National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – Web Developer

Iranian Political Prisoner Writes an Open Letter On The Anniversary Of The 1988 Massacre

Fatemeh Ziaii Azad (Hoorieh), an Iranian political prisoner imprisoned in the infamous Evin prison in Tehran, wrote an open letter to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988.

The 56-year-old woman had previously been jailed several times. She was five years in prison from 1981 to 1986 for supporting the Organization of People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). In January 2009, she was imprisoned because she went to the "Mojahedin base in Iraq" to visit her two daughters. She was released at the end of 2010. She was arrested again in June 2013, but was released only a few months later due to her age and health problems. Then she was arrested again in 2014 with her husband Mahmood Azimi. Her husband was released shortly after and Fatemeh was released the following year, both on bail of one billion rails each.

Fatemeh was sentenced to 1.5 years of prison during her bail and is currently serving her sentence. She was taken to the women's ward of Evin prison to begin her sentence on April 9, 2019.

In her open letter, she paid tribute to the martyrs who lost their lives during the 1988 massacre in their quest for freedom, saying they died while defending their values. "In the summer of 1988, freedom-loving swallows faced the gallows with smiles on their faces and were executed just for saying "no” and defending their right and benefits."

He also pointed out the cruelty of the act, highlighting that many of the victims of the 1988 massacre had already served their sentences or come to the end of their sentences.

Fatemeh said that the regime was trying to extinguish the democratic organization that fights for the regime change, Mujahedin-e Khalq, and the love for freedom that prevailed at the time. The regime's biggest threat was the opposition and tried to get rid of it right away.

She said that the silence of the international community, especially of the West, is something that the people of Iran have had to get used to. Fatemeh said: "In those days, nobody said what happened to young freedom lovers, and unfortunately, Western societies were silent with their appeasement and securing their interests. Also, while families clamored in front of the UN offices In European countries, they turned a blind eye to the truth so that their interests were not compromised. It has always been and will be so in the history of Iran."

Fatemeh said that when the audio file containing Hossein-Ali Montazeri's objection to the 1988 massacre was transmitted, calls for justice were renewed. She said that this even led the younger generations to seek the truth and justice. Montazeri was the designated successor of Khomeini in 1988. He was removed for speaking out against the 1988 massacre.

"When Mr. Montazeri's audio file was published and his protest was transmitted over the executions of 1988, the picture was clarified for the Iranian people, and this led young people to want to discover the truth even after 40 years." Of course, they (the regime) try to confuse the facts with biased videos and books that are manufactured and published so that the truth is lost and blurred. "

U.S. Administration’s Bold Moves Against Iran Regime

Tensions between Iran and the United States have been heating up in recent weeks. Last week, Patrick Shanahan, the acting Defense Secretary spoke to administration officials about the U.S. military plan that could see up to 120,000 troops being sent to the Middle East in the event that Iran steps up its nuclear weapons program or attacks U.S. forces.
A number of President Trump’s top officials are wanting to push ahead with bold moves. His national security adviser John Bolton is one of those that will not treat Iran lightly. He is said to be the driving force behind the military plan.

However, there are other administration officials who are a little more cautious about Iran, precisely because the threat is so high. Several have said that they would prefer a diplomatic solution to the issues and are concerned that the current tensions could inadvertently spiral into war.
The Iran threat is one that needs to be dealt with carefully. The previous administration under Obama treated Iran with great leniency and gave the regime a number of very generous concessions during the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiations. This strategy was a failure because it emboldened the regime.
The Trump administration is very conscious of the mistakes of the previous administration and it is determined to reduce the threat. It has realized that not putting pressure on the regime is a mistake because the regime takes it as a green light to continue with its belligerence. One case in point is that some regime leaders have taken an even bolder stance after Trump wound down in Syria and decreased U.S. navy presence in the region.
The people of Iran are the first victims of the regime, as Trump reminded last year. They are calling for regime change and will settle for nothing less, after years of promises that have not been kept. Pressure from the international community is a tremendous support to the people of Iran who are intensifying domestic pressure.
The people will be the force behind regime change but the international community’s responsibility is to make the regime accountable for its actions. Decades of human rights abuses and domestic suppression need to be dealt with now.
The regime is in the most vulnerable place it has ever been and this is when it could potentially be dangerous so the policy of exerting the maximum pressure should go on and the international community should more than ever listen to the only viable alternative which is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) with its President-elect Maryam Rajavi.

NEW REPORT SHOWS HOW IRAN REGIME SPREAD 'FAKE NEWS' ONLINE

The Iranian regime has been caught once again spreading misinformation and 'fake news' online, according to a report published on May 14, 2019 by a research group at the University of Toronto.

'Endless Mayfly' is an Iran-aligned network of inauthentic websites and online personas used to spread false and divisive information primarily targeting the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Israel.

