious and clear. The acts and meddling of the clerical regime and particularly its behavior inside Iran and in Arab countries has led to the exposure of its true face to all Muslims.

Today, no one supports Iran’s religious jurisprudence or its regime despite all of its claims to the contrary, and this is all due to its suspicious acts and behaviour. I have myself urged Arab and Islamic countries on several occasions in the past to take a united firm position against this regime and today we see that the OIC summit has done so and in doing so the OIC represents all Muslims of the world.

The OIC Summit took a united position against Iran’s clerical regime stating that this regime does not represent Islam. This is an oppressive and terrorist regime; we are revolted by it and condemn it. The OIC position was indeed a slap in the face for Khamenei who claims to be the leader of the world’s Muslims….. This regime has damaged the honour, dignity and identity of Islam; it is far from Islam and Muslims; it has stepped outside Islamic framework and it is alienated from it.

Today, Iran’s clerical regime is isolated; all those who used to support it have now left this regime; it is all alone.”

Mr. Al-Hosseini concluded by saying: “I hope that the National Council of Resistance will be recognized because it is the NCRI led by Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian resistance that represents the wish of the Iranian people. Therefore, it will soon be accepted and acknowledged by everyone, particularly by the Arab and Islamic world , that NCRI is the Iranian people’s true representative with which they should coexist.”

UK: Human Rights Abuses in Iran are of “Great Concern”

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he United Kingdom has classified Iran as a "Human Rights Priority Country," warning that the high number of executions carried out by the regime is of "particular concern."

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2015 Human Rights and Democracy Report, published on Thursday, April 21st, 2016, said that in 2015, "Iran’s human rights record continued to cause great concern."

"President Rouhani pledged to improve the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Iran when he was elected in 2013. He also promised reforms on discrimination against women and members of ethnic minorities, and on greater space for freedom of expression and opinion. However, there has been little evidence of positive change," the report said.

"In some cases, the situation in Iran appears to have worsened. The high number of executions is of particular concern."

"The UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran believes that between 966 and 1,025 people were executed in Iran in 2015, a substantial increase on 2014 and the highest number in over a decade."

"The majority of newspapers, TV and radio are governmentcontrolled, and the internet and social media sites are heavily restricted. Journalists, bloggers and human rights activists are regularly arrested and detained. In November, over 170 individuals were arrested for messages they published on social media apps."

"Women do not enjoy the same rights and privileges as men in Iran and continue to face discrimination. For example, married women need the consent of their husbands to leave the country and can be banned from travelling abroad if their spouses do not sign the

paperwork needed to obtain or renew a passport."

"While some religious minorities are formally protected in the constitution, the reality is that many non-Muslims face discrimination and attempts by Muslims to change their faith may lead to criminal prosecution. For example, there are regular reports of the arrest of members of Christian 'house churches' and in 2015 a number of Baha’i-owned businesses were reportedly closed by the authorities for observing non-sanctioned holy days."

The report said there were "concerning trends" in Iran "such as the increase in use of the death penalty, juvenile executions, and continued persecution of religious minorities."

The report pointed out that the UK has helped to maintain the listing of over 70 officials of the Iranian regime under the "Iran human rights sanctions regime."

"We welcome the renewal of the mandate for the UN Special Rapporteur in Iran. We will continue to support this mandate," the report added.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/iran-humanrights-priority-country/iran-human-rights-priority-country

IRAN LIBERATION - www.ncr-iran.org/May 7, 2016

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Consequences of European Officials’ Trade Trips to Iran At least 24 Executions in One Week While European Officials Visited Tehran for Trade Deals

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he Italian Prime Minister’s trip to Tehran for trade deals on April 12th and 13th was followed by the visit to Iran on April 16th by the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini who was accompanied by seven EU commissioners for discussions with the Iranian regime’s officials on trade and other areas of cooperation.

