Policy on Iran and Desperate Attempts to Discredit the MEK

‌By Farzin Hashemi- Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI
Over the past week, once again policy on Iran was widely discussed in the media. Simultaneously, in recent weeks there has been more growing call for a new approach toward Iranian opposition, the #MEK. The announcement by the US National Security Advisor that “Iran is officially on notice” drew much attention. This position was followed by more Tweets from President Trump and a new round of sanctions, raising the prospect of a change of policy in the US approach towards Iran. As far as the Iranian Resistance, and its components including the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (#MEK/#PMOI), is concerned imposing sanctions against a number of individuals and companies affiliated to the clerical regime for their role in missile proliferation is a positive step in confronting the illegitimate and terrorist dictatorship whose record includes 120,000 political executions. Simultaneously, they are engaged in a massive disinformation campaign to discredit the democratic opposition, the #MEK and the coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), led by its President-elect Maryam Rajavi. By spreading fake news about the #MEK/#PMOI, originated from the Ministry of Intelligence of the mullahs’ regime and the intelligence section of the IRGC, their objective is to convey this false message that there is no viable opposition and the world must accept and deal with the religious dictatorship ruling Iran. Thus, the core of the issue is not their debunked allegations but their hidden agenda to maintain the policy of appeasement.

Ending up appeasment policy with mullahs in Iran

Appeasement of Iran Must End
A tumultuous year lies ahead. With a new administration taking the helm in Washington, the French elections upcoming, then the sham “elections” in Iran, and unprecedented developments in the making in the Middle East and on the international stage.
2017 has begun with enormous concerns for the mullahs in Iran. With the death of former Iranian regime president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran’s establishment witnessed the fall of one of its two pillars. With the regime weakness bringing joy to the Iranian population, the mullahs are left terrified of a repeat of uprisings on the model of 2009. This is especially significant with crucial presidential “elections” coming in May. The Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the most ruthless factions of his regime have the main source of distributing terrorism and instability across this flashpoint region. In fact, their presence in Syria guarantees the mullahs’ continued rule back home. No political solution is possible in the Levant as long as the IRGC and their Shiite militias are present in the country. Thus, if we seek peace in this land, the only serious path forward lies in expelling the mullahs from Syria. The main party in detriment from a ceasefire and eventual peace in Syria is none other than Tehran. Today’s Iran has an alternative with a democratic agenda based on respecting religious freedoms, universal suffrage, separation of church and state, and gender equality. The voice of this alternative should be heard, as proposed by nearly two dozen senior top U.S. officials in a hand-delivered letter to President Donald Trump. This alternative is none other than the National Council of Resistance of Iran under the leadership of Maryam Rajavi, who years ago presented her vision for a future Iran in a 10-point-plan.

Iran: Activist woman arrested, her fate remains unknown

Shahnaz Akmali lost her son, Mostafa Karim-Beigi, during the 2009 uprising in Iran

In the early hours of Wednesday, January 25, 2017, anti-death penalty and human rights activist, Shahnaz Akmali was arrested by plainclothes agents and taken to an unknown location.
Ms. Akmali lost her son, Mostafa Karim-Beigi, during the 2009 uprising in Iran and has been active since then to demand the rights of victims of execution and political prisoners and their families.
A source close to Karim-Beigi family said, "Five or six plainclothes agents went to Ms. Akmali's residence and searched the house thoroughly. They confiscated and took away with them all of her belongings including her electronic communication devices."

UN Urges Iran Not to Execute Man Convicted While a Juvenile

FILE - A police cameraman takes video footage of the hanging of a convicted murderer at Jamshidieh park in Tehran, Oct. 27, 2002.

The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is urging Iran to stop the execution of a man who was a juvenile when sentenced in 2012. Sajad Sanjari was 15 years old when an Iranian court sentenced him to death for fatally stabbing a man. In 2014, he was granted a retrial under a new Islamic Penal Code, but the following year, a provincial criminal court rejected his argument that he acted in self-defense against a would-be rapist. The court confirmed the death sentence, saying Sanjari was mature enough to understand the nature of his crime. This ruling was upheld by Iran's Supreme Court last year.
A spokesman for the human rights office, Rupert Colville, says Iran is one of a few countries that still executes juvenile offenders. He says the use of capital punishment on anyone under the age of 18 is a violation of international human rights law. "At least five juveniles were reportedly executed in Iran last year,” Colville said, “and at least 78 people reportedly remain on death row for crimes they committed when they were under 18, although the actual figure may be much higher than that. " The number of executions in Iran is difficult to pin down, Colville tells VOA, because of the opaque system of government. "According to various NGO [non-governmental organization] sources, the number of people executed in 2016, last year, was over 500 — 530 according to some,” Colville said. “The vast majority is said to be for drug offenses."

