Iran Weekly September 10 2019

Regime conducts medieval sentences

No. 1196 September 10, 2019

Editor's Note

Concessions to Regime Would Send a Message that Crime Pays

Last week, weakened by continuing protests and fearing more national uprisings, the Iranian regime stepped up its repressive measures. On Saturday, the regime sentenced several labor activists arrested last year to a total of 110 years in prison. Regime authorities also tortured a young man to death in Fars Province, triggering local angry protests.

The month of August was marked by at least 41 executions, two public hangings, and prison sentences for 30 activists, workers, and journalists for protesting against the regime, according to a human rights advocacy group.

In a statement by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI's President-elect, condemned the regime's wave of arbitrary arrests and medieval sentences, describing the measures as a futile attempt to curb growing protests. Mrs. Rajavi once again demanded the formation and the dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to Iran to investigate prison conditions and the plight of political prisoners.

The regime is getting desperate and running out of options. Meanwhile, its democratic alternative and main opposition, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), celebrated its 54th anniversary since its founding in 1965, indicating its growing influence and presence on the political stage.

The International Monetary Fund estimates the Iranian economy will shrink 6% this year. A declining currency is driving up inflation; consumer prices will climb 37.2% this year, the IMF estimates. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures are putting housing out of reach for many Iranians.

Still, some in Europe continue the policy of appeasement vis-a-vis Tehran's mullahs. In this week's featured article, former U.S. Ambassador and State Department official Adam Ereli says: "European and American policymakers must resist the impulse to offer Tehran concessions in the vague hope of encouraging a moderate shift in the regime's behavior."

"Simply put, relaxing sanctions sends a message that crime pays. Far from incentivizing Iran to abide by global norms, it would just encourage further bad behavior," Amb. Ereli adds.

Human Rights

Arbitrary arrests, medieval sentences in fear of uprisings
NCRI (Sept. 9) - Fearing the spread of popular protests and outbreak of a nationwide uprising, the religious dictatorship ruling Iran continues to widespread and arbitrary arrests, holding medieval trials, and issuing lengthy prison sentences for political prisoners. On September 7, 2019, the mullahs' sham court sentenced Ms. Sepideh Gholian, Ms. Asal Mohammadi, Ms. Sanaz Alahyari and Messrs. Esmaeel Bakhshi, Mohammad Hanifar, Amir Ami-Gholi, and Amir Hossein Mohammadi-far to lengthy prison terms. They had been arrested during last year's strikes and protests by Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Factory. Charged with such bogus offenses as "gathering and colluding against national security [of the state]," "propaganda activities," and "spreading lies," they were sentenced to a total of 110 years in prison. ... Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), noted that through this wave of arbitrary arrests and medieval sentences the mullahs' inhuman regime was trying in vain to thwart the eruption of popular protests and nationwide uprisings that seek the regime's overthrow. She urged the world community, especially the United Nations Secretary General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and other international human rights organizations to take urgent action to secure the release of political prisoners. Mrs. Rajavi again demanded the formation and the dispatch of an international fact-finding mission to Iran to investigate prison conditions and the plight of political prisoners. Read more...

Human rights monthly report - August 2019
Iran HRM (Sept. 7) - August was marked by brutal clampdown on Iranian society. Heavy sentences issued for civil and human rights activists are stark indications of mounting repression in Iran. Beset by a whole host of economic, social and political crises, Iran sentenced more than 30 activists, workers and journalists to lashes and prison, in an attempt to silence dissent. According to reports gathered by Iran Human Rights Monitor, Iran sentenced more than 21 activists, workers and journalists to lashes and prison in August for participating in protests. At least 41 people, were executed in August. Two executions took place in public while the rest were carried out in various prisons around the country. Three political prisoners identified as Abdullah Karmollah Chab, Ghassem Abdullah, and, Hamidreza Derakhshandeh were among those executed. Read more...

Political prisoners serve more time for "insulting" Khamenei
CHRI (Sept. 6) - Imprisoned civil rights activist Atena Daemi and recently released political prisoner Golrokh Iraee Ebrahimi were informed that they must serve an additional 2.1 years in prison now that the Tehran Appeals Court upheld a joint sentence against them under the charges of "insulting the supreme leader" and "propaganda against the state." Daemi's mother, Masoumeh Nemati, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on September 5, 2019, that her daughter and Iraee were also banned from engaging in political and civil rights activities for two years. In mid-July 2019, Judge Iman Afshari of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran sentenced Daemi and Iraee to 3.7 years in prison for "insulting the supreme leader" (2.1 years) and "propaganda against the state" (1.6 years). Read more...