At least 24 people were executed in the week when Matheo Renzi and Federica Mogherinin travelled to Iran. On the morning of Wednesday, April 13th, concurrent with a visit by Italy’s Prime Minister, eight prisoners were collectively hanged in Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj. On Saturday April 16th, three prisoners were hanged in a jail in Rasht, northern Iran, as the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was in Tehran to build greater trade ties between the EU and the Iranian regime.

Ms Mogherini’s trip was strongly criticized by Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI, who said: “This trip which takes place in the midst of mass executions, brutal human rights violations and the regime's unbridled

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warmongering in the region tramples on the values upon which the EU has been founded and which Ms. Mogherini should be defending and propagating. The mullahs' regime is engulfed in deep social and political crises, and such trips will not save it from its inevitable overthrow. Banking on this crisis-riddled regime would only achieve short-term petty economic interests and would not result in medium or long-term benefit. It would only make 80 million Iranians, who seek regime change, pessimistic towards the EU. Ms. Mogherini's deafening silence on executions, violation of women's rights and the rights of minorities, and the regime’s unprecedented military expedition to Syria make this trip ever more destructive. Meeting individuals whose hands are stained with people's blood is unacceptable to the people of Iran and is reminiscent of the Chinese president's visit to Tehran in the midst of the massacre of protesters in the final months of the Shah's dictatorship."

Amnesty International, in its April 6th annual Death Penalty report covering the 2015 period, wrote that Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions recorded in the Middle East and North Africa. There have been more than 2,300 executions during Hassan Rouhani’s tenure as President.

Prisoners Say EU Officials’ Visits to Iran Encourage More Executions

group of resilient political prisoners in Iran’s notorious Evin and Gohardasht prisons wrote on April 13th to the Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi, after his trip to Iran, pointing out that at least eight prisoners were executed in Iran while he was visiting Tehran to reestablish trade ties with the regime. The letter which was smuggled out of prison warned of a serious risk that other prisoners would be executed in Iran in the coming days since the silence of European officials led by the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on the issue of human rights during their visits to Iran only emboldens the regime to step up its abuses.

The letter stated: “Dear Prime Minister of Italy, have you seen the red carpet of blood that is spread for you today? Have you seen the trembling bodies of our fellow inmates on the gallows? Have you seen the queue of those families who were waiting behind the walls to receive the corpses of their children? Have you heard the bitter sound of weeping and wailing of their children and families who were

waiting for the ambulance filled with the corpses of their loved ones.

“Of course…of course you have not seen or heard any of them.

Those who have kept you in the waiting queue to sign the commercial treaties; they have also kept our families waiting for the execution of their children. They use your big posters and pictures to cover up the gallows of execution!

“It is good for you to know that through your trip to Iran, the stream of new executions will resume again even though they had been stopped for a while because of international pressures. By traveling to Iran, you are to a large extent granting political legitimacy and authority to these criminal and murderous executions. At this moment we have just heard about the execution of nine people. By coming to Iran, you have definitely given them the political legitimacy and authority for further executions.

We, the inmates of Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) prison, will file a complaint and send it to the people, political parties and all human rights organizations in Italy against your travel to Iran, because your travel to Iran is contrary to all humanitarian and philanthropic principals.”

Brave Iranian Mother Cries out Against Italian PM’s Silence on Executions

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he mother of Reyhaneh Jabbari, a young Iranian woman whose execution in October 2014 triggered international condemnation of the mullahs’ regime, wrote a sarcastic open letter to the Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi criticizing his trip to Tehran and his silence on the appalling human rights abuses taking place in Iran.

In parts of her letter she wrote: “The Prime Minister of Italy will travel to Iran tomorrow. He might aim to convey the messages of those who are shocked and disappointed about Iran's executions. He might intend to communicate the Pope's message - which addresses the global abolition of the death penalty - or to say: "Stop Public Executions!" He might request a halt to the execution of juvenile

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offenders.

“Or perhaps he might not say much about executions, but surely he would mention the brutal sentences of amputation of limbs.

No? They might not even discuss such issues because their meeting would then be afflicted by such bitter and creepy facts.”