Under international law, the death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes — those involving intentional killing. Human rights experts say drug-related offenses do not meet that bar. The United Nations is calling for an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in Iran because of the high number of executions and concerns that defendants do not receive fair trials. Iran As a party to the ICCPR & is legally obliged 2 forbid torture & other cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Maryam Rajavi President-elect of NCRI urges referral of the clerical regime's dossier of crimes to the UN Security Council The religious fascism ruling Iran has kicked off the New Year with merciless executions en mass. The execution of at least 57 prisoners, mostly youths, has been registered in Iran since the beginning of 2017. Twenty of the victims were hanged on Saturday, January 14, 2017, in Gohardasht Prison, the Central Prison of Karaj, the Lakan Prison of Rasht, and the Dizelabad Prison of Kermanshah.

Iran's Middle East ambitions more dangerous than nuclesar threat

Iran, chasing a strategic objective of safeguarding its very existence, sees its interests in hindering any efforts to reach a lasting peace, while canvassing its role as an effective party in the war against ISIS.
It is worth noting that hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians seeking life under a free state are paying the price of Khamenei’s ruthless dictatorship. Iran’s meddling in the region and provoking sectarianism have rendered increasing fundamentalism and the rise of Daesh and al-Qaeda. Parallel to appeasing Iran to maintain the mullahs at the negotiating table, silence and inaction seen from the West in the Middle East, especially by the Obama administration, have further intensified the Levant inferno and complicated regional conditions, especially Syria. To this end, Iran has been the main benefactor as a result. The status quo further proves a warning issued by Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). “Four years ago I warned the threat of the mullahs’ meddling in Iraq is 100 times more dangerous than its nuclear ambitions,” Rajavi said in a speech on June 30, 2007 in Paris. Although Iran failed to obtain nuclear weapons thanks to continuous NCRI revelations, Tehran’s destructive meddling and crimes carried out by affiliated Shiite militias in Iraq, Syria and abroad are far more dangerous. This campaign has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people throughout the region, leveled cities and displaced millions.
Tehran’s interventions in the Middle East have brought any and all efforts to establish peace, stability, and security to a complete halt. Of course, this is not due to Tehran’s strength and capabilities. In fact, it is all the byproduct of inaction, silence, and policy of appeasement adopted by the West vis-à-vis Iran, and 16 years of strategic mistakes by Washington in this flashpoint region of the globe.

Maryam Rajavi addresses the French National Assembly: Middle East Developments, French and European Approaches

Occupying Iraq and delivering the country in a silver plate to Iran, parallel to disarming the leading organized opposition entity, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), were all gifts provided by the West and U.S. to the leading state sponsor of terrorism. Without a doubt any involvement of Iran in the war against Daesh will only register as an aberration in establishing regional peace and security, forcing the international community to pinpoint resources on derivatives of Iran’s terrorism crusade.

Solution
Of course, true and lasting Middle East peace and security are only possible through regime change in Iran and the establishment of a democratic and secular government in Tehran. This is the objective set by the Iranian opposition under Mrs. Rajavi’s leadership. Her 10-point-plan for the future Iran, enjoys the support of thousands of MPs, political, religious, legal and civil dignitaries across the globe. Abi-partisan letter signed by 23 former top officeholders in the past five administrations to the president-elect urges the incoming Trump administration "to establish a dialogue with Iran's exiled resistance, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)," which has called for free elections to establish a secular, democratic, non-nuclear republic in Iran as well as an end to what it calls Tehran's "religious dictatorship." Middle East stability can only be achieved in bringing an end to Iran’s meddling in Syria and across the region. With Iran evicted from the Middle East all forms of fundamentalism, including Daesh, will have no reason to exist. And naturally, the West will be relieved of the current wave of lethal terrorist attacks.

