BEHIND THE IRAN HEADLINES Series, October 7, 2024, Alireza Jafarzadeh, NCRI-US Deputy Director
The Iranian regime’s killing machine is operating at full force. Nearly 250 executions, including nine women, have been carried out in the two months since Masoud Pezeshkian took office as Ali Khamenei’s president. Executions, as well as harassment of women under the pretext of enforcing the hijab, are being used to terrorize society.
Last July, the UN Special Rapporteur described the mass executions of political prisoners in the 1980s, especially the 1988 massacre, as genocide and crimes against humanity, which continue to this day in Iran. He urged the international community to establish a mechanism to hold Iranian regime officials accountable for these crimes.
In August, 874 current political prisoners issued a joint statement calling for a halt to the death penalty and the prosecution of those responsible for the 1988 massacre and the killings of protesters in recent uprisings.
The people of Iran have courageously expressed their desire for regime change through a series of uprisings since 2017, particularly in 2022. Society is like a powder keg, and the widespread repression is intended to prevent another uprising.
As the Iranian Resistance has emphasized for the past four decades, severing the clerical regime’s grip on war and terrorism is essential for peace and security to prevail in the Middle East.
Similarly, dismantling the regime’s machinery of executions and torture, particularly the IRGC, is crucial for the success of future uprisings. The Resistance Units affiliated with the MEK have taken on this responsibility and have intensified their activities across the country over the past two years.
Freedom in Iran, along with peace and security in the region, can only be achieved if this regime is toppled and replaced with a democratic, pluralist republic by the Iranian people and their organized Resistance. Therefore, recognizing the efforts of young Iranians and the Resistance Units in their fight against the IRGC is more necessary now than ever before.