She sarcastically went on to hope that the Italian Prime Minister might visit the prisoners of conscience in Iran’s jails and as this was obviously highly unlikely, she then wrote: “Honestly I have no idea why he is traveling to Iran. He might be seeking money, trade, oil, sanctions and things like that.”

When she was just 19 years old, Reyhaneh Jabbari was working as a decorator when she defended herself against an intelligence agent who tried to rape her. She was jailed for seven years and was executed on October 25th, 2014 despite an international campaign to save her.

IRAN LIBERATION - www.ncr-iran.org/May 7, 2016

The EU must condemn The increasing repression inside Iran

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n April 29th, Friends of Free Iran intergroup, which has enjoyed the support of over 200 members of the European Parliament from different political groups, strongly condemned the increasing trend of executions, inhuman treatment of political prisoners and jailing of journalists in Iran. This is a statement issued by its chair, MEP Gérard Deprez: The Iranian regime hanged at least 10 people in prisons since the weekend, in what has been described as a new wave of executions.

Among the latest cases was the execution of eight Iranian Baluchis in Zahedan Prison on Saturday and Tuesday. According to reports, at least six other death-row prisoners in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj, north- west of Tehran, were transferred on Wednesday 27th April to solitary confinement for their imminent execution.

On Wednesday 27th April, a group of United Nations human rights experts warned that “over a dozen political prisoners in Iran, including some prominent human rights defenders, lawyers and political activists, are at risk of death in detention due to their worsening health conditions and the continued refusal by the Iranian authorities to provide them with medical treatment.”

Dr Omid Kokabee, 34, an Iranian physicist and a postdoctoral student in atomic physics was arrested in Iran after returning from the United States to visit his family in January, 2011. He was sentenced to ten

years in prison. Amnesty International has said that Kokabee is a prisoner of conscience and held solely for his refusal to work on military projects in Iran. He had been diagnosed with kidney cancer and his right kidney was removed few days ago. The photo of Omid Kokabee, chained to a bed in hospital after the surgery, has shaken many in Iran and in the scientific world.

Iranian authorities have acknowledged that 12,000 ethnic Iranian Kurds were imprisoned in Iran in the last Iranian calendar year, which ended March 19, 2016.

A woman was flogged in public in Golpayegan, central Iran on 27 April. The woman, who was only identified by her initials S. T., was given 100 lashes, state media reported.

We were shocked to hear that four journalists were sentenced to a combined total of 27 years of jail, on Tuesday 26th April. Ms Afarin Chitsaz was sentenced to 10 years; Mr Ehsan Mazandarani was given a seven year sentence; Mr Davood Assadi and Mr Ehsan (Saman) Safarzaie were each handed down a five year sentence. The four detained journalists previously wrote for state-run media in Iran.

They were arrested on November 2nd, 2015 in raids on their homes by intelligence agents of the Revolutionary Guards who accused them of spying for western governments.

The increasing trend of executions and human rights violations indicates that the recent visits of senior European officials to Iran, without making any public condemnations of human rights violations, are used by the mullahs’ regime as means to legitimise its internal as well external brutal and unacceptable actions. That is the reason why we once again urge the European leaders to publicly condemn the human rights violations in Iran, as this is what the people of Iran expect from Europe. Any expansion of relationship with Iran must be conditioned on the halt of executions and a clear improvement on the state of human rights in the country.

Trade Trips to Iran Bore No Economic Fruit

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s the Iranian regime was forced to make concessions in its nuclear deals with the 5+1, European trade officials imagined Iran was a new market to conquer predicting more than $1 trillion of investment over ten years as British trade officials reported in January 2016.

Soon after the IAEA, the international nuclear watchdog, said Iran had fulfilled the terms of an agreement with big powers, European leaders rushed to Iran in search of high profits and their firms announced deals potentially worth billions.