Iran - Maryam Rajavi: With the Death of Rafsanftni one of the Two Pillars of the Ruling Theocrascy Collapses

IRANIAN EXILED OPPOSITION   

Maryam Rajavi, the leadr of the political arm the Iranian opposition group mujahedeen-e-Khalq,(MEK/PMOI) said in a statement that she hoped the Iranian regime would fall apartwith Rafsanjani's passing. “With the death of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the two pillars and key to the equilibrium of the religious fascism ruling Iran has collapsed and the regime in its entirety is approaching overthrow,” she said. Maryam Rafavi said Over the past 38 years, whether under Khomeini or afterwards, Rafsanjani played a critical role in suppression at home and export of terrorism abroad as

well as in the quest to acquire nuclear weapons. Rafsanjani who had always been the regime's number two, acted as its balancing factor and played a decisive role in its preservation. Now, the regime will lose its internal and external equilibrium. #MaryamRajavi:In 2006,#Rafsanjani was implicated by #Argentinian investigators in 1 of the deadliest instances of #Iran'ian #terrorism abroad. A 1994 suicide truck bombing of the AMIA Jewish

community center in #BuenosAires, in which 85 people were killed. 

The international community should end its silence and inaction over Iran ’s crimes

As we wind down the highly turbulent year of 2016, a look back at Iran’s record in these 12 months is quite necessary. And rest assured there is nothing to brag about. From a human rights perspective, 2016 was the stage where Iran resorted to some of the worst atrocities from 1979 to this day. Tehran, with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, increased group executions of minorities while imposing a much heavier crackdown against rights and political advocates, as reported by Human Rights Watch. Iran remains the world’s leading executioner per capita and tops the ranks in juvenile executions, according to Amnesty International.

As unveiled in a sound file of the late Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, in line to lead the regime following founder Ruhollah Khomeini, perpetrators behind the summer #1988Massacre of 30,000 political prisoners–mostly members and supporters of the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (#PMOI/#MEK)–are currently enjoying senior regime posts in the Rouhani cabinet. This rendered increasing meddling and lethal military intervention in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and beyond, including the recent horrific scenes of Aleppo. Tehran also supported the Bashar Assad regime through intensified advisory, financial, intelligence and weapons support to notorious Shiite militias and what was left of the crumbling Assad army. One can hardly argue against the fact that Iran enjoyed eight years of appeasement from the Obama administration, providing much needed financial relief for Tehran. Despite all this, the regime also needed to continue to portray an anti-American image for its dwindling domestic base.

The international community must end its silence and inaction over Iran’s crimes inside the country and throughout the Middle East, as advocated by Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella group of numerous organizations seeking peaceful regime change in #Iran. The policies adopted in 2016 by the West, and especially Washington, provided Iran the money and opportunity to pursue its domestic and foreign policies. The international community should take the opportunity of a new U.S. administration in 2017 to launch a new and principled approach vis-à-vis Iran. 
This will pave the path to resolve humanitarian and political crises engulfing the Middle East, bring an end to Iran’s meddling and support the Iranian people.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/313133-iran-in-2016-exploiting-obamas-appeasement-policy

Kia is a political analyst and member of the Iranian opposition, the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, also known as MEK). He graduated from North Texas University.

Iran - The political prisoner “Ali Moezzi” was abducted in prison

NCRI-“#Ali Moezzi” Pol prisoner of 1980s,& father of 2 #PMOI/#MEK members was abducted by unknown ppl in Gohardasht Prison in Karaj. This morning in an unusual and unprecedented way Ali Moezi, the political prisoner, was called to the clinic of the prison. After he met his family at 10:00 am and while he was returning to his cell, he was abducted by unknown people and it is not clear where he is now, and how is his condition. The mullah’s regime is responsible for the condition of this political prisoner and must be held totally accountable. The National Council of Resistance of Iran call for support him. 

What Is Iran’s Syria Policy After Donald Trump?

The election of Donald Trump as the new president of the United States came as an expected turn of events. The mullahs took full advantage of the appeasement policy adopted by U.S. President Barack Obama and his administration, especially to fuel the Syria war in support of ally Bashar Assad.
Yet with a new administration in Washington, Tehran is extremely disturbed over how to maintain its grip over the region, with a special focus on Syria. Considering Syria its 35th province, Iran deployed its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to take command of the troops fighting against Syrian opposition forces.