7 activists sentenced to hefty prison terms over labor protests
Iran News Wire (Sept. 7) - The Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced seven labor activists to hefty prison terms and lashes over protests by Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers' protests last November in the southwestern city of Shush. According to the sentence, Ismail Bakhshi was sentenced to 14 years of prison and 74 lashes, while Mohammad Khanifar was sentenced to six years of prison. Bakhshi was charged with "assembly and collusion to act against national security", "insulting the leader", "publishing lies", "spreading propaganda against the state" and "disrupting public order" for which he was sentenced to lashes. Khanifar was charged with "assembly and collusion and spreading propaganda against the state". Labor activists Sepideh Qolian, journalist Amir Amirqoli, Asal Mohammadi, Amir Hossein Mohammadi Fard and his wife Sanaz Allahyari were each sentenced to 18 years of prison. Read more...

Protests & Economy

Protests after young man is tortured to death in Iran
Iran HRM (Sept. 4) - Iranian authorities tortured a young man identified as Javad Khosravanian to death in Fars Province, southwest Iran a few days ago. Reports indicate the state security forces picked up Javad Khosravanian from his home in Khorrambid of Fars Province on Friday, August 30, 2019. The officers of the local intelligence department tortured him to death while in detention and handed over his body to a local hospital. A video clip on the Internet shows clear signs of torture on the victim's head and neck. Other videos showed locals shouting and protesting the death of Javad Khosravanian under torture. They hold placards demanding justice. Read more...

Iran: protests against the murder of 30-year-old man under torture

Sanctions, Nuclear, Missiles & Western Policy

France may facilitate Iran terrorism in Europe
Issues & Insights (Sept. 4) - The prominent French newspaper Le Monde reported on July 31 that in June, during a "Defense Council" at which major security personnel meet weekly with the head of state, the DGSE (external intelligence services, the French equivalent of the CIA) was ordered "to mute their concerns" about what they call "Tehran's state terrorism." President Macron has stated that in combating terrorism, France is in total unity with the US. But it is increasingly clear that Washington wants to hold Tehran to account for all of its malign activities, particularly terrorism. Can Paris say the same of itself? It should. The experience from forty years of the ayatollahs' drama leads to one conclusion: Tehran yields under pressure. Firmness is the only answer. There is no other option. Read more...

Mattis: Obama's response to bomb plot 'emboldened' Iran
The Washington Examiner (Sept. 4) - ... Mattis is certain, however: "I saw the intelligence: we had recorded Tehran's approval of the operation" to bomb Cafe Milano, a high-end restaurant in Washington that was a favorite of the rich and famous, including Saudi Arabia's ambassador, Adel al-Jubeir. "Had the bomb gone off, those in the restaurant and on the street would have been ripped apart, blood rushing down sewer drains. It would have been the worst attack on us since 9/11. I sensed that only Iran's impression of America's impotence could have led them to risk such an act within a couple of miles of the White House," he writes. "Absent one fundamental mistake - the terrorists had engaged an undercover DEA agent in an attempt to smuggle the bomb - the Iranians would have pulled off this devastating attack. Had that bomb exploded, it would have changed history." Read more...

Trump's pressure is weighing heavily on Iran
The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 9) - It is becoming increasingly clear just how effectively the Trump administration's campaign of economic sanctions is shredding the Iranian government's balance sheet and damaging the underlying economy. ... Iranian oil exports likely have been reduced to about 200,000 barrels a day, and actually were lower than that at some points this summer. That's down from roughly 2.5 million barrels a day. ... The ripple effects are spreading out across the economy. The International Monetary Fund estimates the Iranian economy will shrink 6% this year. Meanwhile, a declining Iranian currency is driving up inflation; consumer prices will climb 37.2% this year, the IMF estimates. The budget crunch raises new questions about how Iran's government will continue paying for a broad range of subsidies designed to keep down the prices of everything from gasoline to food. Analysts estimate that 17 of 18 national retirement funds are in the red. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures are putting housing out of reach for many Iranians. Read more...

2020 Democrats should support Trump's Iran policy
USA Today (Sept. 9) - In sum, the Iranian regime has been put on the defensive more than ever before. However, the political dynamics of the Democratic presidential campaign risk giving the Iranians renewed hope that if they can make it through the pain of sanctions until January 2021, they can look forward to a Democratic president bringing America back into the JCPOA. ... In the Democratic debate this week, I hope the candidates will take a second look at this critically important foreign policy question. ... Whether you were for or against the Iran nuclear agreement in 2015 won't matter on Inauguration Day in 2021. The Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign is working. I hope Democrats will recognize that inconvenient truth, and use it to find a way to a new and better agreement instead of reviving the flawed, old one. Read more...