Yet, things proved to be harder than expected. Western companies are now surrounded by uncertainties in their deals with Iran. At first glance, the biggest problem seems to be a lack of finance. America continues to deny firms that operate in Iran access to its financial system and since 2009 it has imposed $14 billion in fines on those dealing with Iran. The Economist magazine wrote in an article on 23rd April 2016: “We can’t sell to Iran because our bank won’t accept payment,” said a British producer of drilling parts for oil platforms, who has stayed out of Iran’s market for the past six years.

But as we look deeper, trade deals with Iran are thwarted both in the US and Europe for reasons that remain unchanged and are closely related to the nature of the Iranian regime, its aggressive international

policies and corrupt economy.

First, even though the nuclear sanctions have been lifted, other sanctions imposed on Iran by the US and EU due to terrorism and human rights abuses act like a heavy weight on economic relations of the West with Iran. These sanctions remain in place as no improvement is evident in these fields. Iran is still the world’s number one executioner per capita and it is still actively involved in terrorist activities and meddling in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain and other countries of the region with its usual rhetoric.

Second, Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has completely seized major fields of Iran’s economy, particularly the entire oil and petrochemical industry. The exact amount of its wealth in unknown but some economists estimate it to several hundred billion Euros. The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on IRGC-affiliated companies since it is conducting terrorist military operations in the region and elsewhere.

Thus, Pierre Fabiani, former head of the French TOTAL company in Iran says: “I recommend to all our companies to accurately investigate on whether their Iranian trade interlocutors are affiliated with the IRGC and if so, just skip any trade partnership with them.”

Rouhani neither wants nor can reduce the IRGC’s economical influence. He travelled to Paris in January 2016 and there was not even one IRGC member in the delegation of 100 companies that accompanied him. Yet, the majority of the trade contracts signed in Paris were for the IRGC-affiliated companies, simply because there is no important company in Iran that is not affiliated with the IRGC. Third and the most important issue of all, is the uncertainty created by the pervasive corruption within the rotten religious dictatorship ruling Iran. Iran’s wealth is in the pockets of Khamenei, the IRGC generals and a handful of high-ranking authorities of the regime who

IRAN LIBERATION - www.ncr-iran.org/May 7, 2016

Continued on page 8

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Maryam Rajavi’s Message on May Day

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ddressing the Iranian workers, Maryam Rajavi stated in her May Day message: “The mullahs' crisis-riddled regime is vulnerable to your unity of action and joint struggle. Your persistence on demanding your inalienable rights is part of the struggle of the whole nation to overthrow the ruling religious tyranny.”

She remembered the Iranian worker, Shahrokh Zamani, who was jailed for his efforts to establish labour syndicates in Iran and lost his life last year as a result of the inhumane treatment by Khamenei’s henchmen in prison.

Referring to the horrible situation of workers under Rouhani, she said: “Workers lost their jobs and livelihood in the course of the unremitting trend of factories going bankrupt which led to the shutdown of 60% of industrial centres. They were not even able to receive their unpaid dues.

“The sale and fraudulent auctions of factories, the economic corruption and expansion of black markets, alongside the bankruptcy of banks and stepped-up import of foreign goods, target Iran's workers as their prime victims.

Rouhani’s anti-Worker Budget

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Statement by: NCRI Labour Committee on May Day

r. Abbas Davari, chairman of the NCRI Labour Committee, “greeted workers across Iran on May Day” and said: This day promises victory over the oppressors and overthrow of the mullahs' anti-workers regime, and the establishment of popular sovereignty in our captive country. Two years and nine months after Rouhani came to power, the economic policies of the regime are still serving the interests of monopolized institutions and companies related to Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards, and the conditions of workers have continuously

“For years, the minimum wage of workers has remained at one dollar per hour. Their purchasing power, however, has plunged 187% since 2009. According to the regime's officials, 60% of workers are not in any position to receive even their minimum wages while the one-dollaran-hour wage of Iranian laborers is not even one-fourth of workers' wages in the world's most crisis-riddled economies, such as Greece.”