The rise of ISIS
The war in Syria, dragging for years due to Iran’s meddling, paved the grounds for the rise of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL).
“ISIS was created by Assad releasing 1,500 prisoners from jail and Maliki releasing 1,000 people in Iraq who were put together as a force of terror types,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a previous interview with Fox News. 
The role of Russia
Iran doubled the number of its forces in Syria to 60,000 and launched “Operation Moharram” aimed at retaking vast areas from opposition control, including the flashpoint strategic city of Aleppo. Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei also ordered the regular army’s 65th Division to Aleppo.
Extent of Iran’s meddling in Syria
The budget Iran has allocated to its Syria campaign ranges around $100 billion, most sent under the disguise of Khamenei’s office to facilitate the process.
Senior Iranian military commanders are regularly inspecting the situation on the ground and numerous high-ranking officers, including Hossein Hamedani, a senior IRGC commander, have been killed.
Blueprint of Iran forces in Syria
To exert greater control over the entire war front, the IRGC has structured all pro-Assad forces fighting in Syria into five different sectors, consisting of four fronts (north, south, middle and costal) under a central command post. Known as the “Glass Building,” the command center is strategically adjacent to Damascus International Airport to provide a fast escape route for Iranian commanders in case the Syrian capital shows signs of falling.
Talking in numbers
One can reach a more extensive image of Iran’s presence in Syria when referring to the number of troops, as were reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
Looking ahead
It is quite obvious that President-elect Donald Trump will be inheriting a very complicated Syria dossier from his predecessor. Iraq and Yemen are also facing devastation due to Iran’s involvement and export of extremism and Islamic fundamentalism. As a result, the Middle East is truly on the brink of triggering a conflict of global proportions and consequences.
11 Arab states have recently issued an unprecedented letter to outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemning Iran’s meddling across the Middle East. This measure, followed by a House of Representatives resolution seeking sanctions against Syria, have sent strong signals to Tehran.

Why We Shouldn’t Worry About Giuliani’s Ties to an Iranian Resistance Group

By ROBERT G. TORRICELLI November 28, 2016

First, I want to be clear about one thing: This isn’t about Rudy Giuliani. Arguably the broadest and most impressive bipartisan coalition in a generation has supported the MEK in its campaign for regime change in Iran. This includes two former chairmen of the joint chiefs, two former CIA directors, a former attorney general and the former chairs of both political parties. The ideological range includes everyone from Howard Dean and Patrick Kennedy to Newt Gingrich and John Bolton. 

The annual gathering of Iranians in Paris in the presence of President-elect of the Iranian Resistance and a group of their supporters 

From this perspective, the outlier isn’t Rudy Giuliani; it’s Daniel Benjamin. Let’s review a little history: The MEK was part of the coalition opposing the shah of Iran in the late 1970s, where it resisted the regime through political and military action. Its leadership was devastated by the shah’s secret police both by execution and imprisonment. The vacuum of leadership was briefly filled by a Marxist group that was rejected by the incarcerated MEK leaders. Many of these Marxist leaders were killed by the shah or by the mullahs after their ascent to power in 1979, and the MEK eventually regained its original leadership. As soon as it became clear that the mullah’s ambition for Iran was a theocracy, the MEK became an opposition group and fled into exile in Paris and Iraq. Some current and former State Department employees, including Mr. Benjamin, have a different concept. 

They remain committed to the idea that the MEK was a terrorist organization—a notion, I believe, which stems from an illusion of American reconciliation with the mullahs. In 1997, a group at State succeeded in convincing President Bill Clinton to place the MEK on the State Department list of terrorist organizations. Some claimed at the time that this decision was mainly intended as a goodwill gesture to Iran. The State Department gave as its reasons the MEK’s long record of violence, but I can tell you that as a member of the Foreign Relation Committee, I reviewed the State Department file on the MEK and found no evidence, no testimony and no reason for the designation except placating Tehran. Mr. Benjamin may quarrel with his efforts but it's important to note that voices in the American foreign policy establishment as diverse as Senator McCain, Secretary Clinton, Deputy Secretary Blinken and John Kerry’s own personal representative on the MEK, Jonathan Weiner disagree. Each has thanked Rudy Giuliani and the other Americans involved in these efforts.The president-elect may or may not choose Mr. Giuliani as secretary of state. What shouldn’t happen is for countering Tehran and assisting our country to be seen as anything other than a valuable contribution to his consideration.

