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Amidst a backdrop of escalating internal and international crises, the Iranian regime continues to focus significant energy on what it perceives as one of the greatest threats to its existence: the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). This determination is evident in the regime’s ongoing show trials, which, despite being met with widespread international condemnation and disregard, persist as a means for the regime to broadcast its grievances against the MEK to the Iranian people and the global community.
On August 14, the latest session of this ongoing show trial was held in Tehran, during which the regime’s concerns over the most recent report by Javaid Rehman, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, were clearly on display. Throughout the session, the actors involved repeatedly addressed Western countries, attempting to legitimize the regime’s brutal actions under the guise of combating terrorism.
One of the key figures in the trial, introduced as a lawyer named Molaei, claimed, “In Islamic jurisprudence, the crime of ‘Baghi’ [rebellion] is equivalent to the anti-terrorism law.” Another figure, identified as “Sedaqat,” who the court attempted to present as a jurisprudence expert, stated, “In the context of Islamic jurisprudence, if even a few members of a group commit a terrorist act, the entire group is considered ‘Baghi,’ and as a result, all members of the group are sentenced to death.”
In a telling exchange, the presiding judge, a man who took his role as a judge too seriously, asked, “Does supporting and encouraging terrorist groups make someone a terrorist?” To which Sedaqat responded, “If a supporter is a member of the group, they are considered ‘Baghi’ and certainly a terrorist, because ‘Baghi’ is the highest degree of terrorism. This issue has not been widely addressed, but the events of the 1980s led some to accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran and question why some members of this group were executed.”
Justice in Absurdity: #Iran’s Lawless Dictator Holds Trial of Sworn Enemieshttps://t.co/gMVIRpmuT0
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) December 25, 2023
Sedaqat further attempted to justify the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners, many of whom were affiliated with the MEK, by claiming that the so-called “Death Committees” were, in fact, “committees of pardon” that sought to save the prisoners through kangaroo courts.
He argued, “In that time, three-member committees were formed in each province to determine the fate of these individuals. According to jurisprudence and law, all these individuals should have been executed. Imam Khomeini [the regime’s first Supreme Leader] formed pardon committees, not punishment committees. These committees went to the prisons and, under any pretext, wanted to say that these individuals had repented.”
Continuing this narrative, Sedaqat stated, “If these pardon committees or courts composed of three judges had not been formed, the punishment of ‘Baghi’ would have applied to them. However, history has portrayed this differently. But Imam Khomeini said, ‘Go and, under any pretext, remove them from the category of ‘Baghi.’ If they admit that they are no longer part of this group, they will be saved from execution.'”
The presiding judge then asked, “So, despite being imprisoned for membership in a terrorist organization, they were given another trial with a focus on forgiveness?” To which Sedaqat replied, “With the help of the three-member committee, on Imam Khomeini’s orders, thousands of people were removed from this legal and jurisprudential category and were pardoned. Everything in the Islamic Republic of Iran, including this trial, is conducted in dozens of sessions with the presence of lawyers representing the plaintiffs and the defendants, who are asked to attend and defend themselves, demonstrating the rule of law in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
In a chilling moment, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs warned other countries, “Democratic countries have given refuge to the Monafeqin [the regime’s derogatory term for the MEK]; these countries have betrayed us, and I request that this matter be addressed on an international scale.” Molaei, naming countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Albania, accused them of hypocrisy: “You, who claim to support democratic parties, this individual [Rajavi] has openly admitted to destroying parties, and yet you give them refuge and support them?”
The criminal regime in #Iran shows its anger towards the #FreeIran2024 Summit & the mass protests by thousands of Iranians in Berlin by threatening Iranian Resistance supporters & members with extradition & execution under charges of “rebellion”https://t.co/ulaoU4MhmV
— Dowlat Nowrouzi (@DowlatNowrouzi) July 10, 2024