Describing the living conditions of workers in Asalouyeh, Mrs. Rajavi said: “In their advertisements, the mullahs call Asalouyeh the nation's "Great Oil Civilization" or "Energy Capital." However, they have piled up tens of thousands of workers in small, crowded, filthy rooms filled with bugs. Workers receive little and low-quality food and get poisoned frequently. Their transportation is quite old and every year, a considerable number of workers get killed in road accidents. Drinking water is virtually non-existent, health clinics are not adequate, while narcotic drugs are easily at hand. So, workers have been doomed to live in near-slavery conditions in this industrial town.”

She concluded that the workers’ demands such as freedom of independent organizations, the right to stage strikes and protest gatherings, abolition of temporary and white contracts, disbanding of major contractors of labour force, prompt payment of wages and all past-due demands, provision of health and unemployment insurance, all pose a threat to the regime's existence. So, achieving every single one of such demands is intertwined with the struggle for regime change. deteriorated during this period.

On April 13th, 2016, Rouhani’s budget for Iran’s New Year was approved in the amount of 952 thousand billion tomans. A simple glance at the budget shows that payment of the workers’ wages and fulfilling their welfare has not been considered in this budget at all. The bulk of the budget is spent on the military, security, foreign warmongering, and huge propaganda apparatus of the regime, all of which serve to repress the society. In addition, a large part of the budget with nested footnotes is spent on institutions affiliated to Khamenei and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and suppressive bodies.

Mr. Davari urged the International Labor Organization, trade unions and syndicates and all human rights advocates around the world to condemn the anti-worker policies by the clerical regime by all possible means and to defend the rights of Iranian workers.

70% of People Are Unemployed in 1200 Towns in Iran

15 million Iranians are living in slums, deputy minister admits

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he Iranian regime’s Deputy Interior Minister Morteza MirBagheri has acknowledged that the rate of unemployment has reached 70 percent in 1200 towns and between 40 to 60 percent in 420 entire counties across Iran, the state-run ISNA news agency reported on Tuesday, April 12th.

Mir-Bagheri emphasized that the rising level of poverty during Hassan Rouhani’s presidency has contributed to a number of other social problems, including an unparalleled spike in the divorce rate.

“The ratio of marriage to divorce in the country on average is 100 to 23.6,” he said. “In other words, of each 100 marriages, 23.6 end up in divorce.”

Mir-Bagheri acknowledged that nearly 15 million Iranians are deprived of even the most basic social services. “We have 10 million people living in slums, with five million living in ghettos. We have a number of projects to cut down on the population of suburbs… There has been a 100% growth in the number of people living in slums.”

The deputy minister also pointed to the spike in addiction and the regime’s inability to deal with it. “The trend of addiction is worrisome in our country since it is reaching the lower ages and we have a higher percentage of female addicts. The drugs used are also a source of added concern. In previous decades more traditional drugs

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were consumed, but presently, regrettably, a quarter of the drugs are industrial hard drugs. In the past, narcotics entered the country through the borders, but the industrial material can be produced domestically.”

Mir-Bagheri went on to say that 90% of those who are referred to drug rehabilitation centers relapse back into addition. “700,000 people are referred to these centers annually… [but] for every 100 people who enter these centers, [only] 10 are cured,” he explained.

The senior official of Rouhani's government referred to a meeting of government officials with the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the topic of social vulnerabilities. “In this meeting,” he said, “priority issues such as addiction, large suburban populations, divorce, and moral and social corruption were discussed.” He added that these issues will again be taken up in the next few weeks in a meeting with Khamenei himself. “In the supreme leader’s Nowruz message, his Excellency referred to the relation between a ‘resistance economy’ and the reduction of social vulnerabilities, which shows the supreme leader’s interest in the issue of social vulnerabilities.” http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/society/20181-70-of-people-areunemployed-in-1200-towns-in-iran

IRAN LIBERATION - www.ncr-iran.org/May 7, 2016

26th Anniversary of Kazem Rajavi’s Assassination by Iran’s Regime

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pril 24th marks the 26th anniversary of the assassination of Professor Kazem Rajavi, a renowned defender of human rights in Iran and the elder brother of Iranian Resistance leader Massoud Rajavi, by a terrorist hit squad of the mullahs’ regime.