Iran - Ahmad Montazeri Receives Jail Sentence without a lawyer on charges of "acting national security"

NCRI - Trial of Ahmad Montazeri without a lawyer in the Special Clerical Court on charges of “acting against national security”
Today November 27, late Ayatollah Montazeri’s son Ahmad Montazeri was sentenced to imprisonment and defrocking, according to an announcement by the Montazeri’s official website. Due to publishing his father's audio files on the 1988 massacre of political prisoners in Iran, on charges of "acting against national security and propaganda against the publication of secret documents" Ahmad Montazeri has been sentenced to 21 years in prison and defrocking by the Special Clerical Court.
Iran sentences son of dissident cleric to 6 years in prison
Iran Ahmad Montazeri Sunday Special Clerical Court to six years in prison for carrying a tape recorded voice of her father's release thousands of prisoners sentenced to death in 1988 at the end of its war with Iraq condemned.
For years, Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died in 2009, the country's ruling Islamic establishment of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam was accused, and with his criticism following the disputed presidential election in June of the same year.

Tancredo: Left Targets Giuliani for Fighting Terrorism too Energetically

MayorRudy Giuliani for fighting Iran-sponsored terrorism too aggressively. Well,duh!

In a week that saw “Fake News” become the number one topic of debate among mainstream journalists, Politico decided to double down on stupidity and serve up a prime example of fake news. The Washington post dutifully echoed the false accusations to give the lie a cloak of respectability not bestowed by Politico.

Giuliani’s alleged violation was participating in events sponsored by an anti-Iran exile group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MEK), a group that has widespread bipartisan support in Congress and that even John Kerry’s State Department admits has provided valuable intelligence on Iran’s nuclear weapons program.The PMOI/MEK is the largest and most influential member of the coalition of anti-Mullah groups, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which acts as a government in exile while aiding pro-democracy forcesinside Iran.Many members of Congress in both political parties have supported the work of the PMOI/MEK, including Democrat Sen. Robert Menendez, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Rep. Ed Royce, and Sen. John McCain. Other prominent supporters include Newt Gingrich, John Bolton, former CIA Director James Woolsey, and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz. I, too, while a member of Congress and also more recently, have participated in PMOI/MEK-sponsored conferences and can personally bear witness to the group’s anti-terrorism credentials.The fallacious, unproven charges repeated by Politico‘s headline that the PMOI “killed Americans” is based largely on an incident inside Iran back in the 1970’s, before the Mullahs came to power and 25 years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.There has never been a shred of evidence that any members of the current PMOI were involved in those events, yet the American left is now using those discredited allegations to smear one of our nation’s fiercest anti-terrorism warriors, Rudy Giuliani.The charges against PMOI-MEK dredged up by Politico have been refuted by multiple investigations and are no longer given credence even by Obama’s State Department. For nearly two decades, those allegations arising from events in the 1970’s were used as a basis for listing the PMOI/MEK as a terrorist organization.

• However, secret cables later revealed that the reason for that State Department listing in 1997 was Iran’s insistence on the listing as a condition for “normalizing” diplomatic relations.
• In 2012, the State Department removed the group from that list because of the lack of evidence to justify it– and after a federal court agreed there was no basis under federal law for the erroneous listing.

So, why is the political left suddenly so interested in smearing Rudy Giuliani?Could it have anything to do with Giuliani being one of two or three individuals on Donald Trump’s short list for Secretary of State? Do Democrats fear that the former NYC mayor might take the U.S. State Department in a new direction in opposing Iran’s vast network of financing for terrorist groups worldwide?If the American news media establishment had an ounce of integrity, this Politico smear campaign against Giuliani would be laughed out of town. Instead, in  an act of sheer desperation, prominent parts of the establishment media have joined the lynch mob. Obviously, this tells us more about the left’s motives and goals than it does about Giuliani.The establishment media have run interference for Obama’s Iran policy for eight years, and apparently prefer Mitt Romney over Rudy Giuliani as President Trump’s Secretary of State. Hopefully, that might be enough to tip the scales on that imminent decision in Trump Tower.

