![\"salehkohandel400\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/07\/salehkohandel400.jpg\" "\\"salehkohandel400\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
NCRI – A message from a political prisoner has been smuggled out of Iran\u2019s notorious Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran.<\/p>\n
Saleh Kohandel released this statement on July 19, against the claims of the apologists of the Iranian regime that try to portray the mullahs in a positive light.<\/p>\n
He began with a short fable about a man shopping for a clay jar. The merchant shows him various options; ones owned by philosophers, kings, dictators and even one used by Jesus.<\/p>\n
The shopper chooses one which is inscribed with human rights but the seller warns him that the jar has a hole in the bottom and will never be able to hold water without having a plate placed underneath.<\/p>\n
The buyer laughs and buys the jar along with a plate.<\/p>\n
It is an interesting metaphor for the Iranian regime\u2019s shallow commitment to human rights; no matter how fancy the delivery, the promise is useless if it has loopholes.<\/p>\n
Kohandel went on to criticize the regime\u2019s protectors for their support of Iranian policies which were detrimental to its civilians.<\/p>\n
He criticized the eight-year-long war between Iran and Iraq which was responsible for thousands of deaths and wasted billions of dollars. This war held no benefit to the civilians and only served to strengthen the regime but regardless, the people seeking peace were suppressed as supporters flocked to the regime.<\/p>\n
Kohandel continued to speak out against the nuclear deal. He said: \u201cNone of the apologists protested against it, instead they became unanimously united behind it chanting that \u2018nuclear energy is [Iran\u2019s] inalienable right\u2019. Those who revealed the harmfulness of such a project were accused of treason and betrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe [regime apologists] went silent when thousands of prisoners were brutally killed in the 1980s. They helped the oppressive people and neglected the oppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was referring to the prison executions including the massacre of 30,000 activists of the main Iranian opposition group People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) who stood firm on their beliefs.<\/p>\n
The regime\u2019s apologists did not intervene in the Fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie or the crises caused in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen by the mullahs’ regime or in the 300,000 people that have been killed by the regime in these countries or the millions that have been displaced, he said.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhile the men, women, and children of this country were calling out for freedom at the gallows or when thousands of prisoners were waiting in solitary confinement for their execution, the appeasers were looking for false heroes\u201d.<\/p>\n
Like the clay jar, the appeasers have one defect but by its very nature, it threatens the core of its purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NCRI – A message from a political prisoner has been smuggled out of Iran’s notorious Gohardasht (Rajai Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran. Saleh Kohandel released this statement on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-20748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iran-protests","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n