At the age of 56, Prof. Kazem Rajavi held six doctorate degrees in the fields of law, political science, and sociology from the universities of Paris and Geneva.

In 1971 he established the Swiss Society for Defense of Iranian Political Prisoners with the help of a resident of Geneva by the name of Christian Grobet who later became head of government advisors during the years 1986 to 1993. Kazem’s younger brother Massoud Rajavi had been condemned to death on political charges by the Shah. Kazem succeeded in commuting the sentence to life in prison.

He was Iran's first Ambassador to the United Nations headquarters in Geneva following the 1979 revolution. Shortly after his appointment,

he resigned his post in protest against the "repressive policies and terrorist activities of the ruling clerics in Iran." He then intensified his campaign against mass executions, arbitrary arrests, and torture carried out by Iran’s theocratic leadership.

He became the representative of the main opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Switzerland and at the UN in Geneva. In Geneva he was also a university professor.

His resolve in the struggle against the new regime that systematically trampled upon human rights led to the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur for Iran and the first resolution on Iran at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

Dr. Rajavi had been threatened with his life. In the hall of the UN Headquarters, a diplomat-terrorist of the regime once shouted at him: “We will kill you!”

In 1986, then-Supreme Leader of the mullahs’ regime Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa for Dr. Rajavi to be killed.

On 24th April 1990, he was gunned down in broad daylight by several agents of the Iranian regime’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) as he was driving to his home in Coppet, a village near Geneva.

Dr. Rajavi's assassination required enormous resources, extensive planning, and coordination among several of the regime's organizations. After extensive investigations, Roland Chatelain, the Swiss magistrate in charge of the case, and Swiss judicial and police officials confirmed the role of Iran's government under Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the participation of thirteen official agents of the Iranian regime who had used "service passports" to enter Switzerland for their plot.

Swiss magistrates later issued an international arrest warrant for a former Iranian intelligence minister, Ali Fallahian. Fallahian and 13 Iranian diplomat-terrorists are wanted on charges of murdering Dr. Rajavi.

Condemn the inhumane and illegal Australian policy of indefinite detention of asylum seekers arriving by boat

T

he Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran on April 30th expressed their profound sorrow to the family of Omid Masoumali, the Iranian refugee who set himself on fire in protest at his indefinite detention on Nauru, and who died on April 29th. “We honour the short life of Omid Masoumali, who was persecuted because he defied the Iranian dictatorship, and we condemn the brutalism of the Australian government policy which in the end achieved what the Iranian dictatorship wanted – Omid’s death,” said spokesperson, Peter Murphy.

“The Australian government is in alliance with the Iranian dictatorship today, and cares nothing for the Iranian people, and people throughout

the region, who suffer under its terrorism,” said Mr Murphy. “That is why the Immigration Minister and Foreign Minister can continue to demand the forced return of Iranian asylum seekers and refugees to Iran, which is completely illegal.

“We join with the broad Australian support movement for refugees in calling for the immediate closure of the illegal Manus Island and Nauru Detention Centres, for the landing of all the residents of these detention centres in Australia and the lawful processing of their applications or their immediate settlement in Australia. We fully endorse the call by the Iranian Resistance for the international community to condemn the Australian government policy,” Mr Murphy concluded.

Photos of the Manus Island and Nauru Detention Centres and a drawing by a child who is there.

IRAN LIBERATION - www.ncr-iran.org/May 7, 2016

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n April 8th, 2016, G e r m a n y ’s federal prosecutor announced in a statement that it has filed charges against two Iranian regime’s intelligence paid hands for spying against the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The statement stipulates that there is sufficient suspicion to establish that Maysam Panahi from January 2013 and Saeid Rahmani from August 2014 have been working for Iran’s secret service. Their mission was to obtain information on the PMOI and NCRI in Germany or other EU countries. According to prosecutor’s statement, Panahi has been in detention since 28th October 2015.