Endless Mayfly publishes divisive content on websites that impersonate legitimate media outlets. Inauthentic personas are then used to amplify the content into social media conversations. In some cases, these personas also privately and publicly engage journalists, political dissidents, and activists.

Once Endless Mayfly content achieves social media traction, it is deleted and the links are redirected to the domain being impersonated. This technique creates an appearance of legitimacy while obscuring the origin of the false narrative. This technique is also known as “ephemeral disinformation”.

The investigation identifies cases where Endless Mayfly content led to incorrect media reporting and caused confusion among journalists, and accusations of intentional wrongdoing. Even in cases where stories were later debunked, confusion remained about the intentions and origins behind the stories.

The Iranian regime has published a host of misinformation and 'fake news' reports against the leading Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq or MEK Iran, and Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi on IUVM Press, AWD News, Whatsupic, Yemen Press, and Liberty Fighters.

"Endless Mayfly’s narratives systematically benefit Iranian interests or fit within familiar propaganda narratives already used by the Iranian government. For example, the extensive critical content concerning Saudi Arabia fits with themes that are regularly observed in Iranian public statements and propaganda."

IRGC Terror Designation Should Lead to More Pressure

Last week, the White House announced the designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Prior administrations had toyed with this idea but had always stopped short, opting instead to impose sanctions only on individuals associated with the paramilitary, and particularly with its foreign special operations division, the Quds Force.

President Trump’s decision to break this impasse is emblematic of his Iran policy, which has come to be defined by the phrase “maximum pressure.” That phrase was again invoked by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the FTO designation. Without giving any specific details of the game plan, Pompeo made it clear that the White House would continue to “ratchet up pressure” on the ruling regime in the interest of compelling Iran to “behave like a normal country.”

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has long sought to emphasize the IRGC’s role in both of the fundamental pillars on which Tehran’s strategy for its own survival depends: the domestic repression of dissent and the foreign projection of power via asymmetrical warfare. Both have been on prominent display in recent years, and particularly in 2018, when nationwide protests against the government led to a new round of clashes between the public and security forces, including the IRGC. At the same time, Western authorities began uncovering a series of Iranian terror plots that, if not thwarted, could have led to large numbers of deaths in both Europe and North America. Not to mention the uptick in Tehran’s proxy war against Israel.

Iran’s domestic unrest is indicative of what can be accomplished by the Iranian people, particularly when organized and guided by Iran’s strongest resistance units led by the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The mass uprising last year stretched the repressive capabilities of the IRGC to their limit. Had the IRGC been weakened ahead of time by global economic isolation, the public protests might have forced the clerical regime further into domestic isolation, precipitating its collapse.

In the absence of such change, the Islamic Republic has continued to behave quite unlike a “normal country.” Its actions on the world stage have been indicative of its escalating desperation in the face of dual pressures from its own people and the international community. This only serves to underscore the imperative of continuing those pressures. Hence, the IRGC’s terror designation has come at a crucial moment in history. If it is only one in a series of ongoing steps, as Pompeo suggested, then it could be a significant step toward the positive transformation of Iran and the broader Middle East.

The question then arises: what is the next step? What further pressures would be as important and as effective as blacklisting the Revolutionary Guards? A closer look at last year’s terror plots may hold a clue. Although the IRGC is instrumental in the proliferation of Iran’s terrorist proxies across the Middle East, the regime’s global reach is often spearheaded by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). Many MOIS agents operate under diplomatic cover, as did the mastermind behind a thwarted plot to set off explosives at a rally of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) near Paris on June 30, 2018.

NCRI Welcomes IRGC Designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

The representative in Washington for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), welcomed the designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the Secretary of State, which took effect last week.

“The IRGC is not just a terror machine. It controls the lion’s share of the Iranian economy. It controls many economic conglomerates, from oil, gas and petrochemicals, to pharmaceutical, food, and farm products to banking, investment, the auto, airline, aerospace, and shipping industries, ports, highway and railway construction, and much more,” said the NCRI US representative, adding, “All such entities must be identified and blacklisted.”

She emphasized that with the IRGC now designated, it is time to focus on classifying the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) as an FTO. “Just in 2018, five Iranian regime diplomats, including an Ambassador were expelled by France, The Netherlands, and Albania, all on terrorism charges, one diplomat is in jail for delivering the deadly explosives in a failed terror plot in Paris, and a dozen other MOIS agents have been detained in Europe and the United States,” the representative recalled.

The MOIS and the IRGC actively work together in hatching terror plots and assassinations outside Iran.

Since 1981, the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its main component, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, also known as MEK Iran, have repeatedly underscored the role of the IRGC in domestic repression, warmongering, terrorism and hostage-taking abroad.

In a series of books, publications, as well as press conferences and panels, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has detailed the Rise of the Revolutionary Guards Financial Empire and, how with the blessing of the regime’s Supreme Leader, it managed to gradually gain control of a large segment of the Iranian economy, using the revenues and the profits to fund its terrorist operations in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and beyond.