France's Macron is Europe's chief appeaser of Iran
Breitbart (Stevenson op-ed, Sept. 9) - In June 2018, an Iranian 'diplomat' from its embassy in Vienna was arrested in Bavaria on terror charges. Assadollah Assadi had allegedly handed over 500 gms of high explosives and a detonator to an Iranian couple from Antwerp, Belgium. He allegedly ordered them to drive to Paris and detonate the bomb at a major rally organized by the National Council for Resistance in Iran and the MEK and attended by over 100,000 people, including such prominent politicians as Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich and Bill Richardson. ... A combined operation by the German, French and Belgian intelligence services led to the arrest of Assadi and three other conspirators, all of whom are now in prison in Belgium, awaiting trial on charges of terrorism. Initially, Macron tried to hide this information from the media, terrified that it would upset the mullahs in Tehran. But when news of the bomb plot on French soil leaked, Macron quickly tried to place the blame on so-called "hard-line" factions inside the Iranian regime, who he said are keen to undermine President Hassan Rouhani. Read more...

Macron's bad bargain with Iran
The Wall Street Journal (Editorial Board, Sept. 8) - ... The mystery is why, in light of all this, Mr. Macron is eager to send Iran more money-especially since Mr. Trump can block the transfer by refusing to waive U.S. sanctions. Perhaps Mr. Macron and the Europeans hope to buy off Iran in the short term as they wait to see if Mr. Trump wins re-election. But in the meantime they are advancing Iran's nuclear ambitions. Read more...

Terrorism, Regional Meddling & Cyberwarfare

U.S. imposes sanctions on Iranian shipping network
The New York Times (Sept. 4) - The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an elaborate shipping network that Iran uses to sell oil, and unveiled a $15 million reward to anyone with information that disrupts the scheme, stepping up its effort to exert pressure on the Iranian economy. The Treasury Department placed sanctions on 26 individuals and "entities" affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force, which the United States said has shipped approximately $500 million worth of Iranian oil in the last year. The sanctions freeze any assets held in the United States of those affiliated with the shipping network and prohibit them from doing business with Americans. The action also identifies 11 ships, placing anyone who owns or operates them on a Treasury list and exposing any port that lets them in, or firms that fuel or offload them, to future sanctions. Read more...

Iran's other terror front
The Wall Street Journal (Brian Hook, Sept. 9) - ... The media has done a poor job of reporting on Iran's role in intensifying and prolonging the tragic conflict in Yemen. This has allowed Iran to escape blame for the violence, famine and human suffering, which have become the Iranian regime's leading exports. The U.S. government is shedding light on Iran's culpability and its hegemonic aims. As we strive to constrain Iranian expansion in Lebanon, Syria, the Golan Heights, and Iraq, we must also prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Yemen. The world must come to terms with Iran's ambitions and counter them, or the Iranian Crescent will soon enough become a full moon. Read more...

Iran's hollow rhetoric over Strait of Hormuz
Tsarizm (Sept. 9) - ... Despite [the regime's] hollow rhetoric [threatening maritime security], according to an industry source and tanker data, Iranian oil exports have dropped in July 2019 to as low as 100,000 barrels per day (BPD). ... Today, the Iranian regime is at its weakest position; resistance Units in Iran conduct and promote the push back against the despotic rule of the Iranian regime. The National Council of Resistance (NCRI) believes regime change by the Iranian people is within reach. Therefore the EU must not follow the failed policy of appeasement, they must only put pressure on the Iranian regime and hold its leaders to account for their atrocities and terrorism at home and abroad. Read more...

Iranian Resistance

Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) celebrates 54th anniversary
NCRI (Sept. 6) - On Friday, September 6, 2019, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), commonly known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), celebrated the 54th anniversary of its founding at its new home, Ashraf 3, in Albania. The MEK held an event earlier this week to mark the anniversary. MEK's Secretary General, previous Secretaries General, a number of senior officials and thousands of members of the organization were present.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) was invited to and addressed the event.

Ms. Merrikhi and several MEK officials and members, representing three generations spoke at the gathering, which included a film on the MEK's 54-year history from its inception to its resistance against the Shah's monarchic dictatorship to the 40-year struggle against the religious dictatorship ruling Iran.