In the prosecutor’s statement of October 28th it is stated that Panahi received money from the Iranian intelligence (MOIS) in return for his espionage activities.

As announced by the Iranian Resistance on October 28th, 2015, Panahi and his accomplices were expelled from Camp Liberty since April 2012. They subsequently went to Mohajer Hotel in Baghdad that is under Iranian regime’s MOIS and terrorist Qods Force control. There, they were organized and briefed on their mission by a veteran MOIS agent and member of Qods Force by the name of Kiyanmehr with the pseudonym Sajjad.

Sajjad has been working with the regime’s intelligence apparatusfor

30 years and has been involved in terrorist operations in the region.

He was the man who recruited Massoud Dalili Dakhel after he left Ashraf and went to Mohajer Hotel such that he became the guide for the force that assaulted Ashraf on September 1st, 2013 killing 52 PMOI members. To get rid of their traces after this savage crime, the assaulting force killed Dalali as well and burned his face with acid so that he could not have been recognized.

Following the disclosure of MOIS spies last October, MOIS compelled its paid hands to write numerous articles and letters in order to exert pressure on the German judiciary to thwart referral of the agents’ files to court and the subsequent trapping of other MOIS paid hands.

The Iranian Resistance welcomes the fact that German prosecutors have brought to justice the case of espionage targeting the PMOI and NCRI and calls on the German government and relevant officials to disclose details of the case of espionage and illegal activities of the Iranian regime and its paid hands in Germany. This is an imperative step to prevent these criminal activities.

The Iranian Resistance also strongly warns of the perils of the presence of MOIS agents in European countries and the United States for the security of Iranian refugees. In particular it urges Germany and other EU member states to implement the April 1997 decision of the EU Council to try, punish and expel the intelligence agents and paid hands of the religious fascism ruling Iran.

Continued from page 5

To sum up, relations with America are unlikely to warm up quickly.

America says Iran’s regime is violating the spirit of the international deal, by launching missiles and more. Besides, this regime’s abhorrent record on human rights and terrorism is unlikely to improve in the near future. The IRGC is unlikely to ignore its hard and mafialike grasp on Iran’s economy, and corruption is part and parcel of this regime. Therefore, trade trips to Iran by European leaders are definitely not going to help Iran’s economy and are not going to result in any reliable profits for western investors either. It will only lead to more suppressive acts and executions by the regime and it will also damage the reputation of Europe in the eyes of the Iranian people who wholeheartedly desire the fall of this regime.

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Trade Trips to Iran Resulted in No Economic Fruits

have big, hidden economic interests. Huge amounts of embezzlement and plunder are being disclosed on a daily basis during the internal fighting of the regime’s rival factions. As a result, the nation is suffering from high rates of unemployment and inflation and the majority of the Iranian people are living under the poverty line. Therefore, the Western luxury-goods firms are badly mistaken to see an opportunity in Iran since many consumers are short of cash to buy their goods.

Assist us in campaign for freedom, democracy and human rights

The NCRI News Bulletin, Iran Liberation, publishedsince 1984, has reported continusly on the human rights violations in Iran, echoing the cries of the Iranian people for freedom and the honoring of an their human dignity. Our efforts have played an important role in exposing the spread of terrorism and fundamentalism

8

as well as nuclear proliferation by the reigning mullahs.

A significant amount of our work is undertaken by volunteers, yet in order to meet the inevitable costs of publication and the expansion of our activities, we ask for your generosity in donating to our organisation. We ask you kindly to assist us in our endeavours to bring freedom, democracy and respect for human rights to Iran by donating to www.ncr.org under the ‘Donate’ section. Wthank you in advance for your generosity.

The website of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran provides the Latest news and analysis on Iran and covers issues pertinent to the state of affairs in the country as well as policy on Iran: www.ncr-iran.org You can also follow us on Twitter: @iran_policy or via Facebook: facebook.com/IranNCR

IRAN LIBERATION - www.ncr-iran.org/May 7, 2016