Iran Lobby’s Yellow and Biased Smear Campaign Against MEK

IranFreedom - Tehran has taken nearly full control over Baghdad thanks to the Obama Middle East Doctrine. One victim of such a failed policy has been the country of Iraq, as Iran gained enormous influence over it under President Barack Obama’s watch.
“Iran is taking over Iraq,” U.S. President-elect Donald Trump emphasized during the campaign back in October.
Iran has continuously meddled in all aspects of Iraqi life, be it political, social, economicand military issues. After Obama rushed to pull all U.S. troops out of the country, Tehran jumped to the occasion and took full advantage.
Baghdad has been influenced heavily by Tehran through a long list of Shiite political parties and ruthless militia groups.

Iran was also able to launch numerous deadly attacks against its legitimate and democratic opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), stationed in Iraq at the time. The MEK is known to have first blown the whistle on Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons program and provided accurate intelligence on Iran’s meddling in Iraq and the entire Middle East.
In its effort, the MEK has unprecedentedly gained the support of thousands of prominent politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, and amazingly both sides of the aisle in Washington politics. Following the recent U.S. presidential election results, the regime in Tehran is currently terrified over the various candidates weighed by Trump for his administration.
Congress support for Iran opposition.

Iran’s lobbyists like Dan Benjamin launching a yellow and biased smear campaign, due to serious concern about the likes of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Ambassador John Bolton and others having such close relations with the President-elect.
As a result of Obama’s failed foreign policy in the Middle East the nations of Iraq, Iran, Syria and beyond have endured enormously harsh conditions. The U.S. administration and Congress have the opportunity to correctly reverse these mistakes.
Evicting Iran from Iraq is the accurate policy that will provide the interests of all nations across the region, and the United States as well. This is the prelude for change in Iran and allowing the Iranian people decide their own fate.

Iran - Art and Artists are not crime

In Iran after revolurion 1979 Art and Artists are crime and this job is impermissible. Amnesty Internationl and renowned Iranian music band Kiosk are calling on artists and members of the public around the world to join a #FreeArtist campaign to demand that Iran immediately and unconditionally release jailed artists, including a musician and a filmmaker who are on hunger strike in Tehran Evin Prison.
Iran filmmaker Keywan Karimi

begins prison sentence in Tehran
Paris: Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimi, sentenced to 223 lashes and a year in jail for a film he made about graffiti, started his prison sentence in Tehran on Wednesday, his French producer said.
Karimi, 31, ran into trouble with the powerful Revolutionary Guards over his documentary “Writing on the City”.
”Karimi spent 15 days in solitary confinement in 2013 when a trailer for the film was released on YouTube, accused of making “propaganda against the regime” and “insulting religious values”. Since then several other charges were added including drinking alcohol, having extramarital affairs and making pornography, the filmmaker told AFP in a telephone interview in May, decrying the allegations as “ridiculous”.
He was sentenced to six years in prison in 2015 but after an international outcry in which acclaimed Iranian directors including Jafar Panahi and Mohsen Makhmalbaf rallied to his support, five years of the term were suspended.
In May, during the Cannes film festival, more than 30 major European film organisations appealed to the Iranian government to grant him clemency.
But the filmmaker told AFP the sentence was “final” and that he had no intention of leaving Iran, although he hoped the penalty would be delayed as long as possible.
“I am not a political activist,” Karimi told AFP. “I am not being sent to prison because I oppose the regime but because I am a filmmaker.”
He had added: “The fact that my artistic activity is seen as an act of political opposition says a lot about the situation in Iran.”
Karimi has made several short films including “Broken Border” (2012), a documentary about petrol smuggling, and premiered his first feature-length movie “Drum” at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Source: http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/iran/iran-filmmaker-keywan-karimi-begins-prison-sentence-in-tehran-1.1934476#.WDao7cOhF7Y.twitter

It's time to change U.S Policy on Iran regime

NCRI - It would be in the Iranian people’s interests, and a pre-requisite of peace and stability in the region, for the Trump administration to adopt a firm Iran policy, argues Heshmat Alavi in The Hill. The following is the text of his op-ed which was published on November 22:
The U.S. presidential elections and the victory of Donald Trump alludes to the end to a long era. After all, Iran benefited significantly from the past 16 years of appeasement adopted by the past two U.S. administrations.
MAJOR MISTAKES UNDER TWO PRESIDENTS