In her remarks, repeatedly interrupted by a boisterous and passionate audience, Mrs. Rajavi paid homage to the MEK founders, Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen, and Ali Asghar Badizadegan, who were executed 47 years ago on May 25, 1972, by the Shah's criminal regime. She said, "The MEK's founding marks a rebellion in Iran's history against what should not be; from the talk of reform and expediency by those who lay claim to politics, to the reactionary ideology and deception of those who lay claim to religion. And, rebellion and uprising against what should be; from freedom to justice and equality, for which Resistance Units and the Army of Freedom have risen up." Read more...

Feature

Embrace of Iran's FM creates opening for terrorism

By Ambassador Adam Ereli
Townhall
September 6, 2019

The Iranian regime was a major topic of discussion during the G-7 Summit in Biarritz last month. But neither France nor any other European country should be helping the murderous regime to acquire a larger presence on the international stage. Tehran's support for terrorism goes beyond the Middle East and threatens both Europe and the U.S.

Both French and American citizens were among the hundreds of victims of Hezbollah attacks in the 1980s and 90s. But France was also the site of one of the most ambitious Iranian terror plots to be thwarted in recent years.

In the summer of 2018, two Iranian operatives were stopped in Belgium, as they attempted to carry high-explosives to a rally that had been organized outside Paris. Tens of thousands of Iranian expatriates from throughout the world had gathered there for a conference. Many of the hundreds of international dignitaries were prominent figures in politics, security, and academia from France, the US, and dozens of other countries.

The plot was neutralized, as were at least five other incidents stretching from from Albania to America. The Paris bomb plot led immediately to the arrest of an Iranian diplomat, AssadollahAssadi, who was found to be the mastermind. A French intelligence investigation determined that he had been acting on explicit orders directly from the highest levels of the regime. Moreover, he was using the cover provided by his diplomatic status and Iran's embassies abroad to disguise the regime's terrorism. Germany extradited Assadi to Belgium, where he and three of his agents are now awaiting trial.

As Iran's Foreign Minister, it is impossible for Javad Zarif not to have been aware of this plan to set off explosives on European territory. Given the use of Iranian diplomatic facilities abroad, it is also reasonable to conclude that he was in fact complicit.

The international community, sadly, seems not to care. French President Macron's invitation to the G-7 gave the regime's globetrotting propagandist an opportunity to put a smiling face on intolerable actions and to whitewash a 40-year history of terrorist financing and human rights violations. Moreover, as reported by Le Monde r on July 31, President Macron had directed his own security chiefs to not mention the Paris terror plot in advance of visits from Iranian officials.

It was in order to prevent this sort of whitewashing that the US imposed sanctions on Zarif last month. The Trump administration had previously blacklisted Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This reflects an understanding of Iranian affairs that has been sorely lacking in Western policy.

Foreign Minister Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani have long been touted as "moderates" by Tehran's apologists. But in reality, there are no moderate mullahs in Tehran, and reform of that regime is fundamentally impossible.

This has always been the position of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and its main constituent group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), which explains why the Iranian regime is determined to eliminate this group and its members. In addition to the attempt to blow up the NCRI's rally outside Paris and attacks against the MEK's headquarters in Albania last year, the government of Iran executed an estimated 30,000 MEK political prisoners in the summer of 1988. The fact that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly acknowledged the role of the MEK in organizing the anti-regime protests that rocked all parts of Iran in 2018 is a telling admission of the group's ability to rattle the regime.

European and American policymakers must resist the impulse to offer Tehran concessions in the vague hope of encouraging a moderate shift in the regime's behavior. Current efforts to provide Iran with a $15 billion line of credit in return for full compliance with the 2015 nuclear agreement is exactly the wrong approach. Over the past four months, Iran has bombed or hijacked more than half a dozen commercial tankers, imprisoned French and British academics and violated the 2015 nuclear deal's limits on uranium enrichment. Simply put, relaxing sanctions sends a message that crime pays. Far from incentivizing Iran to abide by global norms, it would just encourage further bad behavior.

Sticks, not carrots, are the correct policy prescription for dealing with the murderous Iranian regime. As Mark Dubowitz and Rueul Marc Gerecht, whose think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies was recently sanctioned by the government of Iran, put it in an August 29 Wall Street Journal editorial, Zarif "has proved a faithful factotum of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a handmaiden to terrorism."

If Mr. Zarif must appear at international gatherings, he should be challenged aggressively over his government's ongoing record of criminal activity. Anything less will encourage Iran to act with increasing impunity, with devastating consequences.

Ambassador Adam Ereli (@erelija) was the U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain and Deputy State Department spokesperson during the Bush administration.