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Last November, countless Iranians<\/a> responded to a sudden spike in government-set gasoline prices by\u00a0<\/span>rising up<\/span>\u00a0in protest across\u00a0<\/span>around\u00a0<\/span>200 cities. As with a previous nationwide uprising in January 2018<\/a>, the expression of economic discontent quickly morphed into the public condemnation of the entire r<\/span>eligious fascism<\/span>. Participants in both uprisings were heard to chant slogans like \u201cdeath to the dictator\u201d and \u201cdeath to Rouhani,\u201d thus signaling their rejection both of the hardline political faction associated with the clerical supreme leader and the so-called moderates currently being led by\u00a0<\/span>regime\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>President Hassan Rouhani.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The anti-<\/span>regime<\/span>\u00a0protests met with predictable backlash, driven by\u00a0<\/span>the regime security forces<\/span>. At the beginning of 2018, thousands<\/a><\/span>\u00a0of demonstrators were arrested, dozens were shot dead in the streets, and several were tortured to death during interrogations by the Intelligence Ministry or the Revolutionary Guard<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(IRGC)<\/span>. After failing to stamp out the dissent but also facing little real consequence for their actions, these same repressive forces accelerated their violence in response to the second uprising. In a matter of just a few days in November 2019,\u00a0<\/span>over<\/span>\u00a01,500 peaceful protesters<\/a> were killed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To casual observers of Iranian affairs, this recent crackdown may stand out as a shocking\u00a0<\/span>symbol of the regime\u2019s contempt for human rights. But close observers and personal victims of the regime\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>dictatorship<\/span>\u00a0recognize that its response to the November uprising is nowhere near to being the worst crime of the\u00a0<\/span>mullah\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0regime<\/span>. That exact title was appended to\u00a0<\/span>massacre in<\/span>\u00a0the summer of 1988<\/a><\/span>\u00a0of Iranian political prisoners<\/span>, by none other than the man who was then Ruhollah Khomeini\u2019s designated heir to the position of <\/span>regime\u00a0<\/span>supreme leader.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Ali Hossein Montazeri\u2019s<\/a> decision to condemn the regime\u2019s massacre of political prisoners led to him being ousted from the clerical establishment<\/a> and living out the last years of his life under house arrest. Meanwhile, the officials who actively participated in the massacre were richly rewarded with promotions and expanded influence. This trend continues to the present day, as evidenced by the fact that the current heads of both the Iranian<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>regime<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>judiciary and the Ministry of Justice were members of the \u201cdeath commissions\u201d that were tasked with interrogating political prisoners and passing capital sentences on those who failed to disavow their affiliations with the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(MEK)<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Those appointments underscore not\u00a0<\/span>the regime\u2019s utter lack of remorse for a crackdown that is estimated to have killed 30,000 people<\/a> including teenagers and pregnant women. But more than that, they highlight a pervasive sense of impunity that regime authorities developed in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, which has been continually reinforced in the three decades since then. Neither the regime as a whole nor any of its individual officials have been held accountable for the 1988 massacre or for any other crimes. So<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0it is no wonder that regime, still led by many of the same officials, has no real impulse to constrain its backlash when faced with challenges on the scale of the November uprisings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For that reason, close observers of Iranian affairs are rightly concerned that the latest crackdown could lead to much worse crimes against humanity if it is not confronted assertively by the international\u00a0<\/span>community. Many such observers expressed that concern while participating in an\u00a0<\/span>international videoconference last month, organized the National Council of Resistance of Iran<\/a>. The Free Iran Global\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Summit<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0which was h<\/span>eld virtually across\u00a0<\/span>three-day<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>sessions, devoted much of its time to redressing Iran\u2019s past crimes<\/span>\u00a0and highlighting their implications for the country\u2019s future.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The<\/span>\u00a0summit featured testimony from former Iranian political prisoners and survivors of the 1988 massacre, as well as political dignitaries representing the United States, Europe, and much of the world.\u00a0<\/span>And many of these dignitaries used the opportunity to urge their colleagues and allies to adopt policies that recognize and address the regime\u2019s longstanding and ongoing obsession with destroying Iran\u2019s pro-democracy opposition by any means necessary.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n British Member of Parliament Steve McCabe, for example, linked the unresolved history of the 1988 massacre to more recent crackdowns and also to an extensive disinformation campaign against the\u00a0<\/span>MEK<\/span>, which remains the leading challenge to the theocratic system more than three decades after its members made up the overwhelming majority of the death commissions\u2019 victims. Recent revelations about those killings, McCabe said, \u201chave shed light on the massacre in the West. The mullahs want to eliminate all opponents who don\u2019t go along with their medieval mindset. This clarifies the need for a demonization campaign to silence the Iranian Resistance.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n .@steve_mccabe<\/a>: Iran’s regime has launched a campaign to demonize the #MEK<\/a> That campaign is linked to the #1988Massacre<\/a> The mullahs have tried to cover up the extent of the massacre. \u2014 NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 19, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n But the MP went on to strike a hopeful tone about the trajectory of Western policy and the prospect for that demonization campaign to be defeated once and for all. Other participants in the\u00a0<\/span>Free Iran Global Summit joined in outlining how the tide appears to be turning in an era of \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d on the Iranian regime<\/span>. However, they did not imply that Western critics of that regime can rest on their laurels. Instead, they acknowledged that the true attainment of maximum pressure is still very far off, and that it requires multilateral co<\/span>ordination and a specific focus securing justice for Iran\u2019s past crimes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The<\/span>\u00a0US State Department<\/a>, issued a brief statement on July 17, two days ahead of the Free Iran Global Summit, in which spokesperson Morgan Ortagus declared that \u201cIranian officials who commit human rights violations or abuses should be held accountable.\u201d The statement pointed squarely at the 1988 massacre and called for a thorough international investigation, with the likely\u00a0<\/span>end result<\/span>\u00a0being prosecution in the international criminal court.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Instead of upholding justice, the Iranian judiciary oppresses and violates human rights. We\u202furge the international community and individual governments\u202fto provide accountability and pursue justice for the regime’s many victims. pic.twitter.com\/Mr0HpJuJ5g<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) July 17, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
\n#FreeIran2020<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/tiKu1N2P9o<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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