George W. Bush launched a war with Iraq, shifting all attentions from Tehran to Baghdad, and opening the doors of Mesopotamia to Iran’s lethal meddling. Barack Obama extended a helping hand to the mullahs, providing a green light for the regime to severely crack down on the Iranian people. Obama’s foreign policy pillar of engagement with Iran resulted in the toughest period for the Iranian people ever since Eisenhower and the 1953 coup d'état against Iran’s sole democratically elected government. The mullahs received the ultimate life support as the Obama White House refused to implement many of the measures included in the already misguided nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), to full extent.
Thus, it goes beyond doubt that an end to the Obama tenure will be considered a severe blow to Iran. In the past 16 years, Tehran was able to take full advantage of Washington’s strategic mistakes to further plunge the entire region into chaos, as we see now in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. The U.S. policy on Iran in the Bush and Obama administrations increased the suffering of the Iranian people.
WHAT TO EXPECT

Whether Trump remains loyal to all his election campaign pledges is a legitimate question. From Tehran’s point of view, however, this new White House will be completely different from a Hillary Clinton White House. More importantly, however, are appointees of Trump’s probable administration lineup. This team has been completely against Iran. Tehran is already terrified of the likes of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Ambassador John Bolton.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A new American president with a firm stance will have a major impact on politics inside Iran. Does this mean the new American administration will completely put aside the entire appeasement policy and stand alongside the Iranian people?
Time will tell.
A new era in U.S.-Iran foreign policy began Nov. 8. With Trump’s election, a complete restructuring is in the making for Washington. The Trump administration adopting a firm Iran policy is in the Iranian people’s interests, and a pre-requisite of peace and stability in the region. The more this regime is terrified of a Trump presidency, the more it proves how Obama played completely into the mullahs’ hands.
The election of Donald Trump marks a new beginning, and the mullahs themselves understand this best.

Yesterday 14 November was tweet stome for 8 political prisoners in two diffrent prisons of Iran in Urmia and Tehran. Among them are tow artist, Hossein Rajabian filmmaker and Mehdi Rajabian musician. The brothers are currently serving 3-years prison terms. In Iran under mullah's rule art is considered a crime and artist is also criminal. A third artist Keywan Karimi has also been sentenced to six years’ in prison for “insulting Islamic sanctities”, also related to his artistic work and is at imminent risk of imprisonment.
On 8 November 2016, Amnesty International called on artists and members of the public around the world to join a #FreeArtists campaign to demand that Iran immediately and unconditionally release jailed artists, including a musician and a filmmaker who are on hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin Prison. To day we have also tweet storm to support the artists imprisoned. Their imprisonment is yet another nail in the coffin for freedom of expression in Iran. The human right to liberty is sadly so undervalued by the Iranian authorities that they are prepared to condemn individuals to years in jail just to silence artistic voices that they deem as ‘anti-Islamic’ and ‘anti-revolutionary’.
“Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee is the latest young writer and activist to be caught up in Iran’s relentless crackdown on artistic expression. Her imprisonment for peacefully voicing her opposition to stoning is a terrible injustice and an outrageous assault on freedom of expression. It is also a shocking and deeply disturbing display of support for the cruel and inhuman punishment of stoning,” said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. NCRI- According to reports from Iranian prisons, the political prisoners Rasoul Razavi, Morteza Morad Pour
and Hossein Ali Mohammadi were still on
hunger strike on 12 November.  

What happened for political prisoners in 1988 in Iran? It's the question which Maryam Akbari Monfared asks of the Iran Regime. She only wrote it to find an explanation for the death of her sisters and brothers who were members of PMOI. She wants to know why her sisters and brothers were executed without any specific reason while they had already been serving their time in prison. How could they consider these issues as a crime and an act against the national security while it occurred 28 years ago? Maryam Akbari Monfared Prisoner of conscience, who is serving a 15-year sentence in Tehran's Evin Prison, is being denied access to medical treatment. 

She is facing reprisals after filing a formal complaint that seeks an official investigation into the mass killings of political prisoners, including her siblings, in the summer of 1988. Amnesty International, 3 November 2016. Her brother political prisoner, Reza Akbari Monfared in a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur protested against the constraints imposed by the Mullahs' regime to her sister, Maryam Akbari Monfared.The political Prisoners support 1988 Massacre lawsuit by Maryam Akbari Monfared and they also condemned the pressure by prison officials against her.

