Three-minute read
The Iranian regime’s judiciary convened the 33rd session of its protracted in absentia trial against 104 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on May 13, 2025. This latest spectacle, far from demonstrating judicial resolve, was dominated by increasingly desperate and direct threats against European nations, particularly France, for providing refuge to members of Iran’s principal opposition.
Baseless Demands and Distorted Law
Presiding Judge Amir-Reza Dehghani’s aggressive rhetoric underscores not a position of strength, but the clerical regime’s profound and mounting fear of the PMOI’s surging influence, both within a restive Iran and across the international stage. This sham trial has evidently become a key instrument in Tehran’s frantic attempts to stymie this undeniable momentum.
During the session, Dehghani launched a tirade of baseless accusations and demands, openly attempting to intimidate European governments. He explicitly stated, “The French government, according to international regulations, is not allowed to host the defendants in the Monafeghin case.”
“Monafeqin”—Arabic for “hypocrites”—is a pejorative term used by the Iranian regime to delegitimize and demonize the PMOI in public discourse and state propaganda.
The #MEK Trial: #Iranian Regime's Response to an Existential Threathttps://t.co/m9dKdNnPfj
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) February 15, 2024
He went on to brandish a distorted interpretation of various international treaties, including the UN Convention against Terrorist Bombings and the 1951 Refugee Convention, to insist that host countries are obligated to extradite PMOI members. “The French government and the European Union…are today obliged to extradite the terrorist defendants to this court,” Dehghani proclaimed, further threatening that “The Iranian nation…will pursue its complaint against all governments that host the accused contrary to international laws.”
In a particularly cynical twist, the judge asserted that any hindrance to the defendants’ forced appearance in his court “is a kind of confrontation with international peace.” This, while the regime itself is a primary state sponsor of terrorism and a notorious violator of international peace and security. To bolster the facade of popular demand for this judicial charade, the court also noted that “more than 200 new plaintiffs” had supposedly been added to the case, a recurring tactic to inflate the regime’s manufactured grievances.
Deeply troubled by the @UN Special Rapporteur's report exposing its atrocity crimes and #genocide in the 1980s, the world's leading executioner per capita is using a sham trial in #Tehran to attack the UN. pic.twitter.com/TLSxwMB8an
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) September 19, 2024
Regime’s Narrative Collapses Against Facts
The transparent illegitimacy of these proceedings and the regime’s manipulative interpretation of international law are stark. The demand for extradition is, in reality, a thinly veiled call for these individuals to be handed over for certain persecution and likely execution, a fate well-documented for opponents of the regime. This judicial theatre is further exposed by the U.S. Congressional Resolution of 2023, which recognized such sham trials as a pretext designed “to justify terrorist plots” against the PMOI and “continue targeting dissidents abroad.”
This assessment directly links the regime’s legal machinations to its fear of effective opposition and its intent to extend its repression beyond Iran’s borders. Furthermore, the PMOI’s delisting as a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, followed by widespread and growing endorsement from thousands of lawmakers worldwide who recognize the NCRI as a legitimate democratic alternative, flatly contradicts Tehran’s narrative.
The PMOI leadership has for over two decades challenged the regime’s highest authorities to an impartial trial in an international court, an offer consistently evaded by Tehran. This evasion speaks volumes, suggesting the current sham proceedings are merely an attempt by a cornered and deadlocked regime to find an “escape route” from genuine accountability.
#Iranian Regime Escalates Show Trial Against @Mojahedineng Amid Growing International Isolationhttps://t.co/S19qS35bIi
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) April 16, 2025
Regime’s True Motive for Aggression
The true motivations behind this aggressive judicial posturing are rooted in the regime’s deep-seated fear. The very charges levelled in this trial – “rebellion and war (Baqi and Moharebeh) against the regime” – against 104 NCRI members and its leadership, reveal that Tehran views the organization as a fundamental and existential threat, particularly given its increasing resonance with Iran’s discontented population.
This is not a new fear; it is a continuation of a decades-long obsession. 37 years after Khomeini’s fatwa to execute all steadfast PMOI members, the regime’s relentless pursuit of the organization underscores its enduring dread of the PMOI’s resilience, organizational capacity, and unwavering commitment to a democratic Iran.
The desperate attempts to co-opt international law and pressure foreign governments are clear indicators of a regime that feels its domestic and international standing eroding, prompting it to try and isolate its primary opposition precisely because of the PMOI’s expanding global support network. Dehghani’s claim that host nations bear “criminal responsibility before the Iranian people” for sheltering PMOI members is a ludicrous attempt to deflect from the regime’s own extensive record of crimes against the Iranian people.