It's time to rethink the U.S. policy toward Iran

 After eight years, the Obama administration has run its course. The next president will have the chance to right the wrongs and correct past mistakes by taking the right side and standing with the people of Iran and the region, who have suffered the most at the hands of the mullahs and have the greatest potential to bring change that can put Iran and the Middle East on the path toward the re-establishment of peace and stability.
After signing the nuclear deal with Iran, President Obama, who Was very satisfied of his foreign policy toward Iran, expressed hope “to have conversations with Iran that incentivize them to behave differently in the region, to be less aggressive, less hostile, more cooperative, to operate the way we expect nations in the international community to behave.” Last Thursday, State Department Spokement Mark Toner admitted just how misplaced those hopes were by saying, and added: Iranian behavior in the region that is, frankly, not positive, that is unconstructive.
Obama had to hope that Iran cooperate in resolving the issues in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. A year after the nuclear deal, not only has the Iranian regime failed to manifest a modicum of cooperation on the crises riddling the region, but Iran’s contribution to the resolution of the Syrian conflict has been the dispatch of tens of thousands of troops to shore up the Assad regime and prolong a crisis. During this time, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has benefited the most from the economic incentives of the nuclear deal, has spent the cash windfall to send arms to the Houthis in Yemen. And in Iraq, Iran-backed militias continue to keep the country on the precipice of sectarian strife. General Hossein Salami, the Deputy Chief of the IRGC, during a speech he delivered on the anniversary of the occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran also threatened that Iran would scrap the nuclear deal and reactivate its centrifuges if the U.S. didn’t stand up to its commitments.

NCRI - Conference in Italy: "Justice for Victims of 1988 Massacre in Iran"

On November 7, as reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a conference was held in the main hall of the Central University of Sassari, in #Italy, to commemorate the 30 thousand martyrs of the #1988massacre in Iran, to support the “Justice Seeking Movement”, and to condemn the repression of women by the clerical regime of #Iran. The mayor of Sassari, the director of the Amnesty International, and Italian representatives participated in the conference. A delegation of the Iranian Resistance also attended and made a speech.

Dr. opened the conference, and the guests and speakers were introduced. The political-cultural advisor of Sassari's Mayor, Raffaella Sau, welcomed the delegation of the Iranian Resistance and said, ”I want to express my gratitude to the Association of the Iranian youths in Italy for holding the conference. I also thank those who resist in order to attract the worldwide attention. I appreciate you for your activities which shape our public opinion against violence and genocide in your country.” Elahe Arjmandi, a member of the Women's Commission of NCRI, spoke about the Massacre of 1988, in which 30,000 political prisoners were executed under Khomeini's Fatwa. She declared that that the Martyrs maintained their resistance at the gallows, 

and talked about the brutality of Khomeini and the death commissioners.  She emphasized on the role of that leaders still active in the regime played in the Massacre of 1988, as well as the current wave of executions. She stressed that these leaders will be tried, and this is what the Justice Seeking Movement advocates. Elham Zanjani was the next speaker. She described the regime’s repression of women and stated that women’s role in Iran is to stand against the fundamentalism which has arisen from the system of ‘Velayat e Faqih’ (the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist). Among the 120,000 martyrs of Iranian resistance, there were a significant number of women and girls who were the members of Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK/PMOI).  Despite suppression, the regime could not scare the youth off. They were inspired by the struggle of the women at the forefront of demonstrations and protests against the clerical regime. Samira Nariman was the next speaker. She spoke on behalf of the Association of the Iranian youths in Italy, and explained the activities of the Iranian youths' Association in Europe and America in supporting the Justice Seeking Movement. Next, Dr. Stefania Fusco and Dr. Maria Cristina Carta discussed the misogynistic laws of the regime, and the suppression of women in Iran as a fundamental basis of the clerical regime. They pledged their support to the Justice Seeking Movement and stressed on the necessity of bringing justice to the perpetrators of the Massacre of 1988. Mr Nicola Sanna, the mayor of Sassari, was the last speaker. Appreciating that the conference which was held in honor of the martyrs of freedom, he said, ”I congratulate the ladies who participated in this conference since the president of the Iranian Resistance is a woman and this contains a significant concept and message. The women lead the resistance at the national and international levels and they are the actual champions of freedom and democracy.”  He continued, “We and our city are on the side of the freedom fighters and the revolutionaries. We welcome the delegation of the Iranian Resistance and we support their struggle for freedom and democracy.”